I received my first love confession, and the thing is I don't know what to do!

When I first met him, he told me that he had just broken up with his girlfriend a few months ago and that he was afraid of love. I told him that I was too busy to even consider a relationship. So we promised each other to only be friends. 

Maybe it is because we are young and playful. We gave each other nicknames. Because we worked at the same place, a restaurant small enough that there were no secrets, everyone knew the nicknames we had for each other and teased us frequently. We denied it and said we were just friends. 

I helped him out with something. From then on, we started sms-ing each other more frequently up till the point where we were talking 24/7. We would say good morning and good night to each other every day. Maybe it was because the both of us are sweet talkers, we started sweet talking and play fighting with each other as well. 

He was really sweet... I once threw a temper at work because I couldn't take a colleague's teasing. I apologised when my colleague apologised and told him that I was probably hormonal and going to get my period soon. Somehow that information reached his ears and he asked a fellow female colleague what he could give me to make me feel better... She came and told me that a few days later and well, my heart melted a little.

The male colleague whom I threw a fit at told me that he talked about me at work, incessantly. I was really stressed over results that I was about to take. He actually remembered the day and time I would collect my results even when I had just mentioned it casually before. Once, I told him casually that I would go jogging whenever I felt stressed and he actually remembered it.

In the beginning, me and my other three colleagues (all guys) including him, would go out together, shopping and eating and whatever not. Then it started to becoming only me and him. He would insist on paying everytime and was just sweet and everything to me. But at that time, we were really just friends, and would exchange a simple hug whenever we were saying goodbye. 

Recently, we went out with a few friends. They wanted to watch a horror movie, and I reluctantly agreed. Knowing that I was deathly afraid of horror movies, he jokingly told me to grab onto him tightly if I was afraid. I thought it may be crossing certain boundaries as friends if I did that, so I did not initiate anything, and simply jumped in my seat when the first ghost made its appearance. Yet when he saw me jump (he was on my right) he reached over and took my hand in his. He held my hand tighter at the scary parts and covered my eyes at the horrifying parts. Throughout the show, he never let go of my hand. Maybe I liked it, because I let him hold it. (I'm quite a touchy-feely person and basically love to hug anyone I see)

From then onwards, whenever we were together, he would reach out to hold my hand.

A few days ago, he had a day off and asked me to go out for food. It's not the first time he did that and I thought we were going as friends, so I agreed. As usual, he reached out to hold my hand. But he started to hug me on escalators, on MRTs, and basically anywhere when we were not walking. I liked people hugging me, but I'm not sure if friends did that, so I did not stop him. 

He would playfully tell me not to fall in love with him because I would only get hurt, and I would always agree and promise that I wouldn't. Then today, he gave me a back-hug and told me that he loved me. I was slightly shocked but thought it was just him sweet-talking me again. Over lunch, he reached to hold my hand and kissed my hand. Twice. When I tried to pull away from shock, he told me not to fall in love with him. 

Me: You don't fall in love with me first.

Him: Too late, I'm already in love with you.

Me: Then you expect me not to fall in love with you? Isn't it unfair for you if I don't love you back?

Him: I want to love you so that I'll treat you well and protect you. But I don't want you to fall in love with me and get hurt.

I mean, hey! Does he think we're acting in a K-Drama or something??? Its just that this is so much like my "So I Heard You're A Player" fic that it makes me a little amazed... I dunno... I"m confused.

Lets sweet talk. Lets play fight. Lets talk 24/7. Lets tell each other good morning and good night every day. Lets take walks together. Let's give each other nicknames. Lets go on dates. Lets talk on the phone all night long. Lets hold each other. Lets kiss and hug.

And whoever falls in love first? Loses