After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law-Chapter 54: Three Tents, Four People, One Problem

The trek to Jaguar Ridge wasn’t a hike; it was a vertical scramble through a sauna filled with thorns.

For Aria, it was a warm-up. People assumed she was delicate because she was an heiress, but they didn’t know about the hours she used to spend on the treadmill in her past life, running miles in the park.

She cut through the undergrowth, her breathing steady, her boots finding purchase on the slick roots. Behind her, the sounds of the jungle were punctuated by the heavy, wheezing breaths of the others.

"Wait... up!" Leo gasped, crashing through a fern like a wounded deer. He was sweaty, his face streaked with dirt, but he was keeping pace.

"Keep moving, Leo," Aria called back without slowing down. "If you stop, your muscles cool down. Then you cramp."

"I think... I’m already... cramped," Leo moaned, but he kept jogging.

A mile back, the "Golden Couple" was falling apart.

"Lucas!" Bella shrieked, her sandal caught in a root. "Help me! I’m stuck!"

Lucas, ten feet ahead, didn’t turn around. He was drenched in sweat, his designer polo clinging to him. "Just pull it out, Bella! I can’t stop! Uncle Damien is watching!"

"You’re leaving me?!"

"I’m securing our shelter!" Lucas yelled back, swatting a mosquito on his neck. "He said there are only three tents! If I don’t get one, we sleep in the mud!"

He scrambled up a rocky incline, leaving Bella to hop on one foot, cursing his name.

Forty-five minutes later, the trees broke.

Aria stepped onto the summit of Jaguar Ridge. The view was spectacular—a panoramic sweep of the ocean and the green hell they had just traversed.

In the center of the clearing sat a large wooden crate stamped with the Survival Star logo.

"First," Aria whispered, checking her watch.

She walked over to the crate. It was locked with a simple combination padlock. A note was taped to the lid.

RIDDLE: I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?

"A map," Aria said instantly.

She spun the combination lock to the numbers corresponding to the letters M-A-P on a keypad: 6-2-7.

Click.

The lock popped open.

"Too easy, Damien," she murmured, throwing the lid back.

Inside, the supplies were neatly arranged. Four sleeping bags. A case of water. A flint striker. And... three tent bags.

Aria smiled, a dark glint in her eyes. "He really did it. Three tents."

She grabbed a tent bag and a sleeping bag. She walked to the best spot in the clearing—high ground, sheltered by a rock face from the wind—and began to set up camp.

Leo stumbled into the clearing five minutes later, collapsing face-first into the grass.

"Water," he croaked.

Aria tossed him a bottle from the crate. "Drink. Then grab a tent. There are only two left."

Leo’s eyes widened. He scrambled up, chugging the water, and grabbed a blue tent bag. "I call blue! Shotgun!"

Twenty minutes passed. Aria had her tent pitched, her sleeping bag unrolled, and a fire circle built (though not lit). Leo was struggling with a tent pole, but he had claimed his spot.

Finally, Lucas crested the ridge. He was panting, his face red, looking like he was on the verge of cardiac arrest. Bella limped in behind him a moment later, holding her broken sandal.

"Water," Lucas wheezed, falling against the crate.

He grabbed a bottle, downing it in seconds. Then he looked into the crate.

There was one tent bag left.

Lucas froze. He looked at the tent. He looked at the empty space where a fourth tent would be if his uncle were a kinder man.

"He wasn’t joking," Lucas whispered, dread pooling in his stomach. "Three tents."

Bella hobbled over. "Lucas, grab the tent. My feet are bleeding. I need to lie down."

She reached for the bag.

Lucas snatched it first. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Lucas?" Bella blinked.

"It’s... it’s a single," Lucas said, clutching the bag to his chest, his eyes darting between Bella and the thunderclouds gathering overhead. "It’s small."

"So?" Bella asked. "We can squeeze. We’re skinny."

Suddenly, the drone buzzed down from the tree line.

"Rule Update," Damien’s voice boomed from the speaker, crisp and amused. "Cohabitation between unmarried contestants is prohibited. One person per tent. Violators will be disqualified."

Silence descended on the ridge.

Lucas looked at the drone. He looked at the darkening sky, where heavy grey rainclouds were gathering. He looked at Bella.

"Lucas," Bella whispered, her eyes wide. "You... you’re going to give it to me, right? I’m injured. I’m your girlfriend. Practically."

Lucas looked at the tent in his arms. He imagined sleeping on the hard, bug-infested ground. He imagined the rain.

He looked at Aria. She was watching him with a cold, knowing smirk. She knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Bella," Lucas started, his voice high and thin. "You’re... you’re tough. You have that... resilient spirit."

"What?" Bella’s voice dropped.

"My back," Lucas lied, clutching his spine. "I have sciatica. If I sleep on the ground, I won’t be able to walk tomorrow. I have to carry the team, Bella. I need the rest."

"You need the rest?" Bella screeched. "I walked three miles in broken sandals!"

"It’s strategy!" Lucas yelled, backing away toward a flat patch of grass. "I’m the strongest! I need to be at 100%!"

He unzipped the bag and started frantically trying to assemble the poles before she could take it from him.

Bella stood there, stunned. The "Prince" had just thrown her to the wolves.

"You coward," she whispered.

Aria let out a laugh. It was a bright, happy sound.

"Well done, Damien," she said to the drone hovering near her. "I give the plot twist a ten out of ten."

The drone dipped its nose, as if bowing.

Then, it released a small parachute package. It landed in Aria’s lap.

"Winner’s Bonus," Damien’s voice announced.

Aria opened it.

Inside was a thermos of hot beef stew, a fresh baguette, and a single red rose.

The smell of savory meat wafted across the clearing. Lucas’s stomach growled loudly. Bella looked like she might faint.

"Dinner is served," Aria said, tearing off a piece of bread.

She looked at Lucas, who was struggling to shove a pole into a sleeve.

"Enjoy your tent, Nephew. I hope it’s soundproof. I think Bella is going to be screaming all night."