People listen to you — they see you as a kind of teacher.
Who is he? He’s bright, charismatic, and he sees you as bright too — even feels like you’ve outshined him. Maybe he’s told you before that he’s never met anyone like you.
Alright, let’s look at his real feelings. Right now, he’s protecting himself from his own emotions because there was a pretty intense conflict between you — some kind of argument or scandal that actually upset him more than he shows.