Did I mess up by calling him out for flirting with me?

Anonymous
Okay this sounds controversial but hear me out cuz it is killing me. I‘m a 25 years old female who has an okay amount of followers for my new art account. Now as a new artist in a social media platform, it is said that one has to engage with the followers and artists alike to build a healthy social network in the art world, and that’s what I’ve been doing and it is a wonderful experience to be meeting and streaming with aspiring artists around the world. Recently, I‘ve been talking to this guy (20yo male), and we hit it off right away despite him sounding a tad immature at first.

So long story short, i’ve been developing feelings for this kid who is very much younger than me by five years and yes i feel awful and considering that he’s barely adult, i feel like i’m a pedo for feeling this. I’m never one for long distance relationships so this is ironic at its finest and i don’t wanna pursue anything. I try since then to not engage as much, but then, it got to the point of us exchanging our photos. And lo and behold this guy is pretty *sigh*

He said the same for me too but i don’t think too much of it until he keeps insinuating that he finds this and that aspect of me that I’m not unsatisfied with attractive or anything similar. So in addition to that, along with a few ‘questionable’ moments, i texted him with a ‘Bro i think I’m the wrong person for you to be flirting with 😂🥴’.

So it’s been a day since that text, and i know for sure that he’s avoiding me. I really meant to not offend him but at the same time i don’t wanna lose him as a potential friend.

What should i do?
Did I mess up by calling him out for flirting with me?
1 Opinion