I met this guy through a mutual friend. He had his eye on me for a while via social media and asked my friend about me. My friend then showed me pics of him and I said he’s cute. He would do this thing of liking my IG stories randomly but not follow/dm me. Until one evening i liked his picture and the next morning he was in my DMs (Dec 2025). We got chatting, and exchanged numbers after introductions. We spoke on WhatsApp every single day consistently for about 3 weeks before he planned the first date. Side note; he’s a footballer and there were a lot of back to back games so he planned a date for his off day. The first date was restaurant & comedy club, we had great conversations, he didn’t try to kiss me at the end (which i liked/respected). He complimented me a lot, saying i looked much better irl etc. Our mutual friend told me that when they caught up he was speaking in awe of me and saying he really likes me. From then he was consistent and showed up intentionally (we kissed on 2nd date). We spoke every single day, he never missed sending me a good morning text and the dates were thoughtful and planned out, i.e. puppy yoga, pottery painting, Italian restaurants (our fave cuisine), brunches, park walks etc and would plan our summer dates.
There was a time where he mentioned he wasn’t too sure whether i really liked him or just liked spending time with him – at the time i was guarded because I’d been having a tough year and 6 months prior had left a toxic relationship. I still showed up to dates and showed affection when natural.
During the week leading up Valentine’s Day I admit i was a bit off with him because i was dealing with bad personal news, and i also didn’t want to overcompensate with him just because Valentine’s Day was coming up. On Valentine’s Day he had a football game 3hrs away from our home town, and kick off was in the afternoon so we knew we couldn’t spend that day together. He asked to see me the day after but hadn’t planned anything special – he also didn’t send flowers on Vday. I confronted him about this and he said he genuinely wanted to send me flowers but still felt as though I didn’t really like him as much. He said he’d make it up to me and planned a proper date night taking me to a restaurant n hotel two weeks later (as both our schedules were busy). That night we had s*x for the first time (3months of dating).
After that, he continued being consistent and being emotionally supportive with what i was going through. We spoke every day and even had nicknames for each other. His birthday came 2 weeks later and it fell on Mother’s Day and his mums bday is the same as his – so he had a family day and i took my mum out for dinner. We planned to celebrate the next week once i was back from a girls trip and he picked me up when i got back and we went restaurant. A couple even asked if we were engaged and he said ‘one day’ (he’d always tell ppl in public that I’m his wife etc.). We went hotel, had s*x and the next morning he was talking about us having kids, how athletic they’d be and expressed that he’d ever wish to become coparents if anything was to happen – he’d want to work it out.
I mentioned i wanted to come watch his football game the next week, and that i wanted to sit with the hooligans and he insisted he’d have me seated in the box/vip suite so i agreed. i took my sister and friend, and when we were sat and watching the players come out, i cheered when they said his shirt number and a woman sat in front of us overheard and said she was there supporting him too because she’s his ‘girlfriend’s friend’. I asked where the GF was and she said she didnt come on the day. As you can imagine i was taken aback and tried to get more info from the woman but she was tight-lipped and was listening in on my convos with my sister n friend about the situation.
When the game ended, i took the woman’s name and she scurried off (she didnt wait behind for him). The guy told me to wait for him in the lounge which we did and when he came i asked him if he knew the woman i met, and he said yes because ‘her son was doing a course with the football club’. I said ‘that’s interesting because she said she’s your girlfriends friend’ he said ‘huh’ and i repeated myself and he FAINTED TWICE and chipped his tooth. The medical staff and his manager all came in trying to help and i insisted I’d take him home which everyone agreed to. On the drive home i asked if there was truth to what was said and he admitted he has been in a relationship that was essentially headed towards its ending and he didn’t want to tell me when I asked about his dating status early days because he knew I wouldn’t take a second look at him. Bear in mind we are 4 months deep into dating and he said the formalities of ending the relationship and going separate ways were hard to navigate. He also said his intentions were to actually be with me and I wasn’t just a fling for him.
I’m heartbroken because me and this guy really clicked and he showed up as consistent, intentional and we had great chemistry and intellect. I blocked him on IG and WhatsApp and he’s suddenly made his page private. Where do I go from here?