u/Aromatic-Frosting-75

One tell I have started to notice over the years that shows that someone may be attracted to you is the jealous third party. You may be chatting to your person of interest, and suddenly, a third person, neither of you knows or is close to, joins the conversation.

That could be a sign that this third person is either interested in you or the person you are talking to, and wants to act as a buffer. Now, this is different from when it's a friend who just wants to join the conversation. That's just someone who wants to join in on the chat. The jealous third party is usually a stranger, or has no real reason to be part of the conversation. And they start doing things like cutting in or redirecting attention to themselves. They are not passive. They very deliberately try to stop your conversation and move the focus onto themselves. Sometimes, in ways that seem almost rude to just plain awkward.

Bonus points if this third person only comes to chat to you when you are chatting to this other specific person. They never come over at other times, but as soon as you and your person of interest start talking, or are about to start talking, they swoop in. I have often had difficulty reading signals and body language, but once I start noticing the third person, I go, "Oh, it's probably not all in my head. If this other person notices it, there may very well be something there." And that's a big thing. If someone else notices the chemistry between you, it must be tangible enough to be real.

Have any of you ever experienced this?

There always seems to be this deep societal belief that love is ultimately something everyone will eventually find. Which is strange to me, because in a world where wars are tearing apart countries, children are being abused and afflicted with terminal illnesses, and the worst kind of criminals get away with crimes all the time, the one place society seems to be believe that fairness exclusively exists is in love and romance. That, even if it takes a while, eventually everyone will find love.

Some people never will. Love is like money. Some people are born into it in abundance. Some people find it along the way. Some people a few times, some once. But some people never find love. They go their entire lives without ever finding anyone.

Jane Austen (the writer of probably some of the best known love stories/satires) died at the age of 39, fully believing she would one day find her true love, and she never did.

Not everyone finds love. And that's a simple but very unpleasant truth that many can not accept.