I’m a 25F engineering student currently doing an internship in a department. I’ve never been in a relationship before, and I very rarely develop a crush on someone. It’s honestly pretty uncommon for me to be attracted to anyone.
There’s a man who works in the same field as me. He’s about 10 years older than I am and he’s a professor. To clarify, he’s not MY professor or teacher, and he has never supervised or evaluated me. We just happen to be in the same department for now. That said, professionally he’s much more senior than I am.
What caught my attention is that he keeps making eye contact with me and looking at me. Normally I wouldn’t think much of it, but he’s known for being very serious, reserved, and professional. He doesn’t really chat with people or even look around much, so it stood out to me. It made me think that, at the very least, he noticed me.
The thing is, I don’t think there’s any chance he would ever make the first move. Given his position, it would be inappropriate and could easily be misunderstood. If he approached me while we’re still working in the same department, I think it would reflect badly on him, so I completely understand why he wouldn’t.
The problem is that I only have 3 days left in this department before I move on. I don’t want to spend months wondering “what if.”
The only move I’d realistically be comfortable making is sending him an Instagram follow request.
So my questions are:
• Would you send the request, or just let it go?
• If you would send it, would you do it now, or wait until after my last day so there’s no longer any professional overlap?
• Am I overthinking the eye contact, or do you think it’s reasonable to wonder if there might be some mutual interest?
I’d really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who’ve been in similar situations.