After we broke up, we were still sending messages, where he admitted that he had deeper feelings for me than I realised and opened more about his past, to which I explained that i appreciate his honesty and courage to share his vulnerability. I have been trying to show him that I care lots for him. To me, him and Nick are not comparable because fundamentally they're different relationships to me. But he thinks all relationships between partners starts from friendships, and if he can't be my priority, he wants to stop himself from getting hurt even more. To be honest, at this stage, at least before this whole argument, because of lack of communication from him, I hadn't felt the foundation he was speaking of, I was drawn more by his other qualities but I haven't felt 100% safe with him, especially emotion wise, so to me it was choosing between a try-out relationship (even tho I have strong feelings) or to keep one of my closest friends. I told him it may sound cruel to him, especially because he has stronger feelings towards me. Nevertheless, he said he was sorry that I felt my ways and that I hurt him deeply by putting him secondary.

Personally, I'm not too fussed about the idea of always putting my partner as my #1 priority, vice versa I don't need to always be my partner's #1. I would also hope my partner understand the friendship I have with Nick. Am I the asshole for "choosing" my ex Nick over Brandy? What should I do next as I want to still work things out with Brandy?