For me it's not about relation, but about readability. As humans, we like patterns and thus patterns are readable. Lines that are similar in pattern are better left together as that actually increases readability.

I guess my goal here is to make the code more approachable and while sticking the lines together may have certain benefits if you know the code, as somebody unacquainted with the code, I would definitely prefer a separation.

Finally, while they may be related, the action that happens in each line are very different. The first is an instantiation, the second a check for another variable and the one we just instantiated. If this was a text in a novel, you would want the separation of a full stop, or maybe even a paragraph between them.