Everyone in the game is controlled by the player. Not just Ian & Lena. Player actions will directly influence other characters, and their outcomes and that will echo into the games world. There are many examples of this.Choose : A fat creepy dude peeping on you or a sexy model girl peeping on you?
Fat creepy dude will make your heart throb, but a sexy model girl will make both your heart and dick throb.
Yeah, you got the answer. Is it fair? Everyone has preferences!
By the way you know that Lena is controlled by the player while Stan is not.
Jessica will be good or bad Jessica depending on if Lena slept with Robert or Mike or neither.
Holly can be pushed into fucking Ivy, and Mark, and soon Robert, and presumably Stan and you can control if she is confident or not with your words and having join Ivy's pole dancing class or not.
Jeremy can be laying the pipe with Alison, and Emma or neither of them, and he still be with Louise or not depending on player actions. You can tell Ivy to hook up with him or not, and I'm sure that is divided into "He is still with Louise" and "Louise dumped him" which should have very different consequences.
The Van Dykes you can help their shop grow, and flourish or steal from the register and put it under leading to them having very different personalities.
Perry, you can hook him up with Emma or Cherry, or try to help him out with Lena.
Wade & Cindy can stay strong as a couple or be broken up and cheated on depending on how the player plays that.
So, because player choices have such an effect on the outcome of non player characters actions it's unfair to judge any non player character action on it not having been influenced by the player at all. Because that is not entirely accurate.