he doesn't feel like a consolation prize. I was reading this story and the ML felt like a consolation prize in the end because of FL's relationship with the other guy and how deeply he affected her even though she supposedly was so in love with ML. She never says she loved the other guy and only loved the ML despite her actions showing something different. So going on that, she's just close to the other guy who loves her, but she loves the ML only. I kept feeling really bad for ML as I read because he kept having these moments of inferiority saying how he couldn't be there for the FL like the other guy could. She also never seemed to think about how this was affecting the ML. She only cared about what was happening with the other guy. So are there any where in the end, she realizes that the ML has more of a profound effect on her than the other guy and it actually shows her care more about the man she loves instead of someone else?