He(38) has pulled away and gone silent all of sudden & I’m (30F) anxious, confused and hurting

I recently began dating a guy again that I dated for a few months last year. Things were going really well last year and we both expressed wanting a relationship & made a decision to date exclusively after about 3 dates. Unfortunately, he hit a rough patch in his life a few months in and ended up pulling away and keeping me at a distance as he expressed not wanting to make life harder for me while he was unsure because of said rough patch. We stopped sleeping together at the time because he didn’t want to lead me on when he was feeling uncertain. I took this very personally at the time and started to feel like he found me unattractive. Eventually we called it quits and left it open to trying again after he sorted some things out. However, he’d still continue to reach out here and there and it gave me false hope at the time and prevented me from detaching and trying to move on. I ended up asking him not to reach out unless he wanted to give things another go because it was setting me back, to which he respected. After a few months of not talking, he reached out and asked for that second chance while apologising for how confusing things became and explaining that the rough patch led him to feel unsure of what he wanted but that he now realised it was a mistake not to see where it led with us and that he missed me and thought of me often.

Fast forward a little from that convo, we have now been on 4 dates and we text daily. He initiated the first date and then I kind of took the lead each weekend after that, to which he has always agreed to. I tend to be more of a planner than him and it was similar the first time we dated too. Our dates have gone well, we always have something to talk about and we usually spend 4+ hours together each time. We have also started holding hands when out walking. I sometimes put my hand around him and he reciprocates and gives my back a little rub etc. He always tries to pay for our dates, even when it’s my turn. He opens doors and lets me go first etc. We also kiss goodbye each time and he’ll text to see if I got home okay and we both thank eachother after each date.

A few days ago, he suddenly stopped replying after texting back & forth earlier that day. He didn’t respond for almost 2 days and when he did, he apologised for being quiet, that he didn’t feel very chatty and that it had nothing to do with me, just in general. I then replied ‘thanks for letting me know, I hope everything is okay with you. I was a little anxious you were pulling away and didn’t know whether to check in or give you space.’ I asked kindly if he felt that way again, would it be okay to give me a heads up beforehand that he’d like some time off his phone but that he’ll be in touch again in a few days or whenever’, as I explained that kind of thing just helps put my mind at ease. Once again, he has left my message on delivered and not been active in almost two days again. It’s very confusing and causing me a lot of pain, especially when we’ve been having a nice time and he’s been consistent in communication. I don’t know what any of this means, but can only assume he has lost interest and doesn’t know how to communicate that to me. But then I feel that assumption doesn’t line up with how he’s been with me over the last while.

**TLDR: Guy I’ve been dating again has pulled away and gone silent all of a sudden, sent one text to apologise for being quiet and that he just didn’t feel chatty in general, nothing to do with me. He has left me on delivered for another two days, which is unlike him as he’s been very consistent with texts up until now. It’s causing me a lot of anxiety and confusion and I assume he has lost interest and doesn’t know how to tell me, but that also doesn’t seem to line up with how he’s been acting with me on dates etc.**