Yes! An amazing feeling like no other, until he says, "love you as a friend". Painful to talk about. Those butterfly feelings don't go away easily, either.

Love is two words. It's a noun and a verb. The noun is a feeling that originates in you benefits only you and really has nothing to do with the other person. The verb is how we express that feeling. Each person's feelings come from their own mind. Your feelings in no way dictates another's feelings.

Happens all the time...

Unrequited love is real. "Just cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there."--Thom Yorke.

I was in a FWB relationship 16 years ago. I fell in love with him. He said he loved me, but not in that way. He's my best friend now, and I can't imagine life without him in it, but I'm still in love with him. I know it will never be reciprocated. It hurts, I'm attempting to move on, but I cherish our friendship and don't want to lose it.

I am not sure as to the nature of "true" love. If I say I love you, It may or may not make someone feel pleasurable sensations, Security, respect, warmth, But when I say that, assuming I would not lie in saying it, It reflects warm feelings that I possess. Were my feelings based on simple reciprocation, Then if not returned, I should feel them less or not at all. To say "I love you" says more about the speaker than the object, Always.

If the feelings of love for another person is not being reciprocated then it would seem to point in the direction of infatuation.

So many people live there whole lives making do. I know I did. I don't really know that many obviously tight bonded completely in love people.

nah, love is more often one sided than not. Perhaps it is more infatuation, but think of when one partner has fallen out of love/moved on.
Also, it is common even when both love, for one to love more than the other.
Life sux.