The Narcissist Chameleons of Our Times

Friendships can be the most beautiful - and the most brutal - stories we live. Some bonds are like deep-rooted oaks, bending but never breaking through life’s storms. Others are like fireworks — intense, dazzling, and gone before you even blink. But the most dangerous ones? They’re the friendships that oscillate between love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, until you can’t tell whether it’s affection or warfare. These relationships are not just emotionally exhausting; they’re psychological thrillers in disguise.

There are people whose loyalties shift faster than weather in April. One day, they’re inseparable — talking for hours, sharing secrets, and making you believe in “forever friendships.” Then suddenly, you ask about one of them, and the other mutters a vague, uncomfortable sentence. Just like that, the dream duo has vanished into thin air. You don’t even need to ask what happened. Life, as always, moves on - cruelly, quietly, without explanation.

Some relationships, though, have the resilience of oaks and willows. They might bend in the fiercest storm but never break. When you see them again after chaos, they’re back - stronger, warmer, wiser. These friendships remind us that endurance is not about avoiding conflict but growing roots deep enough to withstand it.

But then there’s a third kind - the kind that can turn love into venom overnight. You’ve seen them: the pair that once finished each other’s sentences now can’t stand each other’s names. Yesterday’s affection becomes today’s ammunition. They sling rumours, plot revenge, and poison the air around them. What was once chemistry now feels radioactive.

And just when you think they’ve burned every bridge, they shock you again. Like geopolitical rivals, they find common cause - a new “enemy.” Suddenly, the ex-friends-turned-foes are allies again, united by shared bitterness. They apologise, laugh together, and tell stories about their newfound rival with eerie familiarity. You almost believe they’ve matured, until you realise - they’ve merely buried their old weapons, not disarmed them.

These are the most dangerous relationships - the ones powered by insecurity, manipulation, and emotional volatility. They thrive on chaos, feeding off drama like oxygen. They’ll love fiercely, hate passionately, and reconcile strategically, but never sincerely. And when their temporary peace treaty ends, the missiles will fly again - deadlier than before.

Beware of such spineless souls who treat values as fashion accessories - put on when convenient, discarded when not. They are the true neoliberal subjects of our times: trading loyalty for leverage, emotions for optics, and ethics for instant gratification. They will use and trash people with surgical precision, fake empathy when it earns them attention, and cheat with the same passion with which they once performed love. These are narcissists in rainbow colours - beautifully packaged, dangerously hollow, and endlessly adaptable to whatever serves their ego next. Guard your peace, for crossing paths with them is like walking barefoot through broken glass disguised as glitter.