it is wrong. You CANNOT be friends with him.
whenever a man is alone with a woman, the devil makes the third - hadeeth in Tirmidhi
that includes phonecalls, internet, text messages - etc. This is all considered "private communication" between the two sexes - it is haraam.
Do not call on women in the absence of their husbands because the shaytaan may be circulating in you like the blood circulates - hadeeth in Tirmidhi... and you aren't even married.
The man who touches the hand of a woman without having lawful relation with her (ie: marriage) will have an ember (burning coal) placed in his palm on the day of judgement - hadeeth in Fath al Qadir
and there are more.
I ask you to do one thing, go to youtube and see what scholars say about boys and girls be friends in Islam?
for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hZSeAH522Y
this is the video the brother was talking about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lh5fR4DMA
point is, you are young and naive - you like this guy and want to marry him, he is not your mahram, further, you have no mahram - all you have is the permission of your mother - which is NOT enough, because she is not the LAW, she is not SHARIAH.
If you listen to your mother in this, then be assured, you will end up in the fire. She is not protecting you. Are your parents divorced? Does your father know about this? I can be sure that he doesn't - because if he did know - knowing what knows about the lusts of men, he will definitely not approve.
Your emotions and confirmation bias is sickening to be honest. You are trying to justify your need of a relationship by claiming that you talk only in an islamic context with him - well if that is your true purpose - to learn about Islam, then what do you need him for? Nothing... you learn your Islam through conventional methods outlined for you in the institutions and books and examples of Islam found from history right up til the modern age... you are very mistaken that you can take your deen from a non mahram whom has ideas of marriage for you, and vice versa - that is shaytaan setting up the stage for you both to end up in hell fire.
But you won't listen to us... you came here - to the best Islamic forum on the internet and WE ALL TELL YOU THE SAME THING - IT IS HARAAM FOR YOU TO MAINTAIN RELATIONS WITH HIM.
So consider this your warning from Allah - HE has forbidden you to have any relation with man outside of marriage. And your intentions are clear, you seek to justify your need to be his friend thru the excuse of learning about deen - this is what sickens me. It is a clear hypocrisy.
If you was sincere about your intention to learn the deen - you don't need him.
Further, why don't you invite this friend of yours to join this forum and talk to us? We will surely make him understand through the Islamic understanding that he is fooling you and fooling himself in the process, and shaytaan is laughing because he has found two more companions to join him in the fire of jahannam.
So invite him here, and lets get this started. My challenge to you.
if you cannot rise to this challenge, then you will have inadvertently exposed that you know how wrong your actions and intentions are, and we will wash our hands with you, and let Allah judge you on that day when HE judges all of creation. And know this: your place will be in the fire.
One last thing, your repentance is insincere - because you still want to engage in this unislamic relationship with him, even after you've supposedly repented - that is clear hypocrisy.
Assalaam alaikum
Scimi