Once upon a time, a man met someone on POF. The two started talking, and eventually went out on a date. It went great, but afterwards, the person from POF said he just wanted to be friends, because he wasn't looking for a relationship.
The man was very sad about this, but he agreed, and for a time, the pair were happily friends.
Over time however, the friend started to grow distant. The man was sad, but tried to put up with it. Eventually, the man got so sad that he spoke to his friend about it. It helped, but not for long. Eventually, the man realized he was in a one-sided friendship, and decided to cut off contact from his friend.
But the friend would still send him a message every month, asking how things were going.
At first, the man responded. But after a few of these instances, he decided to stop. It was time to move on. The conversations were always the same - a brief summary of what the pair had been up to. A sad shadow of what those conversations used to be. A few months went by, and the friend messaged the man again, asking him how he was doing.
The man replied. And once again, the two casually exchanged the details of the past few months. But then the conversation was over, and the man was sad again. Why did he reply to his ex-friend? The man thought he had moved on. He had told himself he had moved on.
So this time, the man sent one final message at the end of the conversation. It told his ex-friend flat out that they weren't friends anymore, but that the man wished him all the best. Because the man liked his ex-friend, even still.
Now, I think, maybe the man can move on for real.