Past tense.
Correct.
“I know,” she replied.
No contradiction.
Love existed.
So did deception.
Both were true.
Neither canceled the other.
He asked one final question.
“Was any of it real to you?”
The question revealed a misunderstanding.
Reality is not invalidated by incomplete information.
It is recontextualized.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then why isn’t that enough?”
Because authenticity of feeling does not compensate for absence of truth.
She did not explain.
Explanation was no longer her responsibility.
They separated without physical contact.
No handshake.
No gesture.
No symbolic act.
