even if one says

a joke

hiding one's embarrassment

he / distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that / boyfriend

distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon / particularly, male personal third person pronoun: he / by extension from he: boyfriend

he; boyfriend

to say, to tell somebody / to call, to name, to give a name / to cry, to call, to make a noise (such as an animal)

past tense and perfective aspect of 言う (iu, yū) [godan]

nonetheless, although, be that as it may

in other words; what I (you, etc.) mean is