Asking for a friend, Part 2/Update

This is a follow up to [THIS POST]Tl;dr -My buddy and his bf broke up. -we talked about our feelings and our friendship.-I have the best friend ever and am glad I took reddit's advice and didn't fuck it up.So this ended up turning out completely different than expected. They ended up breaking up this past weekend. My buddy seemed to be doing ok, and then kind of broke down while a few of us were hanging out on Memorial Day. He and I went apart from the others to talk...he was sobbing and lamenting the breakup and then he apologized to me over and over and when I asked what he was talking about he said "I know you have feelings for me and I'm sorry for dragging you through this with me and I love you and I'm truly so sorry I can't be with you right now but that's just not where my life is going to be for the foreseeable future. I won't do anything to hurt you or let you be hurt."He, like myself, is the empath type and I had a sneaking suspicion after the last post that he may already know. I let him know that I did have strong feelings for him and assured him that our friendship was number one between us, that I've properly boundaried my feelings and not let them come into play in inappropriate ways such as advice toward his relationship and that he had nothing to apologize for.We talked again today at lunch and I told him that if anything, I should be thanking him because for the first time since my own breakup several years ago, i've felt strongly toward someone, something I thought might never happen again.We've reaffirmed our friendship and its boundaries, spoken openly about our cares and concerns and the things that make our bond so special and meaningful and the two of us couldn't be happier to have someone so caring and wonderful on our side to walk through life with. Who knows what the future holds but what I have in my best friend is amazing and something I thank God for.Thank you guys for your advice. For those in the various stages of relationships, friendships, breakups, etc., I can't stress enough how important it is to let life be what it is and see the hidden gifts in situations that don't seem to be going your way. When life gets shitty, I'd rather have this wonderful friend I met by chance last year at work by my side than for him to be my trophy boyfriend or cuddle bud or whatever else. Life or God or whatever you believe in put us in one another's lives and helped us to find what we needed to be for one another. It'll happen for you too when you need it.