I mean, her first instinct was to run away for a whole ass year just because of an unconfirmed rumor, and her family wasn’t too helpful either, constantly doing shit that made her misunderstand
O . o;
Which only furthers my point, she ran the fuck away 4 years after they started living under the same roof and sleeping in the same bed.
Having an actual conversation At any point during that period of time would have gone a long way in disabusing the other about where they stood in their relationship. Instead the author is implying that both side mostly kept to themselves, hid their emotions, and limited contact and conversions to arms length greetings and perfunctory platonic good byes.
Hells, at any time during the first 4 years if they were to have anything approaching an argument would have been a good thing. Clear away the congested blockage that were their preconceived notions and just hash things out...