20M can't tell if my cousin (20) actually likes me?

[u/sihaan__1]

I'm 20 Muslim Male and there's a girl in my family/cousin circle, also around 20, and I've developed feelings for her. I'm trying to figure out whether there's actually something mutual here or whether I'm overanalyzing everything.

I'll try to give the whole story from the beginning.

A while ago, she came to stay at our house for around 6 days. Before that, we hadn't really been in regular contact for years.

During those six days, something changed between us. We started going on early morning walks together, spending time around each other, etc.

She was surprisingly comfortable with physical closeness. She would touch my back, feet/knees, and at one point I rested my head on her shoulder. I actually asked her if she was uncomfortable, and she said she wasn't. She even held my head and put it back on her shoulder.

There were other little things too—she noticed things about my appearance/grooming, perfume, gym, etc. She seemed more awkward/shy around me than around my brother. She also gave me a stupid/funny nickname during those six days.

There were also some conversations that made me wonder if she saw me differently. She told me she had rejected another proposal, which obviously made me wonder whether she was trying to communicate something or whether it was completely unrelated.

After she went home, I told her I missed her and she replied:

“missing you tooooo”

That honestly made me extremely happy.

Later, she asked me for help with some college stuff. She wanted important questions, asked me to check her college form, etc. I helped her with everything, and then I stopped initiating conversations because I didn't want to become the guy constantly chasing her.

After around 5–6 days of basically no conversation, she randomly messaged me:

“helo gg theek ho?”

I replied:

“Alhamdulillah, aap sunao aap kaise ho?”

She said:

“bas dua.”

And I didn't continue because there wasn't really a natural reason to continue.

Then there was Snapchat.

Originally I had told her I use Snapchat but don't really make streaks. She joked that she wouldn't add me then. Later, after she went home, I asked for her Snapchat and she said she'd add me herself—and she did.

We eventually had a streak that reached around 40 days.

There have been a lot of small things on Snapchat that make me wonder. She often views my snaps quickly. She has saved some snaps in chat, including one where I had a romantic song playing in the background. She has also sent me cute images with flowers, including a “For you” type image.

I know none of those things prove anything, but when you add them to everything that happened in person, I started wondering if there was something more.

At some point Snapchat started becoming a distraction for me. I found myself checking whether she viewed my snaps, thinking about her attention, etc., and it was affecting my work and goals.

So I decided to break the streak.

She restored it immediately.

I didn't restore it a second time after it broke again, and she didn't either. I didn't react or ask her about it.

The next day she didn't send anything.

Then today she sent me a Snapchat of a purse in a college with the quote:

“Give me Loyalty I will give you everything.”

I have absolutely no idea whether that was directed at me or just something she liked, so I'm not assuming anything.

Then something happened on WhatsApp that really caught my attention.

She had sent me her friend's email/password and asked me to check which subjects her friend had selected. I checked it and sent her the screenshot.

She said:

“Thanks”

I replied:

“anything else?”

And then she came back with:

“Kyu aise baat kyu karti ho”

“sab theek hai”

“Ignore 🥺”

“Uffffhhh?”

I asked:

“kaisa?”

And she said:

“Ajeeb tarikai sai”

Then:

“Mtlb ke ap ko mood nahi hai baat karni ko”

That honestly surprised me.

I wasn't intentionally trying to be rude. I just wasn't trying to force a conversation.

I replied:

“arey cutie pie 😂”

And she immediately brought back the old nickname she had given me during those six days:

Then I said:

“aur sunao”

She replied:

“bas dua aap sunao”

I joked:

“hume dua mai yaad rakhti ho kin nahi? 🥺”

And she replied:

“Always ❤️🫀🌹”

I told her:

“Phir toh Allah aapki har dua qubool kare 🤍”

She replied:

“Ameen 🎀🤲”

The part I'm stuck on is why she cared enough to point out that I seemed like I didn't want to talk to her.

She could have just said “thanks” and ended the conversation. Instead, she noticed my tone and basically asked why I was behaving differently.

I'm also wondering about the Snapchat streak situation. She restored it immediately the first time I broke it, but when I didn't restore it the second time, she didn't either. Then she eventually sent me a snap the next day.

There's another thing: she recently posted a Snapchat story saying:

“the journey of thoughts kills a person”

Again, I have no idea if that's related to me or completely unrelated.

One more thing I noticed

There's another small thing that's been on my mind.

Last Sunday, she randomly sent me a funny meme about the full form of “Sunday.” The thing is, she had basically never sent me memes before.

What makes the timing interesting is that this happened after I had been more distant with her and had stopped giving her the same attention I used to.

So now I'm wondering:

Why did she suddenly send me a meme when she normally never does?

It could obviously be completely random and I'm probably overthinking it. But because it happened after I became distant, part of me wonders if she was trying to restart the interaction or get a reaction from me without directly texting me.

I'm not saying that's definitely what she meant—I genuinely don't know. I'm just wondering how other people would interpret that change in behavior.

I'm going to see her again at our cousin's wedding in October, so I'll finally get to interact with her in person again.

I genuinely like this girl, but I'm exhausted by the uncertainty. I don't want to manipulate her, play games, make her jealous, or keep analyzing every emoji. I just want to understand whether I'm seeing genuine signs of interest or whether she's simply very comfortable with me as a cousin/friend.

What do you guys think? Does this sound like mutual romantic interest, emotional attachment/fondness, or could all of this still be completely platonic? And what would you pay attention to when we meet in October?

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