Spockette did a really great job of pointing out the contradictions in your thinking here. You have an idealized image of this guy-- you've decided that he's perfect in your eyes, regardless of what you might learn about him if you actually got to know him. The problem is that it's all of those things "you might learn about him" that are what CAUSE someone to fall in love in the first place. In a healthy, mutual relationship, love comes from getting to know all of the things that make that person tick, and how the two of you make each other feel when you are together. Loving someone is about knowing all of their quirks, their interests, their behaviors, their likes and dislikes-- and that person knowing yours-- knowing how to comfort you when you're upset, knowing how to put on your favorite movie before bed, knowing what they can say to make you laugh, knowing by your facial expression what kind of mood you're in. Loving someone is about having an intimate, mutual bond with another person. It's about the relationship you have WITH someone; I don't believe that can exist unless you are actually spending time and sharing experiences with that person. The thing about love is that it goes both ways. True, sometimes you love someone romantically and they love you platonically- but there is still mutuality there. Loving someone "from afar" isn't really loving that person for who they are-- because you don't know who they are. It's really an idea that you have created that you are falling in love with. It's all generated by you-- not by him.

You say nothing you learned about him could make you stop loving him. What about finding out that he does not share your feelings? Would that be a deterrent for you? What if he found out that you were in love with him, and he had a negative reaction to that news? What if he does not see you in the same positive way that you see him? What if he is not interested in getting to know you better, either platonically or romantically? Or, what if he spent more time getting to know you, and then decided he was not interested? I am NOT saying this is the case-- I have no idea. All we know is that he has a girlfriend. So, at least for the time being, he seems to prefer this girl to you. He knows you as well as you know him and, so far, he is not taking steps to get to know you better. In my experience, part of being in love is the way the other person makes you feel about yourself. They lift you up, they compliment you, they make you laugh, they make you smile, they go out of their way to make your day better. I can't imagine being in love with someone who didn't make me feel as though I were special-- like if someone preferred someone else over me or didn't seem to notice that I existed. I've felt that way before, and I realized that it wasn't really love.

We've all had the experience of falling for someone romantically, and not having our feelings returned. It's painful. It's awful. It tears us apart. It makes us wonder if we're ever going to find true love. It makes us wonder if we're even lovable in the first place. And, when you're young, it hurts even more-- because we haven't experienced real love yet, so we think every infatuation is the best thing there is and we don't know if it will ever happen again. But it does. Eventually. And the first time you find yourself in a mutual, loving relationship-- you'll know it. And the pain of those early infatuations won't hurt as bad anymore. It's all a part of the difficult process of becoming an adult and figuring life out as we go along.