The most important rule of unrequited love is that the object of that love must never, ever find out. Otherwise the spell will be broken and terrible, earth altering consequences will ensue. The true unrequited lover will lurk in the shadows and the half lights. Watching and admiring from a safe distance. It is better that way.
Of course there are always the games to be played. Knowing where they are at all times. Knowing what they are doing. Where they are going. Who they are seeing. It isn't stalking. Not the same thing at all. You don't believe for one moment that they will ever feel the same way about you. You never believe that the two of you were meant to be together. Oh no. That would not do at all.
You don't believe for a moment as you follow him around that you are important to him in any way. As you watch his body move under the elegant lines of his suit. The tall, slim body that dances as he makes his way in the world. You are not important. He doesn't know you exist. Not really.
You wake up thinking about him. You dream of things you know are not real. You plan the life you will never have. You fool yourself in to thinking that you know him. What he's like. What makes him smile, what makes him sad. Only you don't really know him at all. You have built him up from his public face, the many public faces. Not one of them is the private face. Perhaps who he really is would leave you disappointed? But then you look at his face, his smile, hear his voice and you don't care.
And those eyes. You would die for those eyes. They don't look at you. Even when you are face to face. Because you are worse than invisible to him. You are transparent. Like the glass in a window. He knows it's there but he just looks through it in order to see other things.
Sometimes he looks so beautiful that it hurts you to look at him. You wonder if he knows how beautiful he is. You want to tell him, but of course that would be breaking the most important rule.
Instead you try to gain his attention in other ways. You like the same things he does, whether you really like them or not. And you try to impress him with your cleverness. Or you try to make him laugh. Just to make him laugh once. Once. Just one moment of sweet approbation. Is that too much to ask?
But he doesn't know you exist. Not really. It's better that way.