Please Help me, Does He Love me?

Hi, my name is Steven i'm 23 years old and i'm gay. I recently met this guy who I really like a lot and end up loving with all my heart....the problem is I think i'm the only one in love. He has been with his partner for about 8 years, however they have a long distance relationship for about 4 years now. They see each other about every 3 months and talk every now and then. He knows how much I love him, however I think he just sees me as a friend. But there are some things he does that frankly got me confused...for example, there have been two occasions when we have been hugging each other very tenderly, just like a couple would do...he usually says it's because I'm a very good friend he loves a lot, but still just a friend. He has barely done something that I can recall as an effort to be with me as I think I am the one who makes the biggest effort for being together. He said once he was very gratefull for meeting me, still he still sees me as a friend. I have thought about getting away from him as it is too painfull for me to watch him talking about his or with his partner, or being close to him without knowing whether he will ever love me or not...and I am not sure if I should invest my feelings and be tied up to someone I don't really know if he would ever love me beyond friendship. I have thought of leaving him and reduce my interactions with him, but I don't really wanna do it. I don't want to wait for him eternally, specially if i don't know if he would ever move forward... SO I was wondering if you have been through something like this before or what you think about it... BTW, thanks for reading this :-)