“She Showed Her Nudes To My Husband”: 43 Toxic Friendships That Reached Their Breaking Point

28.

“I was racially profiled by an old white friend of mine who liked K-pop, anime, and manga. On the first day we talked, she asked if I liked them too. I told her it wasn’t my thing, and she said an old friend of hers dumped her because of her interests. It was so pointed that it felt like a ‘YOU need to KNOW this.’ Whenever we hung out, we always ended up listening to K-pop and watching anime, because my music was ‘shit’ (she’d just turn it off) and she’d go blank-faced when I showed her the things I liked. For several Christmases, she got me manga things. I felt unseen, but she claimed I was her ‘best friend’ (and too fast). When I told her I was into Friends, she dismissed it as not her thing, until a member of BTS said he learned English from watching Friends. Then she started getting into it and even got me a Friends t-shirt.”

“I always thought it was nice to have a friend who didn’t share my interests but who could introduce me to new things, but I noticed this was happening all the time.”

“Finally, in January 2020, my father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. I shared the news with her. She sent me a list…A LIST of anime to watch to ‘cheer’ myself up and let her know what I thought of them. No condolences, comfort, nothing. Just what felt like HOMEWORK I didn’t want. At that moment, I was like ‘Fuck this.’ I instantly thought about what she said about her old friend blocking and deleting her because of her interests. I don’t think it was her interests so much as her unwillingness to expand her world; she preferred friends who lived in her comfort zone.”

“It was suffocating. And out of all the 16 people that were in the room the day we met, she picked me to be friends with — half asian with asian features. Like, I was a safe bet to cater to her aesthetics. Still makes me cringe. But, with that said, I have NOTHING against K-pop, anime, and manga, just one-sided friendships.”

—creepitreal