A familiar greeting can continue after the affection that invented it has become uncertain.

A greeting can outlive the feeling that produced it. The nickname, the particular hug, the habitual phrase keep running long after the certainty behind them has gone, and their continuation makes it possible to avoid noticing anything has changed. Forms are durable and feelings are not.

If a familiar ritual has started to feel hollow, that is information rather than a failure. It does not mean the relationship is over; it may mean it needs a real conversation that the ritual has been substituting for. Ask how they are in a way that cannot be answered with the usual reply, and see what comes back.