Hey. I'll try to keep this short. I'm having a hard time seeing the situation objectively, and would like some advice. 

We'll call him Richard, and I broke up about 4 and a half years ago. We hadn't dated very long when he moved away for school. We decided to call it off. It was amicable. After this I started dating my current boyfriend, We'll call him Chandler. We'll have been dating for 4 years this fall. We're very happy.

Through out this time, Richard has made it very clear that he still has strong feelings for me. Because of this I've kept him at a distance as not to put any strain on my relationship with Chandler.

Recently, Last July, Richard contacted me saying he was sick and wanted to hang out. He didn't know what was ailing him yet, but was nervous. He promised he just needed a friend. His engagement just fell through as well, so he was feeling extra vulnerable. Chandler, not being the jealous type, agreed that being a shoulder for Richard was the right thing to do.
 
This arrangement quickly went south as his feelings towards me were not well hidden and I felt like I was being sneaky, even though I was keeping Chandler well informed. It ended with Richard leaving me a message confessing his love and asking me to leave Chandler. We hadn't talked since..

Until today. Richard found out he has Leukemia, he wants to talk.
user
ex-boyfriend has leukem, wants to talk, hasn't been in
assistant
Hey. I'll try to keep this short. I'm having a hard time seeing the situation objectively, and would like some advice. 

We'll call him Richard, and I broke up about 4 and a half years ago. We hadn't dated very long when he moved away for school. We decided to call it off. It was amicable. After this I started dating my current boyfriend, We'll call him Chandler. We'll have been dating for 4 years this fall. We're very happy.

Through out this time, Richard has made it very clear that he still has strong feelings for me. Because of this I've kept him at a distance as not to put any strain on my relationship with Chandler.

Recently, Last July, Richard contacted me saying he was sick and wanted to hang out. He didn't know what was ailing him yet, but was nervous. He promised he just needed a friend. His engagement just fell through as well, so he was feeling extra vulnerable. Chandler, not being the jealous type, agreed that being a shoulder for Richard was the right thing to do.
 
This arrangement quickly went south as his feelings towards me were not well hidden and I felt like I was being sneaky, even though I was keeping Chandler well informed. It ended with Richard leaving me a message confessing his love and asking me to leave Chandler. We hadn't talked since..

Until today. Richard found out he has Leukemia, he wants to talk.
user
ex-bf still has feelings for me despite our breakup
assistant