My crush rejected me but is now upset I’m not giving him the same attention anymore. Why?

[deadpool944]

I have a huge crush on my coworker. We had a very flirtatious relationship and we were closer with each other at work than with anyone else. Other people were certain he liked me back too and he was just nervous to say something. Any chance he would he would find a way to be close to me. I decided to shoot my shot and tell him how i felt because I couldn’t take not knowing anymore. He basically responded with “thanks for bringing this to my attention. I didn’t want to assume how you felt so I didn’t say anything cause I didn’t wanna make things awkward”. Okay, fine. I’m glad I got my answer that he never liked me back but I felt very hurt cause he definitely led me on. I asked if we could keep conversations at work to be work related and I also told him I wanted to remove him from social media because it was hard seeing him so much outside of work on there and he said that was fine. He didn’t seem to care at all, didn’t say he wanted to keep the friendship, didn’t apologize if I felt like he led me on. For the first few days it was fine. But now he’s getting extremely upset that I’m not giving him the same attention anymore. If I give him even the smallest bit of attention his mood noticeably changes for the better. But when I enforce those boundaries and keep things short and work related, he gets upset. I didn’t wanna make work awkward but I don’t understand why he’s so upset if he never liked me to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Ok just cause you were closer w him than anyone else at work doesn’t mean he has a thing for you. I’m very close to a number of women at work. That’s cause I get along w them. They’re easy to talk to. I don’t get no drama from them. When I need help which isn’t all that often they’re always there to help. So yes I talk to them more, I joke w them more cause I know I’m not going to be in front o HR the next morning over some joke I made. Some people would call that a work husband or work wife. Not really an appropriate term but that’s what I’ve come it to be k own as. Because I’d someone needs to find me they say ask him work wife, which a majority of the time she knows where I’m at. But that doesn’t mean I’m flirting w her just cause I talk w her or laugh w her more. A lot of women seem to think just cause a man has a long conversation w a girl, they laugh, get along, that he’s flirting w her. Please explain what exactly was this flirtatious relationship you talk about? What did he do that made you think he was flirting?

[serious]

Given that he is getting upset indicates that he liked you but it seems he is not ready for a relationship either. I think he still likes you.

Logically you did the right thing.

[Yamaal]

I guess he regretted it and thought he was going to run after her.

[Nikki1989]

Get over it. You are not a teenager anymore.

[Avicenna]

Sounds like he wants his cake and to eat it too. He liked the attention. Maybe also being a coworker was a dealbreaker.

[spartan55]

How did he lead you on?

[Anonymous]

Who cares. He rejected you. Move on!

[Anonymous]

Narcissist!! He sucks