I don't necessarily have a problem with the actual turning. I can see that maybe the aunt showed Amanda something relating to the finances, that it was marked for her mother's medical health and used it to start-up his business, painting it as if her father practically killed her mother. I can see how that might get her to distance herself from the MC.
Where I start to lose the thread is when she swings full tilt in the other direction and pretty much replaces one guardian for another. I think it's unrealistic that if she was angry she wouldn't be yelling and confronting her father, which would give him a chance to explain, instead she's methodical and cool and just moves out. Even ignoring that, she's learned she can't trust the one parental figure she had. Why doesn't this new found mistrust extend to the other adults in her life who are trying to control her? If she's that confused, and mixed up, shouldn't she be trying to get space from both of them? When you feel betrayed, you don't go, 'this person was untrustworthy, but this person must be telling me the truth', generally, you begin to see betrayal in other people too, and worry that they're two-faced as well.
I agree that Heidi doesn't know about the MC being with other girls, though there's reason to believe she might suspect. When she calls to ask him to the reunion, she asks if hes doing anything with Lily later after hearing that she called. And while I also agree that people don't necessarily talk about these things and take it for granted, the MC did already ask her about it.
Before the reunion, the MC wonders if going means that he's Heidi's boyfriend. Amanda comments that the relationship is getting serious if you tell her. Heidi tells you to call yourself her boyfriend and make up stories. At the reunion, her friends comment that she doesn't usually bring dates and that it probably meant more than she was letting on by inviting him. If you go to the bar, he asks her what she meant by bringing him, after the sex scenes, Heidi acts coy and basically tells him to figure it out for himself. Only then two chapters later to tell him she wants an exclusive relationship.
Honestly, I'd much rather have Heidi than a harem route, so I'm not against being asked to choose, or the Heidi being naked in the bathroom. But it seems strange to me that despite the relationship having been explicitly discussed before that only now does she demand exclusivity. I understand it's a plot device designed to force us down one route or another, I just don't like it when plot devices don't make sense narratively.
Joe: Back one more time to this theme of the plausibility of Heidi "suddenly" demanding exclusivity (then I'll shut up - honest
...):
(@xoxo & @VonRaschke also took part in this debate about this part of the plot).
What you say above is a close reading of the story, and its possible "romantic" strands amid all the rest of it, the mystery, intrigue, puzzles, possible crimes (aunt fraud?) & of course barrowloads of sex ...
BUT I'm still not sure if you entirely picked up "a (particular!) woman's signals & signs" in this particular case!
VonR, more than yourself, complained Heidi gave NO previous indications she wanted a steady/exclusive relationship with our MC. You don't go that far.
But, added to your close reading, I'm fairly sure I recall - on at least one occasion, maybe two (?) after a date/sex Heidi had with the MC - her going silent, smiling, but also looking pensive, reflective or whatever, and when the MC asked her what was on her mind, saying something like "Oh, nothing" or "Never mind" ...
It may just be me, maybe different experiences (treal life now, not only this or other games!) - or maybe I've played this game taking slightly different options and so negotiated slightly different scenes/wordings! ....
But to me, avoiding the classic "penny for your thoughts" question in that post-coital situation (esp. after a massively enjoyable romantic and/or sexual encounter) would usually indicate that the silent, smiling but seriously pensive one - Heidi in this case - is reluctant to "spoil the moment" or "complicate the situation" ... by getting (very) serious.
EITHER?: > Heidi does not want to be unfair to the MC, put him under extra (moral!) pressure straight after sex, at a point when - given the state of his life, his finances/business, and his permanent fretting anxieties about his daughter(-figure) - he's already suffering a ton or so of nervous strain
(I think that makes sense, given that Heidi always appeared generous-spirited towards the MC, always leave him space, generally, for his difficulties, his concern for Amanda, for his ramblings, letting him get on with whatever he has to get on with ...)
OR?: > afraid to risk him not reciprocating, getting scared of commitment at a (at yet ANOTHER!) vulnerable time in the MC's life, and turning cold, or simply turning her down ...
(That generally makes sense too, no, if she feels "too" fond of the MC?)
Or a mixture of both those reasons for "significant" silence ...
Nevertheless, I'd have thought it's possible to deduce what she may be thinking to herself at that point, staying quiet after good sex, and (forgive the corny word) fulfilling intimacy with a guy who is special to her. She's also made it clear, in body language, smiles and also words, how much at ease she feels when she's naked with him, with him generally.
Not only because she's no teenager any more, a woman of the world who knows something of men (not all good), not only because she's experienced and all the rest of it, it's hardly a surprising twist, I think, if she's thinking along ... certain lines.
If it is indeed something like love for the guy, I don't view it as a startling development if she finally says out loud she wants to be closer to him more often, even wants him (sexually) to herself ... and when some sort of "crunch" or "breaking point" comes, that is, a second threesome arranged by Kathy, when this time Heidi is not so hopelessly drunk, she asks him, with as little pressure as she can manage (in the circs) - she goes out of her way to stress she will calmly accept it if he turns her down - if he feels the same way?
> > > It's a sign of a good game anyway, I think, if it raises such debates about fictional characters!