help?

we  were dating for 2-3 years.he is living with his fathers sister and her husband because of family problems. but he will move in new house in 2 months alone. they dont let him to live a normal life because they always control him. they also control how is he studying and if he has any bad grades they become agressive about this. so he needs to work hard in every subject.he is living with them like 1 year.because of this problems he was not as attentive to me as he used to be. we broke up and now he told me that he needs some space because he doesnot know if loves me. i want to think that this is because of problems and sometimes person can forget about feelings for a while... but its temporary.he loved me so much that he could cry even watching at me. have u ever been in a same situation? what do u think is it temporary?is it possible  to forget about your feeling for some days because of problems? (we r both 18)