[It's good to see, as Heart so accurately put it, that the man still has some fire left in him.]

I suppose that is fair enough. But - I see how he behaves, how he thinks of you, and it worries me. He is on the far side of the border of obsession, and an obsession of hatred is far worse than one of love.

Both as someone who considers him a friend, and as someone who raised my own children, I am concerned about him simply sinking down into a spiral of that.

[He closes his eyes and sighs.]

I do know well enough what it's like to be desperate for someone's attention in that way, and so I will say this - if you simply allow him to have whatever he asks of you, it will do neither of you any good. It is too late to have any kind of traditional parent-child relationship with him, but as a person engaging with another person, you must set a boundary somewhere.

[He smiles faintly.]

Even if that is a bit hypocritical of me to say at this exact moment. To say it is one thing and to act on it yet another, after all.