Virgo man shut me out

I am a Scorpio woman (late twenties) have been friends with this Virgo man for a long time almost twenty years. We grew up together as children, and were friends for a long time, i moved to another city and we lost touch, then we reconnected through a online networking site. Everything was fine but then the more we talked, the more I realized how much I really liked him. He is sweet and funny and a very deep and caring person. I finally told him how I felt about him and a "possibility" of us dating and then he revealed that he just gotten out of a long term relationship and did not want to be in another serious relationship. So i accepted that although it has been quite painful, and I told him I still wanted us to remain friends. But now he is acting very weird and distant, i text him occasionally and NOTHING. This lack of communication leads me to believe that something is going on. I think it is quite rude to not text someone back especially if it is repetitive. I am so confused, my heart says to keep being patient but my head says just let it go because i cannot see myself with someone who never pays attention to me. I understand his need for space, because I need my solitude at times too, but why wont he just contact me? He told me he is not into computers so we stopped e-mailing each other and now it is mostly texting but it has been a couple of weeks and nothing! He does have a very demanding job but i think he hides behind his work and uses it as an excuse to not contact me. I am so hurt that he is treating me like this. i have never pressured him or anything like that, I have tried to be there for him but he still pushes me away. I took a huge risk revealing my feelings, and now I am kind of wishing i never said anything to him at all. I just don't understand why he acts this way, does he truly not care for me at all? or is he trying so hard to not hurt me and say the wrong thing which is why he avoids me like the plague? I just want some answers, because this sitaution has been verys tressful for me and i can't deal with it anymore, if there is nothing there on his end, why is he acting so distant? why won't he open up to me? I am a very open and honest person and I expect that quality in whomever i am dealing with in any capacity it may involve, (friend/peer/lover). Someone close to me advised me to just step back and leave him alone because he obviously has some inner issues to deal with which go way beyond me. But this on and off thing is not doing it for me, I want to date other guys and not have him in my mind as a roadblock, does anyone have some suggestions? is it me? or is it him? who has the problem here?