There’s nothing wrong with the truth, but having empathy isn’t going to harm anyone nor detract from the truth. It’s fine to prefer to hear something offensively true (I’m the same way, I would much prefer to just have the plain truth), but not everyone is that way. Because of this, it’s easier to just be considerate when saying something, unless you’re told otherwise. I don’t think intelligence has anything to do with it, the fwb may have been upset over what was said, or how it was said to them. It’s hard to determine since we have limited detail. We can’t prove the fwb was “denying the reality”, so I think it’s wrong to assume that.