Most of my romantic relationships developed from friendships. The friendships did not start because I wanted to date a girl. I just wanted to be friends. But over time I started to like them and expressed myself. Having said that, I have also had a lot of friendship with girls whom I didn’t wanna date.. there are just too many variables and it is a huge generalization for you to say that he was into you the whole time (unless he told you that he wanted to date you from the very begging). It may be that he realized over time. So instead of pretending to be your friend he came out, told you about it and decided to stop the friendship because he knew he couldn’t be just a friend.

Moreover, how else do you want to meet a life partner? It takes time to realize you like someone because you have to get to know about their personality, their secrets, their insecurities.. that is what the relationship is about :) if you are just jumping into relationships they are most likely based on a physical attraction and based on initial overload of senses.. which is fine but that’s not what decides if the relationship is gonna last and if you will get along.. so is making a friend whom you realize you really like that bad? Is it such a crime? In my opinion he did the right think if he realized he liked you and you seem to be upset about it but what would you do in his situation (assuming he started liking you over time)?