Hi

I've recently rejected (as in 1 week ago) a lovely female friends romantic interests in me. Although i haven’t known her for too long we get on like a house on fire and she is a very beautiful person. However, physically I’m not drawn to her in that way. I can't help it.

For the past month we ended up talking on the phone all the time and texting etc.

I met her for a drink and she expressed her romantic interest in me. It was awful rejecting her . We decided to continue being friends.

However she has been really sad hurt and teary the past few days. I'm not sure what to do? I have a mix of emotions especially guilt, i feel emotionally 'in love' but not physically due to us having made a connection talking on phone for 2 months, feeling down myself and also hurting because she's hurting. Do i hold back from contacting her? I have no clue how long these kind of things take to heal over. I would be so gutted if we drifted apart because of this Any good advice appreciated.
We were talking on phone a lot last night and ended up discussing what had happened when we met. I think that was a really bad move. It feels like re living the rejection! But the horrible twist is that she now seems to have closed off, signs of moving on, and is coping with it better and I’m now hurting because we’d built an emotional attachment when talking for past 2 months and now it feels like a 'break up' in a weird way. Just want this pain to end.

Any advice would be amazing