Talk to him personally, and ask him if he loves you. But first you ask to yourself, "would you love sam if he loves you back?" if you love him then and only then ask him but after telling him your feeling to him. You can also simply just ask him but since he doesn't speaks to you much, there might be something in his background not telling you his feelings.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.