I dated thid guy briefly..but I don't understand why he is being this way if he doesn't want a relationship

Question

he other night he was being very overpotective of me &complimented me & said that I had a good heart & deserve a great guy. He put his arm around my waist & we hugged a few times.

Then today we took a photo in a group of friends & we all said it's a bad photo of us but he said' you look beautiful in it.' & said I could be a model & told me I have low self esteem. He says he tries to see inner beauty anyway when he looks at pictures. He said again that I had a good heart & I should be more confident. Then he sort of ruffled my hair lol.

When we went outside some people where singing rihanna and he said '(my name) is more beautiful than rihanna.' which is DEFINITELY not true! lol.

In his friends car a song came on & he said that it reminded him of us & at some point he kissed my forehead for some reason I can't remember.

he made it clear he doesn't want a relationship with anyone, still why is he acting so forward. I enjoy his company a lot, even as friends.

Answer 1

I think he's trying to tell you he likes you a lot but still wants to be friends or maybe hes just that kind of guy, he sounds realy nice