One of the quiet mind games of living with a narcissist:

They won’t show interest in what matters to you while you’re together.

But the moment you detach, they’ll showcase that interest somewhere else…

Perhaps most heinously : where you’re forced to witness it.

Not for you.

Not with you.

For an audience.

A meal you love.

It could be your own mothers recipe.

Or something you struggled to enjoy again.

Ignored when it was yours.

Performed when it could be seen.

This isn’t generosity.

It’s displacement.

“I can do this… just not for you.”

And then making sure you’re close enough to feel it.

If you’ve lived this, you know:

The pain isn’t the food.

It’s the message underneath it.

And then the clarity MUST be this, friend:

Someone who wanted to care would have done so when it was quiet, not when it was strategic.

Leaving isn’t overreacting.

It’s opting out of the performance.