Can you help me with my problem with a male friend?

I have a guy friend who i used to have feelings for and at one point he liked me back too but it wasn’t meant to be because my parents are strict and they didn’t allow a relationship to happen between us. But still years later we’ve both moved on and we’re still friends. Recently he just got his heart broken by another girl and moved away to college somewhere far away from home so he’s generally having a tough time and all his old friends seemed to have walked out of his life, excluding me. We talk a lot because we’re still good friends but now he keeps dropping hints that he still likes me and i feel burdened because i have zero attraction for him left and i cant not talk to him because of the hard time he’s going through and i feel like I’m leading him on and I really dont know what to do :/ please give me some advice to deal with this mess!