Emily's panic erupted like a storm. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her eyes wild with a mix of fury and despair. Before I could react, she lunged forward, her palms slamming against my chest, each strike fueled by betrayal.

"Tell me what happened to Mike!" she screamed, her voice cracking.

"Where is he?! And remove this mask!" Her fingers clawed at my face, as if she could peel away the deception herself. "You stole his face! You stole his identity!"

I didn't resist. Instead, I reached up and deactivated the MASK, letting it dissolve into nothingness before her eyes. The transformation was instant—my features returned to their true form, the illusion gone.

Emily stumbled back, her hands flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. "No…" she whispered, her voice trembling. "No, no, no—" She shook her head violently, as if she could erase what she'd just seen.

I didn't give her time to spiral. In one swift motion, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward me, my grip firm but not cruel.

She resisted, her body tense with outrage, but I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her, settling her onto my lap so she faced me. "Let me go!" she shrieked, her fists pounding against my shoulders. "Don't touch me!"

Her protests only lasted a second. With a sharp, deliberate motion, I brought my hand down on her backside—hard. The sound echoed through the room, and Emily gasped, her body jerking in shock. "Aaaah—!" she cried out, her voice a mix of pain and disbelief.

I didn't let go. Instead, I held her tighter, my voice low and commanding. "Can you listen to me first?"

Emily froze, her breath hitching, her body trembling against mine. Tears streamed down her face, but she stopped fighting. For the first time since the truth had unraveled, she was still—not because she wanted to be, but because she had no choice.

"You don't understand," I said, my voice steady, my grip unyielding. "None of this was supposed to happen this way."

She swallowed hard, her voice barely a whisper. "Then make me understand." Her eyes searched mine, a desperate mix of fear and fury. "Because right now, all I see is a monster."

I took a deep, shuddering breath, my voice barely above a whisper. "Emily, I need you to listen to me. Really listen." My hands framed her face, my thumbs brushing away the tears that kept falling, as if they could wash away the lies I'd built our world on.

"What I'm about to tell you… It's going to sound impossible. But I swear to you, every word is true."

Emily's breath hitched, her eyes red and swollen, locked onto mine. "You've already lied to me a thousand times," she spat, her voice raw. "Why should I believe you now?"

"Because I have nothing left to hide," I said, my voice breaking. "Because I love you. And because the truth is the only thing I can give you now."

I hesitated, searching for the right words, the right way to make her understand. The truth was messy, tangled in choices I'd made out of desperation and love. "As you can see," I began, my voice barely above a whisper, "I have abilities… abilities that defy explanation. And I didn't just appear in your life by chance. I came from the future, just like you did. But something went wrong. I was lost—trapped in a jungle, far from everything I knew."

Emily's breath hitched, her eyes locked onto mine, a mix of fear and curiosity flickering in her gaze. She didn't pull away, but her body remained tense, as if she were bracing herself for another blow.

"When I was in the jungle, that's where I saw him," I continued, my voice thick with the weight of the memory.

"A man traveling in a jeep. He stopped to—" I paused, the image flashing in my mind. "To relieve himself. But before he could return, a mammoth attacked him. I heard his companions shouting his name—' Mike! Mike!'—their voices echoing through the trees, calling him to come back after peeing, but they didn't notice the mammoth. By the time I reached him, it was too late. He was… taking his last breaths."

Emily's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. "No…" she whispered, her voice breaking.

"He looked at me," I said, my own voice cracking. "And with what little strength he had left, he begged me to take care of you. To tell you he was sorry. That he never meant to leave you." I swallowed hard, the guilt pressing down on me.

"So I made a choice. I took his place. I took his identity. When I first met you, I told myself it was just to fulfill his last wish—to protect you. But then…" I cupped her face, my thumb tracing the curve of her cheek.

"I fell in love with you, Emily. And the longer I stayed, the more I realized I couldn't let you go. I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to disappoint you. I just… wanted to be the man you deserved."

Emily let out a choked sob, her entire body shaking. "No…" she whispered, her voice breaking. "No, that's not—Mike wouldn't—"

"He did," I said, my own tears burning in my eyes. "And I couldn't just walk away. I couldn't leave you alone, not knowing, not understanding. So I made a choice. I took his face. His voice. His life. I became Mike. Not to replace him, but to… to honor his last wish. To protect you."

Emily's hands flew to her mouth, a sob tearing through her. "You stole him from me!" she cried, her voice raw with grief. "You let me mourn him! You let me love a ghost!"

"I know," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "And I hate myself for it. Every single day. But I couldn't stay away from you, Emily. Not after I met you. Not after I saw how strong you were, how kind, how alive. I told myself I was doing it for you. But the truth? I did it for me. Because I fell in love with you. And I was too selfish to let you go."

Emily's sobs grew louder, her body wracked with grief. She pounded her fists against my chest, not to hurt me, but to hurt herself, as if she could beat the truth out of her own heart. "You lied to me!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "Every kiss, every touch, every word—it was all a lie!"

"No," I said, grabbing her wrists gently, pulling her hands to my lips. "Not all of it. The way I feel about you—that's real. The way I love you—that's real."

"How can I believe you?" she sobbed, her body collapsing against mine. "How do I know anything is real?"

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