How LONG should I WAIT to re-express my feelings??

So I have this guy friend who I confessed to him I liked him last year...this was pretty early in our actual friendship. Back then, he liked another girl, but felt sorry for me about it (having to get rejected because he liked someone else). He actually said he was sorry there couldn’t be anything.

He had told me to keep this girl he liked a secret cause we’re in a really strict school, so I vowed I’d make sure what he’d told me stayed a secret and ‘protect them’. He thought that was sweet😊.

Now, that relationship’s just reduced to just friends (happened this week, they lasted like 6mths). Aaaaannnd, I realise I love him more than ever😍, even though I tried desperately to turn my ‘love’ feelings into ‘friendship’ feeling🙄😂.

However, during the course of his relationship with the other girl, him and I have developed a really close friendship (he knows stuff about me I’ve told no one else and I know stuff about him that’s only be kept to his closest friends). He seems to really get me, and I accept him for who he is... ‘mistakes’ and all. He cares for me as a friend, I KNOW that, but I’m not sure whether it could ever be more🤔💖.

Anyone else been in same situation?? What did you do??