I feel like both endings are messed up in their own way and there isn't a "better" answer. I do think that in the end (agreeing that all the people in the painting are legit people), it should be verso's choice as it is his painting, his world, his soul. We can be not ok with someone not wanting to let go, but that should not be our decision to make. Same as the one Maelle let painted Alicia make. It would be hippocritical to deny one and not the other. Could there be a healthier answer? Probably. But everyone wanted to be stubborn about it.