u/CaterpillarSoggy1028

I recently met this guy on Reddit. He’s 21 and currently preparing for IIM, and somehow, we ended up talking for hours. We shared so much about our lives, our experiences, our dislikes, our thoughts, and little things about ourselves that we probably wouldn’t normally tell someone we had just met.

At some point, though, he told me that he would never be able to love me. According to him, what he felt was only attraction. I tried to accept that and told myself that I should probably walk away from the connection rather than get emotionally attached to something that he didn’t see in the same way.

I was actually quite adamant about leaving. But every time I tried to distance myself, it was his actions that stopped me. The way he talked to me, the way he kept coming back, and the fact that the connection clearly meant something to him made it incredibly difficult for me to simply walk away.

And now, honestly, I don’t want to leave him at all.

I’m 27, and being around him, talking, sharing things, simply having someone there, has felt genuinely amazing. There’s something about this connection that has made me feel really good, and I don’t want to dismiss that just because we haven’t given it a definite label.

At the same time, I understand his situation. Reddit can become a distraction for him, especially when he’s seriously preparing for IIM. I don’t want to become something that takes him away from what he’s working towards. If I care about him, I want to support him rather than become another source of pressure or distraction.

But what makes this even more complicated is that, despite everything he says, he also seems to feel that this connection means something to him. He has told me that society wouldn’t accept a relationship like this, and I understand why that thought might worry him. But a part of me keeps thinking: why do we have to decide the entire future right now? Why can’t we simply live in the present and acknowledge what this is while it exists?

Because whatever we call it, attraction, friendship, companionship, or something more, this connection has genuinely meant something to me.

And now I’m confused about what I should do.

Should I step back because he has already told me that he cannot love me, even if his actions seem to say that I matter to him? Should I stay and simply enjoy what we have without expecting it to become a relationship? Or should I try to find some middle ground where I can be there for him without becoming a distraction or getting myself hurt?

I don’t want to force him into something he doesn’t want. I also don’t want to walk away from something meaningful simply because we’re afraid of what it might become.

So, honestly, what would you do in my situation?

#every time we try to end this, I can feel his pain, it seems he doesn't want to hold it, but neither he wants to confess or wants to show that he wants it too. It's really painful.