Ok all, I'm new here, but I have a story - have tried to keep it short but it's not easy.

I've just arrived back from what I had envisaged as a romantic weekend with my long-distance boyfriend. Instead, he broke up with me, and I'm devastated. It was the first time I'd visited him since we'd officially decided to be a couple (seven weeks ago). Prior to that, he had always been a good friend (I've known him since we were toddlers), and we ended up getting together on a backpacking adventure in South America this summer. During that time I became closer to him than anyone I have ever known. So our romantic relationship has lasted a little over 4 months. When we returned home after the trip we decided, after a month apart (I live in England, he in Belgium), that our connection was more than a holiday romance and that we should make a go of things. Otherwise we would regret not having tried.

We study at different unis in the UK, six hours apart. I thought that although LDRs are tricky, we had all the ingredients to make it work as our relationship is built on friendship and we're both pretty independent people. We trust each other implicitly and he is a very, very good person.

His breaking up took me completely by surprise. Now, I feel stupid that I ever could have been so naïve to think it was going OK - which for me, it was. I trusted him to let me know if there was anything he felt wasn't going well in the relationship, and he failed to do so. In the end he dropped the bomb that he couldn't handle the distance and while it was bearable at first in the end he couldn't stand being so far away from me. Asides from that, he said there's no girl he'd rather date than me - distance was literally the only issue...

... which I think means it's worth fighting for, right? I know a good thing when I see it, and I work to keep it. I have told him this but he says that because we have no clear end point when we'll be together properly (the odd weekend and holiday spent together don't count), there is no point in our relationship. I'm going on a year abroad in September while he finishes uni, so we are essentially doomed. He's always been a sensible, rational decision-maker whereas I provide spontaneity, living in the moment, and 'thinking with the heart' - I used to think that made us work as a team and a unit. Not so sure any more. Plus he's a typical bloke (sorry blokes) in that he seems at times cold and emotionless - I stress SEEMS, he often ISN'T, but it's hard to know how he really feels sometimes.

Whereas I know how I feel - I have never felt the same way about any other guy. He is my best friend and the first significant love of my life. (we are both 19/20)

My problem now is that he is determined to remain friends. We always said the relationship was just an experiment and that we'd always go back to being friends if it ended, but for now, while the pain is so raw I think it's inappropriate for him to go on about being close friends again so soon. You cannot just turn back the clock to how things were before we were romantically involved.

Before we broke up he'd booked tickets to see me in Scotland at uni in a month's time - he still wants to come and stay then, even though we broke up. He wants to be not just my friend, but my closest friend, as he is and was before. Which is mature and amazing but I cannot move on that quick!

All our feelings are still there, as strong as ever. He even tried to kiss me goodbye yesterday, having talked to me for hours about how our relationship can't work. So confused...

I am deeply in love with him and I feel like the world is crashing down around me. If we stay close friends, surely neither of us will ever move on? I know I won't. But I don't have the courage to cut him out of my life - he's too important to me. And of course I'll harbour the hope that one day we'll get back together when he realises what a terrible mistake he's making.

I have left things by making it clear how much he's hurt me, and that it will probably be some time before I contact him. He said that no matter what it takes, he will wait for my friendship. But I'm worried I'll never be able to be friends in the same way with him again.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I could not be friends with someone I'm still in love with - but that's just me. I would not see him, because that would be the only way I could get over him.

Are you 100% positive that he wants to end your relationship? Was he questioning you, trying to get a reaction, thinking the LDR was too much for you to handle OR speaking from his heart?

I felt like he does want to end it, but might not have been giving me the full explanation why - not being able to handle the distance doesn't seem like enough, to me.

My friends all say that I shouldn't see him unless either I am over him, or unless he wants to get back together. While we're in this weird kind of limbo, it's not a good idea, no matter how much I miss him and will miss him over the coming weeks.

I had something similar , I live in the states and she lives in south america. Everything was going great about 4 months into the relationship she would tell me she even wanted to get married with me and had those thoughts of the future, and then all the sudden she first tells me she is confused, then after confessed to me that she still had feelings for her ex , but also has feelings for me, and didn't know what to do. She later decided to end the relationship with me and tells me she wants to remain friends, I really fell in love with her and those feelings are still there, she tells me that she is unsure in the future "US" can work out and doesn't want to loose me as a friend. But now I feel like she is just using and wants me there just in case her relationship doesn't work and wants to come back to me. I am so in love with this girl that I would do anything to have her back. I have tried deleting her but I can't is just me, you can fool the mind, but you can fool my heart. Is there any hope for us? I don't know what to do. I know distance causes physical loneliness, but why would she tell me that she doesn't know if we can in the future, is that a maybe, why doesn't she just tell me NO... Is she giving me hope? I decided to leave her alone for awhile not talk to her on Facebook or Skype, only if she reaches me I won't ignore her but maybe if I am out of the picture , it will give her a chance to miss me, what kills me is that she tells me she has strong feelings for me, and tells me that this ex and their relationship never works, so I am confused. Should I just let her figure things out and let her contact me? Come back? So she can totally forget about this ex, and be happy with me...