All Chapters of Surviving the Apocalypse in Style: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Clara said it on purpose, each word meant to hit Ruth where it hurt.Sure enough, Ruth went silent for a moment.When she finally spoke again, her voice was trembling. "Clara, Derek is respecting you. He wants your wedding night to be perfect. Where else are you going to find a man like that? How can you be so... indecent? Thinking about things like that?"There it was again. The emotional manipulation."I-it's my fault. I overthought it," Clara whispered. "I just... sometimes I want to hold his hand, maybe kiss him. Every couple around us does that. But Derek acts like he can't get away from me fast enough."It was a lie.Derek had kissed her more than once. The memory alone made her stomach churn.But to Ruth, kissing was absolutely forbidden.Clara had tossed it out there on purpose, just to make Ruth think everything was still under her control, that both Derek and Clara were dancing to the tune she had set.As expected, Ruth's tone brightened immediately.She went on lec

Maybe it was Clara's tone, or maybe Yvette just liked the idea of revenge, but she agreed to meet.Clara asked how she even found out Derek was cheating. Yvette explained that her family ran a small hotel, and she had covered a front-desk shift that morning. By pure coincidence, she saw Derek checking out with another woman.She admitted she wasn't completely sure it was him. She had only seen photos, after all. She mostly said it to gross Clara out.In her previous life, Clara hadn't pressed for details. She never realized how solid the evidence had actually been.Yvette might really be her lucky break this time. Clara had been trying to figure out how to dump Derek, and Yvette had practically handed her the chance."Please don't tell anyone about this yet. I'm begging you."Yvette went quiet for a long time. Maybe she had never heard Clara speak so humbly before, so she eventually agreed.During the day, Clara settled everything regarding her apartment with Colin. He worked at

Clara hurried to pull out the roasted chicken she had bought earlier. She tore off two pieces and held them out to Shadow."Shadow, look what I brought you. Come here, let me feed you."Shadow's expression only softened a little when he saw the food. He took the chicken from her hand and trotted off to eat it in his corner.Later that evening, she took him out for a walk, then stopped by a small neighborhood market to pick up fresh vegetables. She planned to cook after finishing her strength training for the night. Clara was a great cook, after all.The five thousand disposable containers she had ordered online had also arrived. For the next stretch of time, whenever she had a free moment, she would fill her kitchen with the smell of home-cooked food. Her goal was to fill every single one of those five thousand containers before the next three months were up.As she and Shadow passed a milkshake shop, she caught sight of the perfectly packaged, sweet-smelling milkshakes. Clara sto

With Clara saying something like that and offering him such an obvious olive branch, Derek should have grabbed the chance no matter what.But it seemed that Ruth's charm was stronger than Clara expected.Ten whole minutes passed with not a single response.Clara yawned, sleep tugging at her. She felt ready to call it a night, so she sent another message.[Derek, I know this is sudden. But we've been together for so long, and it feels like we should finally take that next step. So tonight, I'm pushing myself to be brave. I'll be waiting for you at the Rosehill Hotel on Crescent Street. Just tell the front desk you're going to Room 1203.]After typing it out, Clara simply turned off her phone and went to sleep.And she slept beautifully.That room number wasn't something she made up. In her last life, she had run into a rich heir who practically believed he could solve everything by throwing money at people. He used to keep a long-term private suite at that very hotel, in Room 120

After hearing Clara's words, Derek would never openly confront Ruth. However, there was no doubt he would hold a grudge against her.And because she would want to calm him down, Ruth would spend the night trying her best to please him.Which meant it was the perfect time for Clara to move forward with her plan.Honestly, making that cheating pair suffer a little felt incredibly satisfying.Once her mood had evened out, she threw herself back into work.In the afternoon, Clara headed to the building materials market and picked out a security door.It was made entirely of steel, heavy enough that ordinary tools could not break through it. She even asked the shopkeeper to reinforce the lock before she was satisfied.Now, her home had two layers of protection.The first was the large stainless steel door on the inside, and the second was the reinforced security door on the outside. If someone knocked, she could open the inner door and speak to them through the security door without