My ex [24m] had problems with "emotional consent" and didn't take our breakup well. We have a 10 person course together starting next week. How do I [24f] handle this?

My ex and I dated for 6 months, and we broke up in November 2018. So we've been broken up for about as long as we were together. I broke up with him because, among other things, he monopolized my time and didn't give me any space whatsoever. We are on the same "track" of the same grad program, so we inevitably take most of our classes together. That's how we met, and we have a year until we graduate.

Long story short, he didn't take our breakup well. He would call/text me incessantly (until I blocked him), and he would come by my work (I work at the front desk of an office on campus) and talk to me for 30+ minutes while I was on my shift. We went "no contact" via phone/social media for about 6 weeks, but I eventually unblocked him because we have a lot of friends in common and it felt easier to just let it go at the time. He then resumed texting me about once or twice a week (normally under the guise of school-related questions). He would also Snapchat me multiple times a day, but I never responded.

A couple weeks ago, I realized just how much he was still Snapchatting me even though I hadn't responded at all. I decided to just go ahead and block him because I didn't want to see his name keep popping up on my phone (every time it did, I got annoyed). Great decision on my part! I'm not sure whether he's noticed that I've blocked him, but he hasn't Snapchatted or texted me since.

There would be no problem here, except for the fact that he and I are taking the same seminar this summer. It's a 10 person practicum-type class, so we will be together in class 3 hours a week and then in the office for another 20 hours a week. I don't intend on unblocking him, but I would just like advice on how to handle being around him that often. I was hoping that by now he would be over the relationship and we could be normal work colleagues, but I don't really see that happening. How do I keep things professional between us? Should I talk to him before the course starts and tell him what boundaries I'm putting up?

Throughout our relationship, there was never any outright abuse, but there were certainly red flags and manipulation. He also has issues with what I call "emotional consent." Like, how he would continue to contact me even after I told him to stop. I don't want to open the door to that behavior again, but I also don't want it to build up and cause issues throughout this course.

Any advice is much appreciated!

TL;DR: My ex has had a hard time leaving me alone after our breakup. I've tried cutting him out of my life as much as possible, but we have a small class together starting next week. How do I handle him?

Submitted May 07, 2019 at 07:33AM by juicyjes http://bit.ly/2PTCfZU