How do I even start... friends, I'm like... really confused. I'm 32, I work at a clothing store in the mall in Udon Thani. Been with my boyfriend 4 years. Most of the time things are normal — he takes care of me, we don't fight much. But... the past two months something's changed a bit and I can't sleep well.

Small but clear changes in behavior: he doesn't reply to chats right away. He used to reply super fast, but some days I'll see him online around 3pm, he reads the message and just doesn't reply. Silent. I ask lightly if he's okay and he goes like "busy with work" and that's it. So fast. So confusing.

What really made me uneasy happened last week. In the late afternoon I had to run an errand nearby and I accidentally bumped into him — not on purpose. He'd told me he'd be helping his parents out of town on the weekend, but on the day he said that, I actually saw him on that street. He wasn't alone. There was a woman in the car with him. I saw them from afar, I wasn't staring, but it felt really weird. That woman definitely wasn't family. Gosh they looked really close — smiling and chatting in a way that felt... like more than friends.

The next day I sort of tested him and asked where he was going that weekend. He said he'd be helping a cousin with an event, nothing else. I smiled and nodded, but my brain replayed the scene from yesterday for hours. The first 10 minutes I couldn't calm down at all, and then I kept wondering if I'm just being too sensitive.

Also at night he often has missed calls and then switches to silent mode, sometimes he even mutes his phone. I just glance at his phone a little and put it away because I don't want to be a crazy detective, but the doubt eats at me. My chest feels like there's a lump, ugh T_T

People tell me to just talk to him directly, but I'm scared it'll blow up. I don't want him to think I'm being jealous, or what if he just has a close female friend and I'm misreading it — that would be awful. But if I don't ask and it's true, it'll hurt even more. So I'm torn. Should I ask him straight now or observe longer and gather proof?

Writing this made me feel a bit better but I still can't decide. OP is so confused lol

Friends, what would you do in this situation? Ask now or wait? Or just trust him? I'd really like to hear from people who've been through something similar.