Here are two magnets on a smooth table.

You slide one magnet toward the other.

Before they touch, the other magnet slides toward it.

They snap together.

The magnet in your hand slides close. The other magnet slides to meet it before they touch.

Now you turn your magnet around and slide it close again.

This time the other magnet slides away, before they touch!

The magnet in your hand, turned around, slides close. The other magnet slides away before they touch.

Nothing touched the other magnet. What is going on?