Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love this is the eternal rule.

Returning hostility keeps alive a thing that would otherwise starve. Each round hands the other side fresh justification, which is why feuds outlast the injury that started them and nobody can remember the cause. Breaking the cycle takes someone declining to add to it, and what finally ends it is more than restraint: love, meaning a goodwill that outlasts the injury. None of that means pretending the harm did not happen or that it was acceptable.

You are allowed to protect yourself, to leave, and to refuse contact. What is worth watching is the part that lives in your own head, the imagined argument you keep winning. Putting that down is done for your sake first, and it requires forgiving nobody on a schedule.