AJ overwhelms me

I'm really liking Sweet Magnolias, more than the last few stories they've released, but I really can't stand AJ's plot and how poorly written it is and how much it constrains MC.

I have nothing against the boy personally, he's a teenager hurt by a conflicted relationship with his negligent parents, and I feel a little sorry for him, but that's it. I don't understand why all the options are geared towards showing that MC cares a lot about AJ and there's no way we can be nice to him without wanting to turn him into some kind of adopted son and have him assume that role for free.

It's fine for people who like this plot and want to start a family with him, but it overwhelms me. MC has no responsibility for the negligence of parents she doesn't even know with their son. She didn't choose to be a mother, or take care of a teenager, or have to feel guilty for wanting to make her life away from a boy she barely knows and who she didn't choose to take care of, but he imposed himself by making a place for himself in her house and in her life by force.

MC arrived in Serenity as a passing through, and she did so freely, without ties, and it is free and legitimate for her to put herself first and think about healing her wounds, planning her future, and fulfilling her dreams far from that town.

AJ is no one to emotionally blackmail her, and he doesn't understand that he's a kid and she's an adult, they barely know each other, and he should be grateful that she didn't kick him out of her house, because any normal person would call social services if an unknown teenager sneaked into their house.

AJ can't pretend to force MC to see Caroline again, or to make peace with her, without bothering to empathize with MC or understand that there are reasons he doesn't know about behind her behavior. I find it sneaky that he pushed MC back to the residence just to "fix things with him", playing the victim.

MC is not your mother, AJ. It's overwhelming to feel like he's putting on her shoulders the burden that he doesn't want to put on his own parents, who do have obligations to him.