oh my gosh im so dumb, thank you soo much i didnt even see the request button -.- im dying of stupidity and embarassment on the inside

I’ve never requested anyone as a friend but when I have a FR my e-mail tells me too.. I go to friends then request and hit accept & I see my friends in a box on my page.

I have gotten several emails saying that (insert username here) has added me as their friend, with a heading “Friendship Request” or something along those lines in my email. A few things here:
They don’t appear in my friend list. It says I have no friends.
I tried to go to their page and add them myself with a link in the emails, the link says something like “Friendship Requested”, but when I clicked it, they still did not appear in my friends list.
Sooo, one of the questions arises: do you REQUEST a friend and wait for them to accept it, or do you automatically ADD a friend into your list?
Another: do you see the people that added you in your friend list, or just the people you add?
Main Idea here: Any idea what the problem is, and how to fix it so they appear as my friends?
Thank you! <33