Season greetings to all!

I recently approached a woman at my church and asked her out but she said she’d rather continue to explore our friendship in its current state. The weird thing is I caught her (and a friend confirmed this as he saw it as well) looking in my direction a couple of times after I asked her out, which I found to be quite weird.

Things have been fine between the two of us since - we’ve been able to interact with minimal awkwardness, but I have noticed that she pays a little more attention to the things I say in group settings. And because of this, I keep overthinking what she may have meant by “explore friendship”. I’m not sure if it’s a case of her not knowing me well enough and wanting to see if we can be friends first before she’s open to something more romantic in the future. Initially, I took it as her just saying “no” in a kind manner.

Are there any older folks on this sub that were initially rejected by their current spouse? How did you navigate things from the initial rejection? I’ve stopped pursuing her in aims to respect her decision, but I would be open to a relationship in the future if she does indeed just need more time to get to know me.

Thanks all in advance!

PS: I’m not going to wait around for her to change her mind. I’ve decided to let her go. I just wanted to hear from people who have perhaps walked the road of being rejected initially.