I think my (24F) ex-boss (36M) likes me. Need help reading the signs.
I think my (24F) ex-boss (36M) likes me. Need help reading the signs.
So I (24F) recently finished a work project as a freelancer and I can't stop thinking about whether my ex-boss (36M) was interested in me. I worked there from two months. Here are all the things I noticed:
\\- From day 3, he would choose to sit next to me even when there were other free seats. Even when I changed my seat, he'd find me and sit next to me.
\\- He would single me out and ask me specific questions like what I studied, if I liked working there, what i worked before, he would saying things like you’re quiet more than he did with anyone else.
\\- He'd sometimes talk to me in a very soft, gentle tone (almost like a baby voice) which felt very different from how he spoke to everyone else.
\\- Whenever I was talking to my friend and my voice got loud, he would immediately jump into MY side of the conversation and engage with me , but when my friend tried to talk to him, he'd kind of dismiss her and redirect back to me. This happened multiple times.
\\- Every time he came into the office, he'd say a general hi to everyone, but when he got close to me he'd specifically ask: "How are you? Did you take a break? Did you eat? Did you smoke?", the same caring questions every time, just for me.
\\- He noticed when I sat far away from the group during breaks and would call me over and check in on me. Happened multiple times.
Eventually he stopped coming into the office where the project is held because he had work elsewhere so
\\- I followed him on Instagram and he accepted after a few days i figured he doesn’t open instagram that much. He also sent me a request and after 1 hour he removed the request and sent it again ( which means he noticed i didn’t accept it yet and was trying to remind me to accept it)
\\- The last week of the project he hadn't been coming to our workplace for a long time. And i did what the other freelance employees did talk to him over WhatsApp privately about getting a full time job in the company in the future, he replied to everyone with the same response including me to send their CVs and that currently there is no opportunities but may be in the future. I wanted to take my chance and told him that i will send my CV after i tweak it a bit and then followed up by asking him when he'd be coming back to see us in the office, and mentioned that my last day was Thursday. He didn't reply to that message. But he showed up on Thursday, even though it had been a long time since he showed up, and when he saw me, he greeted me, asked how I was, and checked in like he usually did.
\\- I sent my CV via WhatsApp to him two days later. Two weeks later I got a formal email from the company's recruitment team saying they'd love to work with me in the future. My friend who also sent her CV through him via WhatsApp got no such email.
So... does he like me or am I reading too much into this? I'm thinking about reaching out to him personally but I'm scared. What would you do?
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TLDR: Ex-boss always singled me out, gave me attention, and may have personally pushed my CV through. Does he like me or is he just a nice guy?