Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful comment! I’m somewhat aware of this issue myself. Mert has a warm and friendly personality, so it’s very easy for the main character to be drawn to him. But Artyom is cold and harsh, which makes it much harder for me to create moments where the protagonist can connect with him. That’s why I sometimes include emotional scenes for Artyom, so the reader can get closer to him and see a bit of his hidden personality.
You’re right, I might need to rewrite the necklace scene because it didn’t turn out as well as I wanted. I’ll fix it in the next update.