Thank you for your comic! i read through all of it today on webtoon.
warning for arophobia, and insecurities surrounding being aromantic
Recently one of my girlfriends (im polyamorous) broke up with me because they were no longer comfortable dating an aromantic person (context: we starting dating before i knew i was aromantic, and when i found out i told them immediately and made it clear i would understand if that was something they weren't comfortable with, and they assured me it was okay, this was a little less than a year ago. later we changed our relationship to a qpr) and it was really disheartening when they suddenly (for me at least) decided that they didn't want to date someone who couldn't love them romantically, the same way they loved me... and because at that point our relationship was a qpr and they knew about my aromanticism, it really hurt. And it made me question my desire to be in a queerplatonic and/or alterous relationship, because i always kinda felt like i was making them "settle" for someone who couldn't love them romantically and the whole break-up kinda confirmed that i "wasn't good enough" and that it was "selfish" of me to want a relationship like that. especially after they had originally assured me it wasn't a problem. (they weren't in the wrong for not being comfortable, i dont blame them... it just hurt that it ended that way despite those assurances and uncovered some old insecurities)
but after reading through your comic im feeling better about it, and its kinda shut down my worries about qprs. I no longer feel as broken or alienated, and im slowly building back up my confidence in being aromantic. You and your spouse are such an example to me, and im really truly grateful that you shared your story.
(wow im sorry that was really long and kinda depressing, i just wanted you to know that your comic had a really postive impact on my life as an oriented aroace person.)
I'm so sorry for the late reply!! Thank you so much for the kind words though, and for the positive message in the end. I can only imagine how hard it must have been, especially since it seems they reassured you multiple times that things were OK with you being how you are only to eventually pretty much pull the rug from under you... I'm sure they did their best on their end, I'm sure you both did. It's just very unfortunate that it had to end up this way, with that kind of turn of events. And I'm very sorry it did.
I'm glad if I could provide some hope, though! I got really lucky on my end. My specific flavor of aroaceness is such that I could probably have stayed on my own forever and been fine with it, but it also feels lonely being everyone's afterthought forever, so... Yeah. Gonna take bonuses where I can get them I guess. I don't want to be my spouse's "favorite" person or anything, I just want them to think of me when no one else will. I don't know if that's relatable in any way. And it is probably pretty damn selfish.
But anyway... As much as my situation can very much be chalked up to luck, if it could happen to me it could happen to anyone. World be shitty for us out there, and the curveballs are always there and that hurts when they hit you when you least expect it, but there ARE people out there who will accept you and stick with you for who you are.
...I say, having no actual optimistic guarantee for the future if I think about it. But such is life I guess. Perks of being a pessimistic person I guess. Anyway.