About three months ago, a fellow co-worker and I started talking, and we hit it off very well with each other. He is so sweet, caring, handsome, gentlemanlike, and goodhearted. We found that we had almost everything in common and that we were very much attracted to each other. Without going into all of the nitty gritty details, one day after playing a tennis match together after work, he asked for my number. Our conversations would go almost all night long, to the point of not wanting to sleep because we enjoyed the conversation very much. Eventually, he came out one night for some drinks with myself and some others, and asked if he could take me out on a date. I happily accepted, and the following week he took me out for our first date. Things went so well; so well that we didn’t realize how late we had stayed at the restaurant just talking and had to head back home for the night. It went without saying that we would definitely be going out for date number two, which happened about a week after that. Once again, everything was wonderful. I had never had such a lovely and wonderful time just enjoying the company of someone else. Needless to say, he had eventually asked me to officially be his girlfriend, and I was overjoyed to say yes. Everything was going so well, and I had never felt such a connection with another person before. We laughed at the same jokes, had funny yet awkward moments together all of the time, enjoyed the same movies and books, you can fill in the rest to see what I’m getting at here. He came over to my place for dinner one Sunday and met my parents and siblings, nothing formal, very casual. He also brought me to dinner with his father, and we drove out to his mother’s place for a weekend as well.
In my mind I thought that this was really going somewhere, and after being in a very troubling relationship for three years before this, I thought that he was like a breath of fresh air.

However, about a week ago, he had gone away for the weekend for a friend’s bachelor party. While he was gone, I did not barrage him with texts or even called. One or two texts were sent the whole time, but what struck me as odd was that the language of his texts had changed. He stopped referring to me as ‘babe’ and other terms of endearment that we used all of the time. It was one sentence texts, and sometimes I would not even receive a reply. When he returned, we met up for lunch at work on Monday, and I could tell something was definitely wrong. He was quiet and distance, almost as if he didn’t want to speak to me. I went to his place later that night, and normally when we would be laying down together watching a movie, he sat in his chair and wouldn’t join me. I asked what was going on, and he was reluctant to say, but he came out to say that within the last week, and especially over the weekend, he felt conflicted about his faith and beliefs in regards to religion. I had known before that he was religious in some sense, but I did not get the feeling that he was super devout or anything of that sort. I had told him that I was not religious, but rather more spiritual. He wasn’t very clear with how this all came about, but decided that it would be unfair to drag me into the conflict that he is going through at this point. I am wondering if something happened over the weekend that might have made him change his mind about being with me because of our different beliefs. He told me that I deserved much better, and that he still thinks I am amazing, likes every thing about me very, very much, and wants to be with me, but he just can’t. I had no words to express. I was in complete shock. This came out from nowhere when I had really began to think this relationship was something that could potentially be long term.

With that said, we did not leave things on bitter terms. He gave me several hugs before I left in place in tears over what was happening. We have not spoken since, but see each other at work several times during the day. (I should add that we both work at a school for special needs children, so even when we were together, we were not often able to talk since we both are focused on the students there.) Then today upon leaving, he gave me a smile and a wave as I was walking out, and I returned a smile. With all of this said, I am feeling very torn and wonder if I should reach out to him or not, because I feel that I was not given a chance to at least “fight” for what we had, which was so amazing. I also have many questions in my mind about it all, and feel that I should have some more deeper explanation than what I was given. I believe that the feelings and connection we have is still there, and if there is a chance for this to work again, I would certainly take it. Having not spoken with him in almost a week has really hurt. I don’t want to see him out of my life, regardless of how this situation ends. However, being that I do care for him very much, I do not want to force him into something that he does not want. I feel that this actually hurts much more than when I had ended things with my three year relationship. I am going through feelings of sadness, loneliness, acceptance, confusion, and simply just missing his presence and being able to have that wonderful connection we shared physically, mentally, and emotionally together.

Any of kind of guidance or advice is greatly appreciated.