Late Shift Romance? Or Not So Much?

So I'm this night-shift worker at a warehouse. You know how it goes, long hours of boredom interspersed with moments of pure chaos, and always late into the night when everyone else is asleep. It's just me, my co-worker John (who's in his mid-thirties), and a whole lot of boxes to move around. We've worked together for a couple years now, mostly in silence but sometimes striking up conversation when it's slow. No real friendship there, more like professional acquaintances with the occasional awkward small talk. Anyway, last week something different happened. The shift was unusually quiet and I was feeling pretty amped after some late-night coffee. John walked over to where I was boxing up a shipment and leaned in close to me while we were alone for a moment. He whispered that he had a crush on me and asked if I ever thought about him that way, too. Now, mind you, this came out of nowhere but somehow didn't surprise me at all, it's John, right? Never really noticed anything before but I guess people can have secret feelings that don’t affect their everyday demeanor. The twist was that he wanted to know if I thought about him as a romantic partner or just as someone with great abs and a decent sense of humor. I had this brief moment where my mind raced through all the what-ifs, considering if there could be something between us beyond our shared workspace. But then reality hit, married man here with a life outside work that's already full enough without complicating things further. I told him as much, politely but firmly. And let me tell you, that awkward moment was followed by a whole lot of silence before he just nodded and walked away. To be honest, it left a weird taste in my mouth, wasn't expecting this turn of events at all. The next day, we didn’t bring it up again, kept things professional but there's always going to be that lingering air between us now. I'm glad we're both adults and handled the situation maturely, just didn't see it coming. So yeah, my night-shift workplace dynamic changed a bit without me even noticing until it was upon me. Sometimes life throws you curveballs when you least expect them.