The trope is sadly based on reality. Or at least in my experience it is. I dated this guy who showed me a caring side, I fell in love, but he was horrible to me while we were dating. Gaslighting me and cheating on me. When I found out he was cheating on me, I left him and he suddenly was at my door begging for my love and acting like I had forsaken him. He leaves messages on my phone spewing philosophical BS and bad love poetry. He'd personally deliver bouquets to my door in the middle of the night and have gifts delivered to my door. He even recently changed his number to reach out to me.
Why do i find kids in stories so annoying? and I find the dukes "character development" to be so shallow and annoying, he literally did the bare minimum and it came out of no where. The trope where douches turn nice when the MC finally stops tolerating their BS is literally the silliest thing ever and makes no sense to me, I hate him he had 0 reason to treat her like trash and I hope he regrets and suffer for 10 years plus more the way she did.