He’s Been Slowly Distancing Himself From His Female Friend After Realizing He Fell In Love With Her, And She Didn’t Feel The Same Way
Friends-to-lovers is one of the most coveted tropes. There’s nothing better than becoming close friends with someone, truly bonding, and then realizing you both have romantic feelings for each other.
However, falling in love with a friend is also perhaps one of the messiest things you could ever do – because if your feelings aren’t reciprocated, it’s not likely your friendship will last.
That’s the situation this 44-year-old man has sadly found himself in. He has a 41-year-old female friend who he’s trying to distance himself from right now.
“Because, despite my best efforts, I’ve fallen in love with her, and she sees me as just a friend,” he said.
Apparently, he is just “shorter” and “less attractive” than the guys his friend typically goes for.
As hurtful as that may be, he actually respects her decision and only wants the best for her. Still, he doesn’t think he can continue being her friend anymore.
“I’m simply too heartbroken to be comfortable spending one-on-one time with her,” he admitted.
That’s why, ever since he found out his love was unrequited, he started to “socially disconnect” from her. After all, he doesn’t want to make this situation – which is already painful and awkward – any worse than it needs to be.
His friend is pretty upset over this, too, since she doesn’t want to lose their friendship.
goodluz – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
He clarified that he did not cut her off completely. Rather, he’s been scaling back their one-on-one hangouts, which hasn’t been easy for him, either.
“I miss them as well, to be totally honest, but I can’t just sit there pretending all the character traits that make her an awesome friend wouldn’t also make her an awesome partner,” he explained.
He hopes that as time passes, the pain of being rejected will fade, and he’ll be able to be her full-fledged friend again. But, as of now, he’s just really sad.
“Aspects of myself I can’t do anything about prevent me from experiencing the type of love billions take for granted every day,” he vented.
He also can’t help but wonder if ending their friendship over this is understandable or if he’s making a mistake.
Have you ever fallen for a friend? Do you think time and space will be good for him to move on? What other advice would you give him?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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