I finally did it...now please help me stop crying

Long story short, this guy I was friends with for years doesn’t want a relationship right now but has still been hitting me up on and off flirty and has been playing games. I know this is a short summary, but I’ve posted about him before with different situations and everyone has always said he was just hitting me up looking for sex or nudes (which he just tried to get me to send pics tonight).

I finally asked him tonight why he does that and he said he still likes flirting even though he doesn’t want a relationship. I told him that flirting hurts me and even went on to say that even him texting me in general hurts still so much. He apologized and said he’ll delete my number and said goodbye to me.

I know it was the right thing so that I don’t have to worry about him hitting me up whenever he feels like it but wow this hurts so much right now. But at the same time, he said he would delete my number and even said goodbye, so while he’s respecting what I said, I guess he never wanted me that bad to realize he could’ve had something great with me. Please any advice would help. I feel like I just had a breakup.