Regardless of the Answers

So... I'm currently reading "I'll be Right There" by Shin Kyung Sook (which I so dearly love, very very much), and I came across this one sentence in the book the other day:

"You should only ask someone if they love you if you love them, regardless of what their answers might be."

(Jung Yoon, p. 60)

I dogeared this page. 

Well, I've dogeared a lot of pages in the book anyway, with so many highlights here and there (that's how I treat a book I love, by making them appear so well-loved). I even copied 2 passages from the book and pasted them in my thick notebook. 

But reading the one sentence above again and again, there's something in it that strikes a chord with me. It makes me remember someone - someone I once liked, really really liked but now no longer (it's been years, he has his own life but nonetheless I somewhat still occasionally remember him, and how we were once). Well, he never knew about my feelings back then. I kept it hidden, unsaid, though doubtlessly somewhat both of us actually knew. I wasn't sure about his feelings though, but I had my own suspicion. 

If I were to be given a chance to meet him again, should I say to him that I'd once liked him very much? Regardless of what his answers would be? Could I do that? 

Now that I think of it, if the moment was right, I think I would. And could. Just for the sake of saying what once I held so dearly, that it had once been real to me. Even though it's late. 

Right?