Okay. Well first of all you have only had him for two months, so perhaps this is not long enough for him to become accustomed to you. As you say, he is quite a shy rabbit anyway, so perhaps the combination of that, being petted once in a way he found scary, and being left for a week so soon would have made him quite scared.
Also, if you have only had him for 8 weeks (and are you sure? Because that would make him only 4 weeks when you got him), and then were away for a week, that's quite a long time for him to be away from you.
If he only had company for 15 minutes a day for a week, then I am not surprised he is afraid and very shy. If you had had him for perhaps a year, and then left for a week, his attitude to you probably wouldnt have changed.
However, seeing as he probably has barely got to know or trust you in this short time, leaving him for that week would probably have let him forget all the bonding that went on between you.
My advice would be to treat him now as if you had only just got him- establish those first bonds again you would have had to do straight away. Get down to his level, and make sure not to scare him.
Try letting him come to you, and try and spend at least 3 hours a day with him, and hopefully he will begin to be more confident and your relationship will grow.
Good luck- I'm sure everything will be fine. It just sounds like he hasn't really had much contact at all with humans and so is naturally scared, as he is a prey animal.
Jen
