If you have any self respect - IGNORE
My rule was - you end it, there’s no way back. It’s happened to me a few times and every single time they have contacted me to either apologise/check that I’m ok/share something on social media they think I’d like/want to meet up - no, no, bloody no.
Of course it’s tempting to go back to the way things were, no one wants to be dumped or the relationship they were happy to be in to be ripped from under them - but the thing you’ve got to remember is - he ended it, for a reason.
That reason could be he’s decided it’s too much hassle, too expensive, you’re high maintenance, you’re boring, his friends/family don’t like you, he’s met somebody he wants to/is sleeping with…. anything. But if you think getting back together with someone who has ended the relationship with you will make you happier, you are likely to be very, very wrong and feel worse about yourself than before.
The reason he had for ending it won’t go away, but he may be influenced by other facts that ultimately affect his well-being, not yours - being single isn’t as fun as he was expecting, he misses easily accessible sex and emotional support, other women don’t find him as attractive as he expected them to and aren’t lining up to jump into bed with him, he has less things in the calendar and could do with something more to occupy him…
He doesn’t actually care that he hurt you, he ended it bc it felt right at the time for him and the only reason he’d attempt to start it up again is bc it would be the right thing to do at the time. For him.
I’ve no idea what the conversation was like or the context for the love hearts - my guess would be is that they’re his attempt to assuage his guilt for the upset he’s caused and to keep an opening should single life/the other woman he has his eye on/is bedding doesn’t work out for him. He knows he’s got an easy way back with you if he keeps you hoping that he still cares - 🙄🤢😑 for your own self respect and to protect your newly mended heart from shattering more badly than when he broke it the first time around - don’t be taken in and give him a second chance. He’s ended it once, if you’re so easy-going to just accept this then take him back again he’ll have no hesitation in doing it again. He won’t respect you.
The best way to show him that you’re not affected in the slightest (even if you want to remain under your duvet for the forseeable) is to do nothing.
Don’t respond. Don’t block (as this will show you care enough to do this) show him you’re too pre-occupied with other things to bother. I can guarantee this will get to him. It will make him uncertain. He will question himself. He will wonder if the sadness you had initially at his dumping of you has gone already - was it even real? Did your relationship actually not mean as much to you as he thought it did? Are you over him? Are you out with your friends having a great time without him? Have you met somebody else?
Have you moved on?
In my experience this reaction is very real and that is when they start to ramp up
the contact bc they hate the idea that they didn’t mean as much to you as they assumed and that there’s no way back.
Just do not respond. He probably doesn’t want to get back together. He wants you to assure him he’s not a shit guy - ego boost, that you still care - ego boost, that you’re a fail safe if his new-found freedom falls through - ego boost.
Taking him back will be a short-term fix, but if you want to feel good about yourself moving forward and get back at him for being a complete bastard (which he may not may not be depending on the circumstances) i g n o r e . . . . . !
—edited bc last para deleted for some reason