My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 248

A Year Later

2)

Liliana couldn’t help but smile.

It was the kind of smile that bruised her cheeks, the kind that would not cease no matter who was looking or how many nerves were humming just beneath the surface of her skin. The sun was beating down in the early afternoon, sending warmth over everything, and the fall wind was dancing around her veil, but she could only keep her eyes on the man at the altar.

It was her wedding day.

Not only that, but she was three months pregnant and facing the very people who had remained loyal to her despite it all. Despite the blood and the betrayals. Despite the silence, the losses, and the war. Despite the nights she believed she would not live through and the mornings she bullied herself into going on anyway.

She never thought she’d come this far. Not after all of it. Her parents. Her family in the pack. Her trust in love. In herself. But yet, piece by piece, she’d somehow managed to rebuild-to her family, to her strength, to her future. To Gerald.

He stood at the altar waiting for her, back straight like he was getting ready for a fight, but his eyes gave him away-tender, a bit watery, and a bit wild. Nervous, ecstatic, awestruck. He was a man who had no idea whatsoever how he managed to get so fortunate.

His tuxedo wasn’t perfect, with the tie crooked and the collar wrinkled, but no one cared. Nothing mattered anymore.

She was wed to the man who was once her enemy, who was once a puppet in another life, yet remained by her side when it counted. A man who lost everything just to build something with her that was real. A man who witnessed her darkest days and yet treated her as if

she were made of stardust.

Earlier in the day, Gerald had gone to the old cemetery on the edge of town by himself. He’d stood in silence in front of a weathered headstone, one hand buried deep in his pocket, the other clasped around the cold stone. It was his tradition every year, a solemn apology for the friend he couldn’t rescue.

But this time, it wasn’t guilt in his chest. It was something else. Peace. Thanks. The weight he’d once borne, the guilt that had curled around him like a second skin, had finally let go. Not because he’d forgotten. He never would. But because he was finally doing what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t destroying anything anymore. He was building.

And then, as the music swelled and Liliana took her first step down the aisle, all else faded away. The people. The sound. The past. The world grew silent, stopped in its tracks for them alone.

She walked slowly, hand resting lightly on her growing belly, her white dress shining. Her sister carried the train behind her, speaking softly of encouragement even though Liliana was not sure she could make out anything over the thudding of her heart.

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14:20 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 248

Gerald’s eyes never left hers.

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Out of sight, out of mind in the back of the ceremony, Max and Sel weren’t exactly focused. Leaning into each other, faces inches apart as they spoke quietly, they whispered back and forth. Sel’s hand was through Max’s, hands clasped between them, interlocked like they simply couldn’t be separated even if they tried. Max grinned at something Sel had said, his smile skewed and boyish, and Sel acted like he

was glaring at him, then kissed his cheek anyway.

It was love, too. Silent love. Real love. Love that had survived war and insanity and somehow, against all, went on living.

The wedding was simple. No lavish frills. No fireworks here. Flowers, candles, and people who counted. Vows were exchanged in tear- stained voices. Some people cried. A few were openly crying. Liliana’s sister refused to stop sniffling, clutching a sodden tissue in her

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