Do you think he or she is speciall?

I have had this happen to me in the past and I nicely explained to the friend that I do not mix friendship with matters of the heart because I valued our friendship way too much. My thinking has always been that if I were to mingle the friendship with love then when and if something goes wrong then our friendship could never return to what it once was. So as long as the friend understood that we were fine but he could not handle simply being friends. So we are no longer friends. However, if it were to occur again, I would do the same and hope the friend understood because I would not treat the friend any differently simply because when I called him a friend to begin with I meant it.

You can treat him/her normally just like what you did from the very beginning as you mention that he/she is in love with you secretly unless he/she reveal his/her secret then I think it is better to be honest with your feelings towards him and if she/he truly loves you he/she will eventually understand you.

I'm married now, but I know before I got married. I would give this friend special attention. I was very aware of what I said and how I treated them. I didn't want to do anything to ruin that relationship. I think calling them my special friend is my answer. Best Wishes!

i think you're being unfair to him/her if you treat him/her so special from the rest of your friends. You know you don't feel the same way for him/her but that special treatment you may want to give him/her might just trouble his/her feelings and might give him/her some false hopes.Just treat him/her the right way. He/she might love you but would still want to keep the friendship anyway.

Don't treat your friend any different than the rest of your friends. That would be unfair to him/her. She will think that you feel the same way and have feelings. You don't want her to be hoping for nothing, don't you? That will create more problems, because you don't feel the same way towards him/her. Or if it cannot be avoided, talk to him/her. Tell it to her straight. That way he/she will realize that nothing can happen between you.