Transgression of personal boundaries vs. upholding them?
Of course I have no clue about your situation, but what worked well for me in the past are affirming, yet deflecting/diffusing responses: I see what you mean/I accept that that's what you want/etc. But the best turned out to be "I see" and "Uhhhmmm". Does not solve the problem, but could make it lesser. Still the proposed (partial) distancing is a thing to consider regardless of the rel-link type.