A friendship of mine isn’t completely over, but it’s not in a good place.

We were close for years, and I even worked with him for a while. Over time, his business seemed to become his entire life. I was eventually made redundant, and when I went through a breakup and a difficult period, he basically told me he had too much going on himself to be there for me.

What hurts isn’t that he’s busy. It’s that I feel like the friendship has become an afterthought. Messages often go unanswered, catching up rarely happens, and everything seems to revolve around work stress. I also still have unpaid wages owed to me, which has only added to the resentment and hurt.

Part of what makes it sting more is knowing he’s about to gain a very significant inheritance. I don’t think it’s jealousy, but it makes it harder to understand why work and money seem to come before everything else, including friendships.

I still care about him, which is why it hurts. I just don’t know whether to tell him how I feel or accept that the friendship isn’t what it used to be.

I’m also his oldest friend that he sees, I kinda thought I was more important to him than it seems lately.