I accidentally led a guy on. I was in a really bad place emotionally, genuinely thought that no one wanted me for more than sex. Started sleeping with this guy to give myself a confidence boost because he was ridiculously hot. Turned out that he'd had a crush on me for years, and he thought that the fact that we'd been having sex meant it was going somewhere. He, naturally, didn't tell me any of this until after I jumped back into a relationship with my ex. He didnt intentionally keep it from me or anything. Just genuinely thought I knew and felt the same way because of my actions, and he was genuinely hurt that I started dating someone else exclusively, when he thought that that's where he and I were heading.

I tried to think of a million ways to apologize to him, but convinced myself it was better if I said nothing. Talked to my therapist at length about it, and the phrasing I would use if I were to apologize. Volleyed back and forth about whether I should just apologize or not for two years.

He killed himself (for unrelated reasons) last month. I will never get to apologize. He will never know how sorry I was. He was a genuinely good guy, he did nothing wrong, and had I not been 1.) In a shit place emotionally and 2.) Hung up on my ex, he would've 100% been someone I would've dated. He went to his grave thinking that I was some cold-hearted bitch who intentionally hurt him for no good reason.

I would do anything to take that back and not lead him on to begin with. Or at the very least, apologize before it was too late.