I agree, I'm sure he was. But I wonder what the healthy approach there is. It's tempting, but ultimately a trap to think oh I can help this person be themselves/more vulnerable/more authentic. Usually, people can only be helped when they wanna be. So it's tricky. I genuinely don't know how one's supposed to proceed in such encounters :D
Thank you @wolfofnostreet (what a cool name!). I'm glad you resonated~