I (25M) had a falling out with a former friend a few months ago. During a group hangout, he called me "inauthentic" in front of everyone. He tried to pull me aside to talk privately, but I told him we could discuss it in front of everyone. He ended up apologizing publicly. After that, I told his brother (who I was also friends with) that I didn’t feel comfortable hanging out with him anymore.

Later on, I reached out to the original friend (the one who called me inauthentic) to grab dinner and clear the air. He replied a day later and showed up an hour late, but we had a decent talk and I thought things were okay. Then, I had a separate argument with his brother (again), who made false assumptions about me. Things escalated, and he suggested ending the friendship — I agreed.

Since then, I’ve been active on LinkedIn and noticed that the original friend removed me shortly after I posted about Women's Independence Day. We hadn’t talked since January.

Then, just today, I saw him randomly in public. He approached me, made small talk, said it was nice to see me, and mentioned he was going to say goodbye to a colleague leaving for Europe. Before walking away, he said, “I have your number, right? I’ll text you.” I said, “Yeah,” and that was it.

I’m confused because after deleting me and not reaching out for months, now he suddenly seems friendly again. For context, he once asked me if he looked fat, and I said no, but mentioned he was chubby. He got offended and said I couldn’t say that since I’m “double his size.”

So AITA if I don’t really want to reconnect, even if he reaches out?