weird feeling

I had a friend that i thought the world of. He was sweet, considerate, a wonderful listener. We had very chill hangouts. at some point, he started hanging out more often, to the point that he was almost a regular fixture in my life and house, despite going through a breakup of a 10 year relationship. This friend helped me move out, helped me through some rough times. At some points it felt as though he were courting me for more than friendship. Our outings started to feel more like dates. I wasn't sure how i felt, but it wasn't discussed at all. I figured that we would probably end up talking about it when he was ready.

And then, all of a sudden, his behavior changed. He no longer sought me out, he was distant. The way he referred to our friendship changed. It was like night and day. It felt like i had been demoted, or that i had done something wrong and no one was telling me what it was. I casually mentioned the difference, but he acted like he didn't even notice a change.

Eventually I asked to talk to him about it. he had met someone, a new friend, that he was suddenly spending a lot of time and energy on, and he told me he didn't have room in his schedule or affections for more than one person. That he had done the same thing to someone else when he started to hang around with me more. It felt like a really weird break up. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I wasn't aware of this facet of him for our entire friendship, and we had never talked about anything similar. We are sort of estranged now, and the new person is one of my friends that I care about deeply. But it's just not the same.

I feel like i was being jerked around, like my feelings were played with. And though he has said that it wasn't his intention, I still think it's kind of a *** up thing to do to someone? It's perfectly understandable that feelings change, but the lack of communication around it just makes it so much more confusing and heartbreaking. He made me feel like i got dumped on the side of the road or something. Like i suddenly meant nothing to him after we had been really close. And it also made me feel like the closeness that we did have was a lie.

some time has passed, and I've mostly gotten over it, but I saw a picture of him today and it made me think about it. I'm having an AITA moment.