Personal Growth break up

So I(24F) talked to my ex (26M) recently and he said he thinks we could make things work eventually, but that we should take some time apart first. He said not doesnt want to go FULL no-contact — just checking in here and there, no flirting, and no seeing each other — so that we can both “grow individually.”

I told him I’d rather work on things together if we both want to fix it, but he keeps saying time apart is what we need.

I also told him we’ve already been broken up for a couple months (4months) , so how much more time does he need? He said that time didn’t count because I was still “on top of him,” so it wasn’t the kind of space he wanted.

I honestly don’t know what to make of it — is this a real way to rebuild a relationship or just a slow way of letting go?

TL;DR : my ex said we can work the relationship out but we need some time apart to grow individually first , no in a full contract, he still wants to talk to me but not in a romantic way while we go through this phase of individual growth