Any other options?

so there’s a semi local influencer that I follow that’s very close to her brother. he’s single (as far as I can currently tell) and she’s posted him a few times to “sell” him if that makes sense. I want to slide into his DMs but his ig is private and can only do that if he follows me back. I found one of her reels from this summer about him and telling girls to hit him up and commented on it. I also tagged my friend in it since she and said influencer are mutuals and acquaintances through the internet. I also sent him a follow request but it was denied. any advice for other steps to take? would it be weird to ask my friend to dm his sister and ask them to work some magic. it’s possible my comment wasn’t seen as it was an older reel from a couple months ago. just feeling sad about this one for some reason