One-way loyalty has another name. It’s called working for free.

Loyalty is supposed to travel in both directions. When one person keeps showing up, keeps defending, keeps adjusting, that is not a bond so much as unpaid work with a warm name on it. The other person is not necessarily cruel; they may simply have gotten comfortable. Comfort on one side often looks like tiredness on the other.

Look back over the last few months and count who started things. If the answer is nearly always you, try stopping for a while and see whether anything moves toward you. What happens next will tell you more than another round of effort would.