The Deceit Of Survival

Synopsis

When the eerie apocalypse descended, my boyfriend took on one high-risk covert mission after another just to keep me alive. Each time he came to see me, he had to disguise himself as a different person. The neighborhood committee knew nothing about the truth. Seeing me bring unfamiliar men home again and again, they branded me promiscuous and expelled me from the safe zone. My workplace followed suit. Citing my "questionable private life," they revoked the position I had emptied my savings to secure. With my last foothold gone, I could only hide beneath a bridge, sleeping rough, scavenging for food, and living every day with the risk of being torn apart by monsters. But at least my boyfriend loved me. He came to see me every week, passionate and attentive, burning with affection. Recently, unable to bear seeing me suffer, he suggested I move in with him. I was overjoyed. Knowing how busy his work was, I decided to return to the safe zone first, to retrieve the inheritance my parents had left behind. That was when I saw him, standing there in his true appearance. "Being a woman is so much easier," he said casually. "One month of risking my life out there doesn't earn half as much as she gets from spending a single day with a man. With these supplies, you can lie around comfortably at home for a whole week." My chest tightened, as if something had crushed my heart. Sadie Cochran was the spoiled, pretentious junior my boyfriend always mocked and looked down on. "But this is deception," his friend said uneasily. "What if she finds out those men were never you, that you were just finding sponsors to provide her with supplies?" My boyfriend let out a dismissive snort. "So what if she finds out? She loves me so much that even if she does discover the truth, she'll pretend she doesn't. She's afraid I might start looking down on her."