your partner actually liking you as a friend is important. romantic love is not enough. because romance shows you how someone feels about you, but friendship shows you how they treat you when they are not trying to impress you. loving someone is easy when everything is heightened. liking them is what makes the ordinary days bearable.
most people do not realise this, but the version of your partner you meet in friendship is the one you end up living with.
the softness, the humour, the small acts of consideration, the way they speak when nothing big is happening, that is the real relationship. romance can win you over, but friendship is what prevents both of you from becoming strangers while still sharing a life.
and the older you get, the clearer it becomes that love is not the glue. compatibility in the boring moments is. that is the part no one warns you about: the relationship lasts only if you can stand each other when nothing romantic is happening at all.