Kokekokoko
My man you cant have the red headed waifu, because you need to time travel and get The Cynthia Waifu. Dont mess with the timeline anymore. Next thing you know Verity doesn't exist and we have to wait till Aloa for Ash to win a Championship.
If I'm reading this right, Cynthia is Verity's momma. And she was looking at a picture of her and her mysterious dad, like any other dad in this series. Only to sudden develop an interest in out MC, where she doesn't want to see him with any other person. While you can see it as infatuation, I believe that Celebi played a part in some time travel shenanigans.