Any affection-related component of the communication just is Not There.
Or more likely it hasn’t been there, but could be in the future under the right conditions. Even if it has, are you open to seeing what the other person is trying to say or are you doing all of that predictive analysis and expecting something specific?
Even with someone willing to make the effort to communicate verbally, when they are used to physical cues, and you are not, it’s going to be a clumsy process for both of you at first. You may have to embrace the ambiguity in the communication, and treat it as a long term process. The other person involved has every right to walk away at any time, as do you. That’s just how it is. If you can drop the past bitterness and not apply it to every new attempt at connecting with someone, you may have a chance.
