To bare your truth was to let him go.
So instead of revealing that you've exceeded the platonic expectation of your relationship, you lied and allow yourself to be the shadow of his lost lover.
"Tell me you don't feel anything for me and I will walk away right now"
He always had a way of putting me on the spot, I knew how I felt about him but I couldn't drag him down the path I was going down.
I refused to.