Lena's breath hitched as the second Jay stepped into view.
Same jawline. Same eyes. But there was something different—an edge to his voice, a weight behind his gaze that hadn't been there before.
"I told you not to find me," the new Jay said again, stepping closer.
The Jay beside her—the one who'd protected her, kissed her, cried with her—stood frozen. "This isn't possible. I'm you."
Lena looked between them, her heart in her throat. "Someone explain. Now."
The new Jay's voice was calm, measured. "I'm the original. The one who drove off that cliff. They pulled me from the wreckage—barely alive. They told me I had to disappear or people would die."
"And me?" the Jay beside Lena asked.
"You're a clone," Real Jay said quietly. "Not your fault. They gave you pieces of me. And him," he nodded toward Caleb "to replace me. To test how far memory can go."
Jay's face crumbled. "I *feel* like me. I *am* me."
Lena stepped back. "How do I know either of you are telling the truth?"
Caleb pulled up the final folder on the drive. A video.
A hospital bed. Real Jay strapped to machines. Doctors speaking softly in the background.
Doctor: "Memory integrity is intact. We'll proceed with the clone and continue monitoring the original."
Lena covered her mouth. "You were alive. All this time."
Real Jay looked at her with pain. "I was kept in the dark. Then one day, I escaped. I came back for you but I saw him. With you. And I realized… maybe I'd been replaced."
Jay shook his head. "You weren't replaced. I didn't even know I wasn't real."
Real Jay turned to him. "Then why did you run?"
Jay's voice cracked. "Because I was scared. I had your feelings, your pain—but none of your past. I only had her. And I didn't want to lose that."
The air between them thickened. Lena felt torn in half.
"How do I choose?" she whispered.
Real Jay stepped forward. "Remember the lake house. The night you got sick. I stayed up all night, playing your favorite songs on repeat until you fell asleep. You called it the worst night of your life, but I called it the best because I got to take care of you."
Lena's eyes filled. "I never told anyone that."
Jay's shoulders slumped.
Real Jay placed a hand on her shoulder. "I never stopped loving you. Not even when they told me you'd moved on."
She looked at him, then at the clone—who was now breaking inside.
"I don't know what's real anymore," she whispered.
Clone Jay stepped back. "Maybe that's the point. Love isn't about where it started—it's about where it *lives.*"
Then he turned and walked away, into the woods, without looking back.
Lena stood frozen as Real Jay took her hand.
"You came looking," he said softly. "You always find your way back."
But Lena's heart ached.
Because in that moment, she realizedshe'd loved both versions of him.
And now, she had lost one.