The pattern had become predictable now.
Shen Yichen stayed close.
Lin Yue spoke carefully.
Lu Han tried to break the logic.
And nothing really changed.
But something was changing anyway.
It was in the way Shen Yichen no longer questioned his reactions.
He simply acted on them.
Immediate.
Certain.
Now, he stood slightly closer than before—so close that even small movements felt significant.
Lu Han noticed it first.
"You're escalating again," he said quietly.
Shen Yichen didn't look at him.
"I'm maintaining control," he replied.
Lin Yue exhaled softly.
"Control over what exactly?" she asked.
Shen Yichen turned to her immediately.
"Distance," he said.
Simple.
Final.
Lin Yue frowned slightly.
"You're treating distance like it's dangerous on its own."
Shen Yichen nodded once.
"Yes."
No hesitation.
Lu Han stepped forward slightly.
"That's not how safety works," he said firmly.
Shen Yichen finally looked at him.
Slow.
Cold.
"It is for me," he replied.
Silence.
Lin Yue studied him carefully.
"You're not reacting to what's happening," she said softly.
"You're reacting to what you think might happen."
Shen Yichen didn't deny it.
"Yes."
A pause.
"And I don't want to wait for it to happen again."
Silence.
That "again" hung in the air.
Everything circled back to it.
Lin Yue stepped slightly closer.
Shen Yichen noticed instantly.
His gaze sharpened—not angry, just immediate.
Lin Yue spoke gently.
"You're treating me like I'm already halfway gone."
Shen Yichen didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
Simple.
Honest.
Unchanging.
"And I don't know how to think otherwise."
Lu Han exhaled sharply.
"You're reinforcing trauma instead of resolving it," he said.
Shen Yichen finally looked at him fully.
"And what would resolving it look like?" he asked quietly.
A pause.
"Pretending I didn't lose her once?"
Silence.
No answer came.
Because denial wasn't a solution either.
Shen Yichen turned back to Lin Yue.
Their space between them was barely measurable now.
His voice softened slightly.
"I don't want to lose you twice," he said quietly.
A pause.
"Once in memory… and once in reality."
Lin Yue's expression softened slightly—but conflicted.
"You're blending memory and reality together," she said softly.
Shen Yichen nodded once.
"Yes."
Simple.
Final.
"And I can't separate them anymore."
Silence.
Lu Han stepped forward again.
"You're letting one experience define your entire perception of existence," he said firmly.
Shen Yichen didn't look away from Lin Yue.
"It was the only experience that mattered," he replied.
Silence settled again.
And Lin Yue realized something deeply unsettling—
he wasn't just afraid of losing her in the future.
He was still reacting to the *memory of losing her before* as if it was happening again in real time.
And every moment of distance—
even imagined—
was a repetition of that loss in his mind.