Responses
I think he's just too afraid of being seen and known, like this he can at the end of the day rationalize himself into saying that nothing happened between them (not true), but if he let her see and know him as he truly is there's no going back if she rejects him
The lines are so ambiguous like between irl married man and his mistress ⁄ ⁄@/-⁄@ ⁄)⁄