Getting made to feel like the dumbest person in the room by someone you trusted has a way of sticking with you.

A guy whose ex spent years making him feel small in front of their friend group got an unexpected opportunity years later when his ex was on the other side of that dynamic for once.

The apology he gave afterward wasn’t exactly heartfelt.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for being rude to my friend?

I (19M) have a friend (21M). We used to date about 4 or 5 years ago in high school.

He always felt super mature and smarter than I was.

I was in his friend group and would be confused about certain topics, terms, or words they would use.

But instead of being kind about it, this friend took the opportunity to embarrass him in front of everyone else.

When I would ask certain things or not know things or ask for clarification, the way he went about explaining it made me feel stupid and belittled.

Often would result in him and his friends laughing at me.

It started to become a larger pattern.

He acted super sweet in 1 on 1s but when his friends were around, I often felt like I was the joke or made out to be the stupid young one.

As of now, we are just friends. We have both put everything previous in our past under the bridge.

Sometimes I do think of it and feel upset but not often.

So one day, the two crossed paths again.

My family and I recently let him buy a ticket for an event off of us and drove him there.

We were all talking about something, and he started asking questions.

This time, it was time to turn the tables.

I answered sarcastically and asked him why he didn’t know.

We started getting more into it and we were laughing, joking, and answering his questions on whatever topic we were talking about.

He showed me a text he sent in his Discord server about feeling upset and belittled to summarize.

But he feels like this is only karma for how he’s treated others in the past.

I shrugged it off, thinking that he just gets to experience how he used to make me feel all the time.

I apologized recently but he didn’t really accept it. And I think that’s somewhat fair because I don’t feel all that sorry.

AITA or should I have truly felt sorry, apologized, or have drawn back?

Sounds like karma had finally come for this know-it-all friend.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter points out there’s maybe a better way to get some closure.

Maybe this story belongs more in the “petty revenge” category.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

True healing doesn’t come from petty behavior like this.

Sometimes what goes around comes around.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a couple who are angry their friends and family wouldn’t cancel their Halloween plans to attend their wedding.