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You’ve probably had the experience of having someone fall in love with you when you didn’t return the feeling. In such a case it’s hard to know what to do. You want to discourage your admirer. Yet, you don’t want to be so obvious in your efforts that you make an enemy of him. A friend of mine had this problem and handled it in the most graceful way I’ve ever seen. Instead of telling the young man that she found it tiresome to have him around so much, she devoted herself to introducing the young man to every girl she knew. Whenever she had a date with him, she arranged for them to drop in one of her girl friends. A few weeks was all it took for him to click (一见如故) with one of these girls, and then everyone was happy. The new girl and the young man got along just fine and both of them were grateful to my friend, which was just what she wanted him to be. Of course this solution may not work for you. You may have your own way of dealing with the problem. But whatever you decide to do, keep one thing in mind-- the boy in question has feelings as sensitive as your own. So try to find a way of discouraging him without hurting him.

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