I [24f] have no idea how to proceed with [28M]

So I'm sorry in advance that this long for something that is not really interesting but I have zero dating experience!

I'm 24, was in a relationship from 17/18-21 then had a rebound with an old friend until 22 and but have pretty much been single for the past 1.5-2 years.

In this single time I have not dated or met anyone. I have been very busy with full time work and full time study but I still would go out alot and rarely meet anyone. I'm conventionally attractive and have a decent professional job and was constantly having people badgering me about why I haven't met anyone. I've pinned it down to me wanting to meet someone with the same culture as me but not socialising as much in circles of that culture..

In the past year two people (one last February and one in November) from completely different circles have mentioned how I would suit this guy Derek. I'm quite shy and even though I found him attractive and from what I knew about him seemed great, I was too embarrassed to say I'd be interested in a set up.

Fast forward to two weeks ago Derek adds me on social media, it could have been a set up or it could have easily been a coincidence as we have a lot of mutual friends. He came up to me and we started chatting.

The conversation for a week was going great which is unusual for me as I usually find it hard to converse with people I just meet and I either get bored or it gets awkward. There was none of that with Derek everything was just flowing through texts and phone calls so well and I was definitely getting excited at the though of dating him. I thought we needed to meet as I was getting too caught up on the idea of him rather than himself. We seemed very similar, apart from study and our careers, he's a labourer and I'm a lawyer - which was also appealing to me.

He suggests we meet after a week and half and we do - we go for a casual walk at a nearby beach and grab a bite to eat - the whole night lasted about 2 hours. I admit I was super excited and super nervous about the whole thing because this guy was slowly becoming my dream guy (lol) as he definitely ticked all the boxes.

Well when we met it was actually very anti climatic - I was shy, he seemed quiet, there wasn't an immediate connection. He just seemed very different to how I thought he would be and there were definitely somethings he did that would be a turnoff.

I called my friend after to debrief and came to the conclusion that it wasn't great but I can't decide on someone after 2 hours and I'd be happy to see him again to see where it goes.

He didn't message me that night or the next morning. I messaged him to say thank you as it was his idea, he paid etc and he responded but he was very distant with the rest of the text messages, very close ended statements. I felt like there was a complete 180 the next day as he would message me constantly so I decided to stop replying and didn't message him for the rest of the evening. It was upsetting that he decided based on that meeting alone that he wasn't interested and this was my first time ever doing something like this but whatever I was just proud of putting myself out there.

Then the next day he messaged me good morning - even though he was still being very distant and dry with his messages...

So here we are and I'm obviously caught up because I've never done this before.. Has he lost interest and is just messaging me because he feels like he has to? Even though I stopped replying so it gave him an out? Should I ask him if he's not interested? Or ask him out again? I really can't be bothered texting someone if he's not interested and just feels obligated to so if rather just know...

TLDR: Met a guy and don't know if he's just not into me