Hello all,
Happy new year!
One of my online friends of one year has been occasionally sending me messages that could be taken as flirtatious – such as calling us the "inseparable dream team", , calling me "my dear" occasionally, saying he really missed me & "needs" to spend more time with me, saying he hopes we can get closer this year, calling me his favourite "person from my country", asking me if hes ugly, saying he wants to visit my country to see me ect.
Of course, these could be in a platonic way as well, but I am not 100% sure & given I am autistic, there is further confusion on whether I am reading his words/tone right.
I appreciate him as a friend but am not romantically interested in him as I feel we are at different life stages, have different values & sense of humor, & i just dont enjoy his company enough to want to commit romantically. Also one of my other friends said he kept flirting with her even though he knew she already has a boyfriend & while I wasn't there when it happened, this has also made me wary.
I do not know whether I should continue as I have done – ignoring & dodging/redirecting the conversation or whether I should ask him to clarify what he means when he says something like "I hope we can get closer this year."
He is currently quite depressed so I worry that rejection on my part would worsen this, although I know I cannot take responsibility for his depression, I still wonder if the kindest thing to do at this moment is continue to avoid it.
I definitely want to ask for clarification before he visits in future as I do not want him getting romantic ideas before the journey.
But I am just at a loss of how to ask & let him down gently if he does confess.
Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you.