Wanting to "be friends" is the most classic and perhaps the biggest sign that the other is not interested.

‘Being friends’ here should not be confused with the other person valuing you; instead it means the person definitely does NOT see you as a romantic interest.

Wanting to be friends is perhaps their way of telling you that ‘friendship’ is all they want from their association with you and is a polite way of telling you to move on.

Either loved someone or been in love with someone who didn’t reciprocate? How did you deal with the situation? In the email written by M, he mentions how despite knowing that he was in love with her, the girl, V, continued talking to him on the phone and yet wanted to keep their relationship a ‘secret’.

Now she wants to be "just friends" as she does not want to go against her parents’ wishes. M also mentions that he believes the girl loves him "but is not willing to accept it".

Unfortunately, the only one not willing to accept the truth in this scenario is M. While his email was not very clear about the nature of their phone conversations and neither did it mention if the girl had ever accepted to being in love with him; it’s evident that she is NOT in love with him now.

She is using/ giving him all the reasons and signs that she wants their association – even an imagined romantic one – to end and wants him to move on in life.

Even if one were to assume that the girl does have any feelings for M, it’s advisable for M to end the chapter and look for love elsewhere, or wait till it happens to him: What’s the point in waiting for someone who cannot stand by you for whatever reason?

In this situation though, the girl clearly does not love M. Sometimes, we might really love another person but the other does not reciprocate.