The silence in the room had changed again.
Not tense.
Not calm.
Inevitable.
Shen Yichen was still holding Lin Yue's hand.
But now it didn't feel like an accident of emotion anymore.
It felt like a decision he kept renewing every second.
Lu Han exhaled slowly.
"You're not hearing reason anymore," he said.
Shen Yichen didn't look at him.
"I am," he replied.
A pause.
"I just don't value it more than her."
Lin Yue's fingers tightened slightly—not pulling away this time.
Just reacting.
"You're saying I come before everything?" she asked quietly.
Shen Yichen finally looked at her.
And his answer came without hesitation.
"Yes."
Simple.
Absolute.
Too certain for someone who had lost his past.
Lu Han stepped forward sharply.
"That's exactly how people lose themselves," he said.
Shen Yichen turned his head slightly.
Slow.
Cold.
"I already lost myself," he said.
A pause.
"When I lost her."
Silence.
Lin Yue felt it again.
That shift inside him wasn't fading.
It was settling.
Like something unstable deciding its final shape.
She looked at him carefully.
"You don't even know me fully," she said softly.
Shen Yichen didn't deny it.
Instead—
he stepped half a step closer.
Their hands still connected.
"I don't need full memory," he said quietly.
"I need what I feel when you're here."
A pause.
"That's enough."
Lin Yue frowned slightly.
"Feelings can mislead you."
Shen Yichen's gaze didn't waver.
"Then let them."
That answer made Lu Han's expression tighten.
"This is dangerous," he said again.
Shen Yichen finally looked at him directly.
"And what I felt before losing her wasn't?"
Silence.
No one answered.
Because that was the contradiction at the center of everything.
Lin Yue tried gently again to pull her hand back.
This time—
Shen Yichen didn't stop her instantly.
He let it move.
Just slightly.
Then his fingers followed immediately.
Not gripping harder.
Just refusing distance.
A step forward.
Closing the space again.
Lin Yue noticed.
"You don't let me create space," she said softly.
Shen Yichen answered immediately.
"I can't."
A pause.
"If you step back… I lose something."
His voice lowered slightly.
"And I don't know if I can get it back twice."
Silence.
That wasn't romance.
That was dependency with awareness.
Lin Yue looked at him for a long moment.
Then quietly:
"You're tying your survival to me."
Shen Yichen didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
Lu Han stepped forward again, voice sharper now.
"You're making her responsible for your entire emotional stability."
Shen Yichen finally looked at him fully.
"I'm not making her anything," he said.
A pause.
"I'm just admitting what already exists."
Then he turned back to Lin Yue.
Their hands still connected.
His voice softened slightly.
"If you step back," he said quietly.
"I'll come closer."
A pause.
"If you leave…"
His grip tightened just a fraction.
"…I won't stop following."
Silence fell again.
But this time it wasn't confusion.
It was certainty without balance.
And Lin Yue realized something clearly now.
He wasn't asking for love.
He wasn't even asking for memory.
He was asking for proximity.
Because without it—
he didn't know who he was anymore.