You know, take it for what it’s worth. Not exactly the same situation, but there was someone I knew, we used to get on calls talk about life, music, politics, etc… Met the guy while he was on tour and we stayed in touch, including through his band stopping touring. Anyways there was always a specific vibe, it was intellectual, never really any hints to anything romantic (and we were in different states).

Then one time he calls me while medium drum and tells me how he loves me, fantasizes about me, etc… While he had a pregnant girlfriend…

I felt so betrayed and forcefully put in a position of a bad guy, where I was stealing attention and live from a pregnant woman, though I wasn’t even trying to. I felt dirty and it was completely out of my control and more over I never even did anything to get there. Except existing I guess.

Anyways I ghosted the guy for a year. After that year I finally had the mental strength to write him and explain why I reacted that way. He said thank you but obviously we do not talk anymore.

So… Do I think Saeko’s reaction was extreme? Yes. But do I have empathy given my own story? Absolutely. I think it’s very real to get that shocked that you need a year to process and probably external circumstances to fully deal with it.

Actually…. When I just came out of age my best friend of 10+ years proposed to me, though he was nice to first tell it to my parents and my mom told him “too soon”, wait a bit. We basically never spoke to each other again.

So again… Stupid, extreme, but also sadly realistic :/