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You told him the right thing in the wrong way. Should have given him the advice without the abuse, and told him you bet if he gets out and walks around and sticks it out for three more days, he'd probably want to stay. And if he had done that, he just might have -- even though he sounds kind of soft and squishy in all other ways.
I mean, by swearing at him you gave him yet another excuse to bail, because he's so heartbroken, etc...
My first trip overseas, young and alone, I started out in a nasty hotel in a bad part of Bangkok in a neighborhood you didn't want to walk around with. I almost turned it around and went home, but bludgeoned myself into taking some initiative and getting the hell out of there. The rest of the trip was fine. Frankly, one major reason i didn't fold was because I was afraid my friends would all think I'd wimped out. So I stuck with it. Your half-brother, unfortunately, knew he'd be not blamed at all for wimping out, so he did -- and you made it even easier because now he could use you as the bad guy.
Are you an asshole? No. But you should have stayed calm instead of indulging your temper. Not only is anger the wrong approach, but he used it against you. Quite the manipulator, that boy.
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