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.

I stepped into the cabin and was instantly overwhelmed.

Not only were there three fully stocked refrigerators, but the entire island was under surveillance. There was even a weather monitoring system.

Jaren had gone to great lengths to ensure I would never escape.

And I trusted him so foolishly.

Clutching my injured leg, I pounded the ground in anguish.

The very hand I had clung to in my darkest moment turned out to be the one that had pushed me into hell.

Just then, the weather monitoring system on the large screen flashed a red warning.

As a geography major, I recognized it immediately.

A tsunami was coming in a week.

This was my chance.

I altered the system’s data, erasing all warning signals.

I would use this tsunami to escape—once and for all.

Jaren returned, pretending he had been out hunting.

Ignoring the pain in my leg, I took a shortcut and arrived back at the cave before him.

He gently kissed me awake.

Stretching lazily, I turned to see him holding out his hand.

In his palm was a small rabbit.

"Reese, this is to keep you company. Do you like it?"

Suppressing the wave of disgust rising within me, I forced myself to smile.

Rabbits were Suzzette’s favorite animal. She loved them so much that even mentioning spicy rabbit heads at home was forbidden. Otherwise, she would cry and wail, accusing me of being cruel and bullying her.

As a result, I had been punished—banned from eating at the dinner table for three nights.

Jaren placed the rabbit in my arms. “From now on, when I go hunting, it will keep you company.”

I barely managed to curl my lips into a smile.

My gaze shifted to the pile of meat he had placed on the ground. Casually, I asked, “What kind of meat is that?”

Jaren answered nonchalantly, “Dog.”

I nearly threw up.

We had eaten that same meat two days ago.

Rage flared in my heart.

He was doing this on purpose.

I had told him before—my best friend growing up had been a dog.

"Why would you eat—" I clenched my teeth, stopping myself mid-sentence.

Jaren replied matter-of-factly, “There’s no food. We eat whatever we can to survive.”

He wasn’t hunting at all. He was just torturing me!

There were so many options, yet he deliberately chose the one that would hurt me the most.

Fine. If he wanted to act, I would play along.

That night, I clung to Jaren, whispering sweet words, offering soft touches.

He was lost in desire when I suddenly brought up the idea of building a boat to leave the island.

Instantly, he shoved me away.

Tears welled in my eyes. “You don’t want to go home with me? Don’t you want to see my parents?”

He wiped my tears hastily. “...That’s not it. Fine, I’ll help you.”

The next day, he brought several wooden planks to the entrance of the cave, claiming he would build a boat.

But before dawn, he came to me with a regretful expression.

"The planks were chewed up by wild beasts. They’re useless now."

I threw myself into his arms, sobbing pitifully.

Jaren held me, gently patting my back, comforting me for a long time.

What he didn’t know was that I never cared about the planks. What I truly wanted was the ropes he used to tie them together.

And while he continued his charade of “hunting,” I had already begun secretly rehabilitating my injured leg.

He had no idea.

As usual, he brought me a steaming bowl of herbal medicine.

I stared at it, lost in thought.

Jaren had told me these herbs were difficult to find. Once, he had almost fallen off a cliff while gathering them.

"Drink it all," he urged. "So you can heal faster."

"Reese, once you're better, I’ll take you to see the scenery."

This so-called wild man—who usually spoke so few words—had suddenly become fluent in sweet talk.

All to keep me from learning the truth.

All to continue his lies for Suzzette.

I held the coconut bowl in my hands and shook my head.

"Sanders, this medicine is too bitter. I really don’t want to drink it anymore."

He never allowed me to call him Jaren—only by his surname.

I thought of Suzzette sweetly calling him "Jaren" over and over again, and bitterness welled up inside me.

However, Jaren insisted on feeding me the medicine.

I said coldly, “All medicine is poisonous in some way. Aren’t you afraid that taking too much might have side effects?”

At the mention of side effects, he hesitated. Then he forced a smile, pretending to be at ease.

"There are no side effects, Reese. Just drink it."

He had become so skilled at lying to me—so calm, so effortlessly cheerful.

As he wished, I took the bowl and drank it all in one go.

The bitterness made me wince.

A flash of guilt crossed his eyes, and he quickly said he would go find some honey for me.

The moment he left, I turned away and spat out the medicine.

Jaren had a cruel heart.

If I kept drinking this, my leg might never heal.

—

At night, he always exhausted me before bed, making sure I was too tired to stay awake—so he could sneak away to see Suzzette.

I refused to let them have their way.

I fought off sleep, clinging to him, insisting he tell me stories.

At first, he was patient. But as time dragged on, his frustration grew.

Suddenly, he got up and forcefully pushed me down. "Reese, you need to sleep."

"I’m not sleepy. I just like talking to you," I insisted.

His face darkened. “If you don’t sleep, how can I go hunting with peace of mind? If I don’t hunt, what will you eat?”

Tsk. Using hunting as an excuse again.

Sighing, I replied, "I can eat less. Or you could just go during the day."

Jaren clearly hadn’t expected me to be this difficult.

I grabbed his hand. “Or... we could just lie down and sleep together?”

"Enough!" he roared, losing his temper.

He was furious—completely out of character.

Was missing one meeting with Suzzette really that unbearable?

Realizing I was upset, Jaren ran outside and returned with a coconut.

"Coconut water is sweet. I know you like sweet things."

So he remembered. I loved drinking coconut water.

I took the heavy coconut, glancing down to see a faint trace of white powder near the opening.

Under his expectant gaze, I took a deep sip.

Then, pretending to feel drowsy, I lay down to sleep. As I closed my eyes, he gently caressed my face.

"Reese, just wait until the day after tomorrow. After that, I’ll make it up to you."

The day after tomorrow—that was the day of Suzzette’s engagement.

That was also when my parents would officially announce her as their heiress.

Everything that was supposed to be mine would be taken away.

And what exactly did he think he could "make it up" to me?

Jaren whispered to himself, “Reese, I’ll stay with you on this island for the rest of our lives. And once you’re gone. I’ll return to protect the young miss.”

Even as he made me a promise, he couldn’t let go of Suzzette.

The moment he left, I forced myself to vomit out the coconut water.

Luckily, I hadn’t swallowed much.

Jaren was too confident.

In his rush to see Suzzette, he hadn’t even bothered to hide the sleeping drug.

I pocketed all of it.

Tomorrow, it would come in handy.

If he didn’t love me, then I had no reason to stay on this island.

—

Tomorrow was the day of the tsunami warning.

Suzzette was about to get engaged.

Jaren had been staring blankly at the sky all morning.

He made me breakfast, then claimed he was going hunting again.

It was clear that staying with me was painful for him.

And I was more than happy to oblige.

Suddenly, he pulled me into his arms.

"Maybe I won’t go hunting today. We still have enough food."