"I can't imagine why anyone would make up your life for theirself," he agreed. It was hardly the sort of world one would escape to, with the trauma and the horrible therapists and such... something to think about sometime when ZEX wasn't being so distracting, all too close and touching him and making his heart beat faster.

This was definitely about the right time to pull away, since ZEX was obviously feeling better, and since Tanaka didn't seem very likely to come by and interrupt at this point. Definitely the right time. And entirely the wrong time to make an uncertain sound and keep holding ZEX and not protest at all, definitely.

Apparently, Zelnick had a bad sense of timing.