I still cringed at myself for confesssing to friend/coworker 2 years ago that ended up blowing our friendship and working relationship (but also lead me to having a girlfriend afterwards)
Me and this girl is in our 30s at we get a long since day 1. Like within our office group, we both have our own little bubble, inside jokes, our own language and spend time outside of the working hours a lot (well I kinda asked her out, and since then we keep hanging out even until 2am in the morning).
The catch is she has a bf.... Like LDR, overseas and she admitted to me (when she's drunk) that she kinda.... Losing feelings for him and not sure about marrying him and not attracted to him.
And at this point, we are so close and kinda have this...tension. Idk maybe I'm an idiot. So after a month since she told me that, again as always we hung out until morning, I was dropping jer off at her house and I kinda said, hey i know you have a bf but I like you, like romantically, I just want to be honest and you don't have to say anything and we don't have to be anything. And that's it.
A few days later she texted me that she really applauded my courage and honesty, not a lot of guys would have the gut to do that but she ultimately decided to stay with her bf and I was fine about it. I wasn't expecting anything, I just thought some of the things we did have crossed a lot of lines, even borderline cheating and I don't wanna be "the other guy". So I thought we could just be adult and resolved this peaceful, I thought we're fine.
Nope, she ultimately cut me off, physically avoid me and can't be in the same room as me. Which again, I respect that, maybe I'm an asshole for confessing to someone's gf, but I just thought we could just act normal and stay friends. I respected her boundary regardless. It made me sad and it affected my mental health, not because of the rejection, but because of the aftermath that ended our fun friendship.
Eventually I decided, you know what, let's not have a crush on friends or coworkers, so I finally downloaded dating apps. Matched with a cute girl, she has a funny bio, so I kinda banter with her about her bio then we talk about Kpop demon hunter, yadayada, she asked me out on a date and the next thing I know, I got a girlfriend.
I still cringed at what happened, like what was I thinking? Omg I'm such an idiot and embarrassed, but also in a weird way, grateful because that lead me to meet my girlfriend. Life works in mysterious way
TL;DR: I confessed my feelings to a close coworker who had a boyfriend. She rejected me but was cool about it — then ghosted me completely. Losing the friendship hurt more than the rejection. I downloaded dating apps to move on and ended up getting a girlfriend.