NEED TO KNOW
There’s still love between Kaylor Martin and Aaron Evans — at least from Kaylor’s point of view.
A year after the pair met on Love Island USA season 6 and had a rollercoaster season together that culminated in a dramatic split following the reunion, they have finally reunited.
In the premiere episode of Love Island: Beyond the Villa, a new spinoff series that gives fans a look at the lives of their favorite Islanders from season 6, one year after their lives changed in Fiji, Kaylor and Aaron saw each other for the first time since the August reunion — and things were emotional.
Before meeting Aaron, Kaylor admitted to feeling some nerves as she revealed her lingering feelings towards him.
“It’s gonna be nerve-racking seeing him. Like I actually am convinced that he actually hates me, so I’m nervous,” she told Liv Walker, Kendall Washington and Connor Newsum over lunch in the episode.
She also noted that she’s “blocked” by Aaron on social media.
Randy Shropshire/Peacock via Getty
Still, she admitted, “I do think Aaron is a great guy. I know who he is — that’s why I love him. I love him. I care about him.”
In a confessional, she was even more candid as she said, “I always will think Aaron’s attractive.”
For Aaron’s part, he said he took a conscious step back after the reunion to care for his mental health.
Aaron was also candid about how he’s been doing since the fiery reunion last August.
“After the reunion, I basically dipped back to the UK. It was quite a horrible experience, the whole reunion situation. There was a lot of backlash, there was a lot of negativity,” he said in a confessional.
To cope, he “basically just disconnected from absolutely everything possible,” and looking back, he said, “It was just more of an escape.”
He then confided in Connor about how hard things got. “After the reunion, it was pretty dark, and I just remember times where all I wanted to do all day was sleep because it was the only thing that would get me out of thinking of what was going on in my head.”
He was hesitant, though, to call it a depression when Connor offered up that term.
Jocelyn Prescod/Peacock via Getty
“I just had to unplug myself and just get off of all socials, which I think was really healthy. And even to this day now, I’m still signed out of all my social medias,” Aaron said in a confessional.
Ahead of seeing Kaylor again, he admitted there was no bad blood from his side, but he was “not really sure how I feel about it, to be honest.”
Things were “awkward” when they finally reunited, but they both got some things off their chest.
It was tense between the exes, but they warmed up to each other slowly throughout the evening. They also realized that their parents had been subjecting them both to the same treatment.
“My mom’s always showing me your f—– posts, I’m like, ‘Dude. What the fuck — what’s wrong with you?'” Kaylor admitted to Aaron.
“If it makes you feel better, my dad does the exact same thing,” he then said.
Ben Symons/Peacock
Aaron also took responsibility for hurting Kaylor last summer, as he told her, “I apologize for what I put you through. The f—– gaslighting, manipulating, all that stuff, I do apologize for.”
Kaylor said she doesn’t want him to “feel uncomfortable” and reiterated that she’ll “always care” about him. But still, she felt “so betrayed” by his miscommunication last summer.
They agreed to be civil with each other and avoid “shouting,” and Aaron said he hoped that Kaylor could be as happy as she was when she walked into the villa, even if that’s not the case right now.
Randy Shropshire/Peacock
“Seeing Aaron was so awkward. I could not stop laughing and smiling,” Kaylor said in a confessional. “But we’re gonna be in the same friend groups and be around each other, so let’s have a good summer.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
New episodes of Love Island: Beyond the Villa premiere Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.
