I understand that you may believe the OP is not looking to cure any mental illness she may have developed due to rejecting/lack of knowledge pertaining to Freudian psychoanalysis, and that she is merely seeking advice on a social situation. Which is exactly why I gave the type of advice which induces self confidence, inspiration and the knowledge to understand how and why the advice needed is to always stay true to your emotional needs, questions and concerns, how to truly stay on the right path towards your true purpose in life, and avoid creating any unwanted mental illness along the way.
I gave and introduced the Freudian psychoanalysis to the OP due to the fact that it has everything to do with all social situations, in fact his insight if applied by all individuals would prove to improve drastically the quality in all aspects of social, emotional, physical and spiritual relationships and situations in everyday dilemmas in life on earth. In my message of advice I merely provided the OP the true reasons and explanations as to why I gave the advice to follow and listen to your heart and emotions at all times. Some may believe the appropriate advice and the advice the OP needed to hear was; TELLING her Exactly WHAT to say, do and how to act when approaching the situation at hand. However, we are all wired, act, react and think, analyse and process everything completely differently then any other individual on earth, non of us are the same. However we do all run and thrive off of emotion, so the approach to most situations one would take, may be quite different then the others approach due to the oppositions perception of the situation at hand, so telling someone what to say and how to handle the situation can very well prove to be ineffective in the grand scheme of things and actually cause tragic results. The OP's original question of concern being asked and addressed in order to confirm her decision of plausible action, is as follows; do I follow my heart, my emotions, my gut feelings and intuition and address my inner feelings towards a man I am interested in, but feel may not be socially acceptable due to the underlining issues of a past professional relationship and interaction we had prior to our situation now, or do I just move on, ignore and sweep underneath the rug, what my heart and emotions are truly feeling? To sum up this question the OP was merely asking; do I listen to my heart and emotions or do I ignore them. The answer/advice we all gave her was the exact same in the end, which was YES, act on your EMOTIONS and approach the subject in question. However, most had decided telling the OP EXACTLY what to say or do was the correct advice, others felt advising her to dial back and ignore the feelings so you don't scare him off is much better, I merely gave her an explanation as to WHY yes act on your emotions at all times, is the predominate answer to her question dealing with her social dilemma, and what will inevitably happen if she were to ignore the questions, concerns, emotions and feelings verses addressing them always at all times.
The point and advice I was giving but some how was misunderstood along the way was this:
when we have the knowledge, wisdom and confidence in ourselves to trust ourselves, our heart, emotions and decisions, we will always be making the right decisions for OUR SELVES, as we all know our heart will never lie to us as long as we are listening and following our emotions, concerns, feelings and heart in order to accomplish staying true to our inner spirits needs and wants and not living life through some body else. The truthful advice the OP needed to hear was yes follow your heart. And that is what I was promoting, followed by the legitimate reason as to why we should always listen and follow our hearts at all times, as well is informing her what would happen if she did not attend and follow her heart.
I gave her the true advice she needed in order to succeed in ever aspect of life and not just this social situation, the only advice she truly needs, is to trust her self confidence by explaining and reminding her that one can not go wrong in life as long as you listen and trust your heart and NO ONE else. For your heart will always stay true to you and will always guide you directly where you need to be in life. If you don't follow, listen and attend to what your emotions and feelings are telling you, and decide to listen to what other people tell you to say, and want you to do and act a certain way, if you listen to everyone else, accept your inner self your emotions, heart, spirit and soul, your heart and head will find it self suffering from depression as the days go by, plain and simple.

The more you relax, relate, release and speak, the more you will connect with your true inner peace.
Believe in your self, build the confidence to listen trust and know what your heart needs to succeed in every aspect of life weather it be social, physical, emotional, spiritual personal or literal, ALWAYS TRUST YOUR HEART!
Awareness and Guidance is what we need, not always what we want! Teach don't tell, guide don't push!