>>6
Well, if I'm telling you that, it's because your story somehow reminds me mine (even if I didn't mentally "embody" the lover, I still cherished the ideal).

>Funny that you should mention maturity. Maturity is actually one of the reasons why this worries me somewhat. Isn't it a bit immature to, well, feel connections to people who don't really exist?

Nope, I don't think so. People who "don't really exist" but that you hold for "real" in your mind still somehow exist. You know, the philosophical concept that by simply believing in a god, that god exist in the people's mind, even if it has no impact on the "real life".

In my opinion, what separates maturity from immaturity in these cases, is how you are aware of that fact, and how you deal with it. Maybe what you're doing wrong is being too, as you put it, "concerned about hurting the feelings of someone who doesn't exist". This sure isn't good for you.

Remember, the imaginary is something inside you - your inner world. So when you think about hurting something imaginary, you're thinking about hurting yourself, a part of your psyche. Like betraying that part of you. But in the end you wouldn't be doing that because, well... it's not yourself vs. yourself, you know?