lover's hope

When an individual has a massive crush on somebody and is driven to do a lot of the stuff they do out of a strong a desire to be with them someday, or, if they are already in a relationship with that person, to stay in a relationship with that person

Kayla: Mariah seems to have been working very hard lately. Even for her, she is doing a lot more hard work than she usually does. I wonder what is going on?

Carmen: May be she has been getting more sleep lately, or perhaps she is enjoying the type of work she has been getting assigned to do lately?
Isadora: No, I heard that she has a crush on Kozak and she really wants to impress him, so she is working harder than usually on a lot of the stuff she does in the hope that at some point she can ask him out on a date. I think she is experiencing lover's hope.

Carmen: I hope that works out for her. She could really use a good relationship after all the hard stuff she had to deal with over the years.
Kayla: I completely agree with you there.