Dear Tineoidea,

As things between me and him took a nosedive (I cut him off), it seems he decided to be nice to her and “apologize”, even though this apology just shifted all the blame onto me, that I was the root of all the issues and responsible for his vile behavior.

Right. So he’s turned around and acknowledged her – something her brother never did. And she was hooked. She then opened up to him, and indeed, very inappropriately shared your relationship issues with him. He became her confidante and pretended to be very kind and supportive. When in fact, he was like a snake, injecting more and more poison into her. And she trusted him – because he gave her what she was craving for (validation).

It’s hard to imagine whant kind of mental gymnastics were at work there.

Your former friend sounds quite manipulative and toxic. How come he was your friend for such a long time?