I swallowed my heartache and used my period as an excuse to reject him. With a yawn, I turned away and pretended to sleep.
Jaren, believing I was truly asleep, quietly left the cave alone.
I had woken up in the middle of the night before and occasionally noticed his absence.
Whenever I asked, he always claimed he had gone hunting.
But the food he brought back each time—I'd never seen anything like it on the island.
Worried that he was overexerting himself, I had offered to go with him.
He told me the valley was full of wild beasts and abundant with food.
But it was in that very valley that I had broken my leg, leaving me with a deep psychological shadow.
Even hearing the rustling of grass in the wind near the area made me tremble uncontrollably.
But if the trap that injured me had been Jaren’s doing, then perhaps the so-called wild beasts were fake, too!
Tonight, I decided to follow him.
Sure enough, there were no wild beasts in the valley—only a hidden cabin.
I hid in a crevice behind the cabin and witnessed a shocking scene.
Jaren was on a video call with Suzzette!
As they spoke, he skillfully copied documents from the desk and sent them to her.
Suzzette smiled smugly. “Jaren, you're really considerate. You knew I’d be worried, so you make sure to send me copies of Reese’s surveillance footage on the island every day.”
Jaren responded respectfully, but there was unmistakable gentleness in his eyes.
"Miss, this is what I should do."
That gentle gaze had never once been directed at me.
The footage he had sent her—scenes of my suffering, my desperate struggle to survive—was something Suzzette watched with great amusement.
For a brief moment, Jaren looked away, as if unable to bear watching.
Sensing his wavering emotions, Suzzette masked her glee with a pitiful act.
"Jaren, do you think I’m heartless? I never meant to leave her stranded on the island... I was just scared. Scared that she would take my parents, my life, everything that belongs to me."
Her voice choked up with emotion. "If I hadn’t swapped her watch, maybe my parents would have found her long ago. Jaren, does this make me a terrible person?"
Jaren hastily reassured her. “Miss, you’ve done nothing wrong. It was she who was delusional, trying to steal your place. You were only protecting yourself. Besides, switching the watches was my idea, and I was the one who gave her a broken one. It has nothing to do with you.”
So that was why my distress signals were never answered!
I had always thought I had broken the watch myself. I even suspected that my fiancé, Nicholas, had deliberately ignored me.
But I never once suspected him!
Jaren was indeed ruthless. All this time, he had acted so nonchalant in front of me.
Did he secretly laugh every time he watched me desperately trying to fix that useless watch?
Hearing his response, Suzzette was satisfied.
Before ending the call, she gave him one final instruction.
"Jaren, make sure to destroy Reese’s identification. I need her to be completely erased from the outside world."
"Just hold on a little longer. Once I convince my parents to officially revoke her identity, you can come back."
Jaren fell silent. He hesitated at the mention of returning.
Suzzette’s smile faltered, and she pursed her lips in displeasure. “You haven’t actually fallen for Reese, have you? Do you not want to leave her?”
I held my breath.
Without hesitation, Jaren firmly denied it.
"Miss, I will never fall in love with Reese."
After the call ended, Jaren opened the refrigerator, took out a piece of meat, and left—pretending it was something he had just hunted.
This was how he had been deceiving me all along.
The moment he was gone, I rushed to unlock the cabin.
I tried twice but the passwords were incorrect.
Biting my lip, I entered Suzzette’s birthday.
"Password correct. Unlocking."
Smiling bitterly, I balled my fist. Jaren’s devotion to her ran deeper than I had imagined.
