Did you live together?
No, we were both living in flatshares at the time.

Who called it off?
He did, and he really caught me by surprise with it! He’s quite an awkward conversationalist anyway and gets really nervous quite easily. So one night when we’d met up at the pub around the corner from his place and he started acting shifty, I didn’t think much of it. Actually, I’m pretty sure I thought he was about to propose, which probably would have been really underwhelming over pints of Camden Hells.

Why did you break up?
He just said that it wasn’t what he wanted anymore because he felt like he was under too much pressure from me to be different in the relationship. I don’t think it was fair for him to blame me. From my perspective, I had to really push him into having difficult conversations with me about our sex life, I had to beg him to stop bailing on plans with my friends and family (which happened a lot) and nudge him to follow through on the job applications he said he wanted to do. Sounds pretty crappy when I list it all like that. And, looking back on it, so much of our relationship was uncomfortable in this way. I just didn’t realise I was having to mother him so much, which makes it even more surprising that he was the one who called it off.

Last text from my ex: “I thought an engagement was more likely than a breakup”