Love Is Blind‘s Sarah Ann Bick is not second-guessing her relationship with Jeramey Lutinski.

Speaking to PEOPLE after Wednesday’s season 6 reunion, Sarah Ann, 30, says she isn’t ashamed about giving Jeramey, 32, a second chance following his split from Laura Dadisman, even after Laura warned her against doing so.

“I definitely heard her out… with the experiment, it’s such a high pressure situation and everybody’s dating everybody, and so her experience with Jeramey was completely different than mine,” Sarah Ann explains. “But I did take [that] into consideration… I felt in that moment that she was being genuine about the way that she felt, however, upon getting to know Jeramey and based off the connection that we built together, I realized quickly that they just weren’t compatible.”

“So while her perception of him was terrible human and whatever, I don’t think that that’s what she said, but… I felt that I needed to make that decision for myself,” she adds. “And ultimately I feel that I made the right decision, and I stand by that, I will continue to stand by that.”

During the season 6 reunion, Sarah Ann and Jeramey confirmed they started dating after his split from Laura, 34. The two have been dating for almost a year and are now living together in North Carolina.

“I fell in love with Jeramey as a person and we’ve had a strong connection since the beginning of this experiment,” Sarah Ann said at the reunion, noting that their relationship is “real” and she was “sitting next to someone who I love with all my heart.”

“We’ve had times where we’ve contemplated separating from each other, we’ve had times where we had to make up in order to make that happen. And at the end of it, we ended up moving in together in October,” Jeramey added. “We did realize fighting through things continuously that we do love each other… not everything’s been perfect, but we’re still fighting for that every single day.”

However, their relationship news wasn’t well-received by the rest of the cast, who attacked Sarah Ann for reaching out to Jeramey on Instagram while he was still engaged and later meeting up with him until the early morning hours without telling Laura.

One of those confrontations involved Amber Desiree “AD” Smith, who previously called Sarah Ann out for her “outlandish” actions that she said “lacked class” at the cast’s gathering near the lake.

Sarah Ann tells PEOPLE she has no regrets about the way things panned out at the reunion, though she does “wish I had said something to AD” about “whether or not having her discussion with me was appropriate or valid.”

“It had nothing to do with her, and it just didn’t do myself a service or Jeramey or the relationship,” she notes. “So she obviously felt compelled to speak on my character and the relationship, when in fact she had her own relationship to worry about, so I just wish I had never entertained the conversation. I wish I had gotten to say that… I would’ve been like, ‘Glad you commented on my relationship that has nothing to do with you, but thank you so much for your time.'”

And though the way she and Jeramey came together wasn’t ideal, Sarah Ann insists she’s “not a villain in real life.”

“I think storylines are real, timelines are a little off sometimes, but that’s okay,” she says. “I don’t feel jaded and I don’t feel that [the reunion and overall show edit] was unfair. I was very aware of what I was signing up for, I read through everything to make sure I knew it could go either way. I can tell you that I am not a villain in real life.”

“It’s important to remember that in this experiment you are looking at people from an outside lens of something that you’ve never experienced before. The emotions are real, but you’re just navigating it the best way you know how,” she continues. “It was a year ago. And, God, again, it’s evident that most of the women on the show and I, we don’t see eye to eye and whatever. But I will say that I have no problem with anyone, and I really respect every single person for stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something new. It’s one of the most difficult situations I’ve ever been in in my life, but one that I would never regret.”

That mindset also applies to contacting Jeramey on Instagram, though she believes they would’ve rekindled with or without her message.

“I think when the connection is as strong as it was, and then even hearing Jeramey say, ‘I really want to meet Sarah Ann,’ when he was still in Dominican, I equally felt the same obviously, because I sent the DM,” she explains. “So we both had that feeling of open door and just full transparency… if you think that you have met the love of your life or someone you can marry or you have a really strong connection and you don’t fight for that, then you don’t have what you thought you did. As simple as that.”

“Laura didn’t fight for the relationship,” she notes. “I think it’s very blatantly obvious that their connection wasn’t where it needed to be for marriage especially. But I think that we would’ve found our way back to each other one way or the other. Now, the way it happened, maybe it could have been different, but, again, hindsight’s 2020, everybody was just doing the best that they could do.”

As for her future with Jeramey? “We’re trying to build something stronger to eventually hopefully get to the point of marriage,” she says. “Obviously, that’s the hope, to go the long-term route.”

“That’s always the hope. And Jeramey and I, again, we’ve had our ups and downs, but in what real relationship does that not happen?” she continues. “There’s a lot of speculation of, ‘Do you feel like a second choice?’ And I’m like, ‘No way.’ I love him to death, I think he’s a great man, and we’re not married from the show, but out of anybody I’ve ever dated in my entire life, he’s provided a lot of reassurance for me… so now, it’s just 10 toes down, making sure that I am being the best that I can be in the relationship.”