Of training course the 'lover' does not see the 'beloved' as an 'object', because that implies mere entire body for sex, or some other objectification of transitory values (spouse, lover, ex, corpse), but all the exact same they do see the 'beloved' as a larger item, typically through glimpsing their own dissolution in the other, which is then held on to following the instant has handed as some warm fuzzy object conceived of as staying a thing.