So speculation isn’t allowed either? When 2 people in a show are having secret meetings together I think it’s pretty normal for the audience to speculate that they are dating (which was the case with Kira and Jadzia). I’m just expressing my disappointment that this speculation was false.

Also, I don’t like it when shows include obvious hints that two people of the same gender are dating and then never actually show it. Because this tactic is very often used to bait queer people while also keeping their homophobic audience. The result is that many shows won’t actually express any queer relationships because hinting at it is enough. Not saying that this is the case in ds9, but imo it’s a bigger problem with more material effects than what you’re describing.