You're bound to that person from the very start of the game, you just didn't know it.
I wasn't into either of the two girls you have to make the big choice over and I'd of been quite happy to not invite a total stranger into my house and get involved in her tedious life (although I would of missed out on Smurf) and instead ended up with Nursey.
I know we all have different tastes in the LI's we pursue but I don't particularly enjoy having to grind through scenes with a character because my MC is 'forced' into pursuit for no other reason then the author tells me that I love her. For that reason AL was a major grind for me but in DiK the only path making no sense to me that I have to double-click through is the Jill path.
Maya and Josy are definitely more interesting than Meghan, partly because they've had so much more time to develop.
but the dynamics are very similar, throughout the first season we are in love, we have to be in love, with both of them because yes, regardless of any of our choices, and after the situation changes, varies more, but still remain very obliged as choices towards them
for sure the other LIs have much more space than in AL (where at the end there was only one LI besides the two friends), and it is much more satisfying to follow their stories