AMITAH for trying to forgive him?

this morning i (17f) received a message from my boyfriend (18m) saying he wanted to breakup. we live a good distance away (an hour and a half) so i know that’s part of the problem but he said he wanted to “take some time for him” we have been together for almost a year, so obviously this was shocking to me. he told me how he was catching feelings for another girl, and that he was on tinder and was talking to 10 other girls. i’m beyond baffled. i told him if he’s willing to keep trying, that i would push past all of the emotions of that and forgive him so we can continue to be together. he has been the only person i look forward to talking to everyday and he keeps the claim that i’ll “find someone better and closer” but wont understand that he’s the only man i’ve ever wanted. i am genuinely lost. all of my friends say to forget about him and to not keep fighting for it since he cheated, but i’ve never loved someone more than him and i’m not sure i will. i admire him in so many ways then anyone could ever think of. i know everyone’s going to claim that i’m still young and there are plenty of other guys out there but he’s helped me through my worst times and now i don’t know what to do. so am i the asshole?

update: just in the span of today i found out on my own that he had already had another girlfriend. i was scrolling through my messenger trying to find my sister to send her something when i saw his profile pic ehich had been updated to a picture of him and a girl. and while i was at a work meeting he texted me asking me to play fortnite which was a ritual for us to play before bed when we were together. i snapped at him and basically asked him why i should be expected to play with someone who not only cheated on me but had another girlfriend the whole time. his responses have been very short and rude like i asked him how long they’ve been together and he says “idk a few weeks” and then i’d say things like “does she know that we were together when you started dating her?” and he said “just nvm” i feel like a good portion of it was because we lived so far apart. i genuinely feel like i’m entertaining the situation by texting him, but when he texted me earlier i left him on read and he replied a few minutes later with “i’ll take that as a no” i just genuinely feel so betrayed. i’ve joined a dating app but it dosent feel right to text anyone but him. i feel like i’m losing my mind here. i’ve also realized that i definitely don’t want to forgive him. but i’m still mourning over the times when i was happy with him. we were together for almost a year, and i can never get that time back.