He won’t leave me alone?

I befriended this guy from college who used to be a good friend of my cousin in high school. Eventually, we grew closer and closer and it became a daily thing for us to talk everyday. We both don’t like each other romantically because we’ve discussed our feelings, and I was actually seeing his friend. However, I’m really going through a rough time in life and I want to be alone. Having to routinely talk to someone every single day really tires me. I just want to be left alone, but if I stop replying to his messages he thinks I’m upset with him when I just want to be given space. I tried to explain that to him but he takes it the wrong way like I’m trying to hide something from him. I feel like the only way I can break the cycle of routinely talking to him is by ghosting him, which I really feel bad about. I feel like I need to invest a large amount of my time talking to him but I’m really tired of having to talk to him every, single day. I know it’s wrong to feel like that, but I feel so suffocated.