Did i get played?

I met him in junior high when we both were in segregated schools and we connected from 1st day, since the society we live in is strict, our communication was mainly online via text or FaceTime. It’s been 12 years since we both shared mutual respect, trust, and pure compassion to one another, or at least I thought?

We both parted ways abroad for 5-6years so it stayed as platonic/friendship ground. Throughout most or all, i was the one to always reach out through this 12 years. We connected again last September as friends when he had a breakup from a 3 years relationship, i helped him figure out the mental aspect of it and he made his decision to break up,

5months forward, i bluntly told expressed how I cant ignore the potential of this and how it might be time to put action in this, which was mutual, a little while after and on multiple occasions, mention the urge of wanting to text his ex yet he is holding back,

I decided to cut the contact to give him the space to figure this out without being pushy or in the way, few months went by with no contact, my pride which could be as big as his, wouldn’t dare to be the 1st one to contact after months and 12y cycle, I decided to drop my goodbye text and unfollowed him all over, he did the same without saying a word,

For a man who made many future references, why would he let me walk away that easy? Were all of these feelings for the past 12y actually one sided? it’s frustrating to know that for a person who saw how “ one of a kind “ you are, why would he ditch and allow such a fallout to take place?

Apologies for the lengthy post x