Am so sorry for what happened to you my brother, that is a really heavy experience, and I appreciate you opening up about it. You’re absolutely right, man betrayal cuts deeper when you’re coming from a place of genuine care. It’s not about vanity, like you said, it’s about being real with someone, offering trust, and then finding out it was treated like a joke behind your back. That kind of dissonance between someone’s behavior in front of you and what they say behind your back can leave a mark. It shakes your ability to read people, even if just for a while.

And you chose kindness. You went out of your way to extend compassion to this someone who others had written off, and that just shows your character. It says more about you than it ever will about him. But still—it stings. Especially when the person you tried to uplift turns around and uses that closeness as an opportunity to tear you down when you’re not looking. That’s not just immature, it’s cruel.

You’re probably spot on about the insecurity angle. Some people try to elevate themselves by pushing others down, hoping it’ll make them appear taller. But that never works in the long run, and it leaves them stuck in a cycle of shallow relationships and mistrust, it also explains why he actually doesnt have any friends or maybe if he had any, they probably have the same charater as he does too.

You did the right thing confronting him. That takes strength. It puts the mirror in front of them, even if they refuse to look. And even though the scar stays, the important part is that you stayed you—someone who tries to help, who chooses honesty, and who values real connection. Personally if its was me I usually just ignore people when I realise they are fake, I start distancing myself from them slowly by slowly, up to whem the connection dies away, I dont really think I have that energy or ability to comfort people like that these days, but I think because you had geniune love and care you did so.

I have too, passed through the same thing before and these days I have made sure I try as much as possible to avoid making the same mistakes I made before and this has heavily affected the way I form friendships these days. I guess its all for the best of my mental health. It comes first.