I protected him in 3rd grade, didn't recognize him years later, and now I'm lowkey falling for him

So I was class president exactly ONCE in elementary school (3rd grade) and there was this tiny, pale, scrawny boy with a bowl cut that the other guys were absolutely brutal to. Like bad. I'm talking real bullying.

I was bigger and had actual authority so whenever they messed with him I'd shut it down. We hung out, did group projects together, the whole thing. Then I switched cram schools in senior year and just... lost touch.

Fast forward and there's this guy in my new academy class who looks SO similar but he's like way taller now so I just assumed it was a different person. We caught each other looking a few times but never talked until I checked his name tag and it said his name and I was like "oh that's just some similar-looking dude" lol.

Then one day we're both at the vending machine during night study and I'm awkwardly like "hey you look like my friend from way back." He asks if we looked alike and I'm like "it's been forever so honestly my memory's fuzzy" and I'm kinda joking like "you were shorter back then" and he actually LAUGHED.

And then. AND THEN. This man puts his hand on my head (which is insane btw) and goes "the class president should be taller." I literally FROZE. My brain just stopped working.

Turns out it WAS him. He apparently changed his name at some point (which... tells you everything about how much he hated that time). He just found out who I was when he saw me at the academy, spent time waiting for a moment alone with me, followed me to the vending machine, and basically tested if I remembered him by acting like a stranger.

Now we're actually close and honestly I'm catching feelings HARD lmaooo. Part of me wants to confess but the only memory we share is from when he hated his life so much he literally changed his name. So I'm thinking... maybe we make better memories first? Then I'll tell him.