Thanks for the replies, guys, it helps!

StrongerMan, I think you're right: it's all about staying strong in the meantime, until I can "get back out there". As you say, one month is not long, and that's what confuses/irritates me the most. I've had lengthier, fulfilling relationships in the past, but none have left me feeling like this. I'm quite a logical/sceptical/empirical guy, and I'm usually quite stoic when it comes to these things. Also, I'm struggling to determine whether I miss her or the relationship, whether it's the past event that is still hurtful, or the person herself.

I never actually explained the conditions of this break-up, so I may have skewed the evidence in my favour somewhat.

About two days after we slept together, I could detect an air of coldness or distance about her. I commented on this and she claimed that she was tired from juggling work and university studies, and I no doubt factored into this. Fully aware of her independent nature, I was more than happy to give her space to sort things out. Unfortunately, this came in the form of her going abroad for a week to "sort out her mind". When she returned, she did not reply to my "welcome back" text. Very anxious, I waited three days before finally consulting with a mutual friend. Resolved, I wrote her a fairly heartfelt email explaining how I felt, how I was fully prepared to give her space and turn things down a notch. I said that I was not, however, prepared to stay in limbo for another week and that this would be the last time I would contact her.

About two hours after I sent the message, I was asked to join her on Facebook chat. Basically, she claimed that over the summer months, she developed a romantic relationship with a long-term friend. Unfortunately for her, this long-term friend moved away for work, so the relationship ended not out of conflict, but out of necessity. Her feelings, therefore, were still with this guy. Of course, being English and apologetic, I didn't see at the time how incredibly insulting this was to me, for she kept asking me to consider her feelings, as I struggled to process that I was, in fact, the "rebound guy".

Fighting emotion with logic is incredibly hard - if not impossible - so my suggestion that maybe she be forward-thinking was lost upon her. (I'm aware that my situation is therefore quite ironic!) The only light at the end of this pitch dark tunnel of a story is that she confessed that when she met me, she never realised that she would enjoy her time with me so much and that she would "probably regret" ending the relationship. Quotation marks and paraphrasing ruin what was, I think, a genuinely candid conversation. Needless to say, she said she would not force getting over her past relationship and thus, it ended.

There were a few online chats after that, but they weren't of any substance. The first time I was face-to-face with her - about a month later - was immensely awkward (I suppose I wanted to make her feel guilty), then in February, we met at a night-club, where she hugged me (and ruined my evening; I blame mood-amplifying alcohol) and in about March of this year, we bumped into each other in the library and talked for about 15 minutes, but it was small-talk. I really wanted to bump into her again, to ask her out for coffee, but I never got the opportunity. Indeed, I had asked her for a cup of tea in January, but she claimed she was too busy (which is true: her class had two or three essays to hand in that week), and I never bothered again after that.

In a sense, then, it wasn't as-open and-shut as I liked. There was too much contact after October. Too many inopportune moments of convergence. I can't recall now, but it's possible that I was feeling down on the days we met, so it made matters worse.

Anyway, sorry for putting you through that long exposition, but I've gotta spill it out somewhere. :P