中学生(ちゅうがくせい)の頃(ころ)、好(す)きな子(こ)に告白(こくはく)して断(ことわ)られた。周(まわ)りに人(ひと)がいたから泣(な)くに泣(な)けない状況(じょうきょう)だった。
During my junior high school days, I confessed to a girl I liked and was rejected. There were some people nearby, so I was in a position where I could not cry even if I wanted to.
[By extension of the basic meaning, 泣くに泣けない has also come to mean “extremely depressed” or “extremely mortified”]