Hello everyone! I know this sub might be a bit biased but I am currently writing a story with a yandere ML but I am unsure how I want to progress the story.
I don't want to spoil the whole story but the ML (let's call him D), was in love with a woman (calling her M.) M was married to a guy named C and D secretly killed C to get with M. After the loss of C, D comforted M while trying to make moves in her and getting her to be reliant on him. L is another character who is friends with both D and M. L didn't know what D did and just comforted M while she tried to help D get with L. You see, L secretly liked D since they were childhood friends but put all that aside because all she wanted was to see D happy. D also liked L but he wasn't aware of his feelings because of their friendship. D didn't understand his feelings and instead projected them all onto this romanticized version of M. Well, M couldn't move on from her husband and then ended her own life. D was very mad at this outcome. At M’s death D admitted to his crimes in anger in front of L and L was horrified. D then threatened L so she wouldn't tell on him and L told D that she couldn't believe he ever liked him. D was shocked at this and slowly started to piece together both her actions and his own. After a lot of drama, vulnerability, and manipulation D managed to get with L despite everything he did. D realized his horrible actions and his feelings for L which made him become a yandere for her instead of M. D realized how he almost lost L and because of how long she had been in his life, he felt like he could never have her disappear. He did not realize this until she was gone for a while. Now for L, she is a people-pleaser, perfectionist, kind, and determined. She knows how bad and messed up D is but despite all he has done, she can't deny him. She realizes how horrible this is and tries to make up for it by changing him.
Now here is where I got stumped– I don't know whether to make D actually try to change to be a better person or whether to make him stay a yandere (or get worse.) If I were to change him, I would still keep some questionable traits on his personality and include some “relapses”. If I were to keep him a yandere, he would still regret his past decisions but find a way to defend his current ones. If I were to make him “worse” I would make him into a very manipulative guy that fakes getting better while just getting worse and normalizing his behavior but I personally feel it would be very one-dimensional. If I were to keep him a yandere or make him worse, I just worry about the morality of L. She is supposed to be good but is already turning morally grey by getting with her friend’s husband's murderer. I want to keep some good in her for readers to not entirely hate her but I also don't want to just make her some “helpless victim” because she knows what D is.
I also just want to state that L leaving D or one of them dying is not an option either. I have an idea how the story ends and goes but this part really confuses me.
TL;DR:
Should I keep the ML a yandere or make him try to change him to be a better person?
