: How to resolve a conflict between a girl that left you vs. a girl who abandoned you? Ok, so in an upcoming project of mine, I have an MC in a romance with two women. The first girl left

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One is an adult who made the decision to address her family obligations before pursuing a relationship. It sounds like it was a private issue among the family which she didn't have the liberty to discuss before, now the crisis has passed (or she has wiped her hands of it). She is stoic, noble, loyal… maybe secretive but that seems like a virtue when it's the MC's secrets. Still waters run deep. She may never open up about her family.

The other is a runaway who has never lived on her own, is in full defiance/rebellion mode, and is completely dependent on the MC. Random brothers/cousins/uncles may show up to avenge her honor by killing both of them, or forcing him into a marriage to cover the scandal. Even if they can't track her (or don't want her back), she might have some unrealistic expectations of the relationship and how much attention she deserves in exchange for this romantic gesture.

Am I missing something? How is this confusing? I can understand the MC nursing a grudge, but the instant these women start getting fleshed into characters they would be polar opposites, in maturity if nothing else.

As Amadeus says in his comments (OP), the idea is not to "pick which is better" but to milk the situation for story potential. With that in mind, I suggest keeping both, making them short term rivals, and then frenemies, and finally friends – just before both women's family dramas collide with the main storyline.

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From the character’s point of view, a clean break might have caused less pain or the pain been of shorter duration. The ‘went to the corner store for x and never returned’ could have been more painful.

He would not really be able to trust either, unless the second one had been kidnapped or such. It might be more realistic, working from what you have said, for him to choose neither.

The deliberate dumping with no explanation shows little regard for his feelings, so is a red flag. The don’t even bother to say goodbye shows even less.

Your MC would stand a better chance with the cute cashier at his local grocery store than with either of these two.

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Well, neither's attractive, and based on those traits alone, I'd advise the MC 'date anyone but these women'. Of course, there's more to both of these characters than just these traits (or I should hope so; it's the writer's duty to write their characters, not Writing.SE's).

It's this 'more to' which shall provide which one of them (or neither of them) is a worthwhile romantic lead for the MC and which is the designated 'false lead'. What are they like as people? Have you fleshed them out as people? If you have, then the answer should be obvious; you, the writer should know them inside and out and therefore know which one is the better relationship candidate beyond, you know, a single bloody metric.

Edit: After the edits to the answer, I've come to the conclusion that you're asking what to write. This is a major decision in the story arc, presumably, and for you to leave that to committee instead of being, you know, a writer, is not what Writing.SE is for. I've voted to close the question.

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