Did I messed up our friendship by telling my friend that I like him?

[Anonymous]

So i (32F) have a very good friend (25M) for a long time now. We live in different countries, talk often, he comes to my country quite often or we meet in other places. We know each other for 5 years already but last 2 or 3 yeras were when we became super close. We have mutual friends, from several countries as well and we all meet often. Everything would be ok but i noticed that he is acting a little bit different towards me than our other friends. He stares at me a lot and when i catch him staring he is not hiding that, he wants us to be alone, he comes earlier than our other friends so we could spend time together, he is very touchy, brings out the details he remembers about me which i dont even remeber that i told him, also he became really protective. Some of our friends also noticed that he is acting differently towards me. Recently he also started to hide all the information about the ladies he has in his life which was strange for me because we used to talk about that very openly and on top of that he told me that he wants to meet my family members. It is not a super obvious signs but on the other hand it feels a bit not usual. Everything would be ok but i started to fall for him. In general i am a shy person so i was hiding that very well and since i am way older, we have a lifestyle which is easier without having any relationships and we are really good friends i didn't have any intentions to change the way i am talking with him. Also i really like that friendship we have and i am affraid to loose it. However, not long time ago he came to my country again and we decided to go to another city for few days. I was keeping my cool and stayed distanced trying not to show that i like him. We had a nice time together and at the end of that trip i decided to tell him. He told me that he wants to stay friends. Did i misunderstood his signals? Or i freaked him out with my statement? I will meet him in a month and i really dont know how should i act towards him.

[SueShe]

He did give you unmistakable signs that he likes you and his reactions are also of a person that is infatuated in another.

However, I am a little skeptical about his true feelings when he says that he wants to remain friends only. To me, that is indicative that he is probably hiding something from you and he does not want to jeopardize this by admitting that he has feelings for you.

You have to carefully weigh the pros and cons of your decision. Usually, when a infatuation is a one-way situation, confessing it to the target person can result in jeopardizing the friendship. Now, it is up to you whether you want to risk to lose the friendship or not.

There is no other way than to ask him directly what his true feelings for you are. Good luck.

[Nikki1989]

If he is a half-decent guy, you will have nothing to worry about.

[spartan55]

Sounds like you projected your feelings on to the situation. Your friendship will likely never recover. If he is a quality guy he will end your friendship.

[Avicenna]

Have an open and honest convo with him

[In_Trance]

you lost me at "different countries"

[Asker]

We don't live in the same country. But because of our job we can meet quite often.