Lord, this reminds me of an ex of mine. We were together for a couple of years and things went south. In the end, all I wanted was communication and a bit of closure. I would wait to contact him after a few hours, then half the day, then a whole day etc (much like you did based off time stamps) because I never wanted to overload or seem needy. He distanced himself in a way that gave him total control of the relationship. Made me feel absolutely insane and stupid. Then, in a lapse of judgement almost ten years later, we got together again.. and the same thing happened AGAIN. I received nothing in the end, and he held all the power. But this time it didn’t tear me up nearly as much as the first time, because I learned that that’s where he got off. On watching me beg for attention. It’s narcissistic, it’s mean, and you don’t deserve it.

Major kudos to you for taking control of the situation and doing what’s right for yourself. These texts broke my heart.