She noticed it first during a phone call with his father. They were planning a visit, and her boyfriend's voice changed the moment he picked up the phone. It became tighter, more formal, almost rehearsed. He answered questions with clipped efficiency. He did not laugh. He did not share anything personal. When he hung up, she asked if everything was okay. He said it was fine, that was just how his dad was, they were not really close. She nodded and let it go. But over time, she began to see the shape of that distance in everything. In the way he struggled to express warmth. In the way he held himself to impossible standards. In the way he could not receive praise without deflecting it. He was not talking to his father anymore, but his father was still talking through him.