Age Old Question

If you're in love but afraid to tell the person for some reason,
just think about this:

one moment of embarrassment?

or

a lifetime of regret?

Whoever made this question is either really really confident or is really really lucky. Or is just naive.

Liking someone from afar is just infatuation. One can't fall in love by just second-hand information about another. One has to experience the person, know him well, and vice versa. Know his irritating habits and his endearing quirks and love him because of everything he is. Then steadily, that person grows into perfection in your eyes. He makes your heart leap the instance you see him, but at the same time you are comfortable around him. Falling into friendship is inevitable. At some point, a couple will be friends. But we're not talking about couples.

We're talking about one-sided love.

When you're in love with someone and you don't know if that person feels the same way, or even just like likes you, it's scary. You maintain your position on the safe grounds-->friendship. Be his friend. Be there for him. Hope that some time soon he'd notice you.

How do you know if he already likes you?

I don't know either. Maybe he's just a naturally sweet guy. Maybe he treats everyone the same way. You should know that if you know the person. If you're his friend, you'd know what he likes, and who he likes. I know it's hard. This is the bitter part of friendship. And there is a great chance you'd be stuck in this place forever. If you really love the person, it doesn't matter because having him in your life is enough for you to be happy. You wish him to be happy, even if his happiness lies not with you.

So, the question.

For me, it's not the lifetime of regret that I fear. It's not the momentary embarrassment either. It's the awkwardness that may follow that scares me. It's not like you can just go, "Hey, I love you. Oh. I'm just a friend to you. Forget this happened then! Let's go back to the way we were before."

Unless you have a huge inkling that the person loves you back, don't do this. Especially if you'd like to keep the person as a friend. Or unless you're leaving for another country and not coming back for a long time. Because believe me, I've seen proof of this, and it's not pretty. Sure, he might say that yeah, we're still the way we were. But nobody can erase that moment. When he looks at you he'd be thinking, "Oh my gosh. Is this person still in love with me? I hope I'm not giving off signals that I like her too because I don't."

This is just my opinion though. Go ahead and embarrass yourself if you want.

As for me, I'm going for the going-abroad-and-not-coming-back-for-a-decade approach. Maybe by then he'd have forgotten about it. Or maybe he'd have time to miss me or something. But that's just hoping. We'll never be anyway.