Lahat ng Kabanata ng Tamed By The Campus Bad Boy: Kabanata 161 - Kabanata 170

AARON'S POVThe room erupted into fresh, delighted chaos, Rose's announcement pulling everyone's attention immediately, congratulations and hugs cascading around her and Nathan in a warm, overwhelming wave.Leon pulled her into a hug so tight it nearly lifted her off the ground, laughing and crying at once. "Rose, that's — oh my god, that's incredible. I'm so happy for you.""I know the timing is completely absurd," Rose said, laughing through her own tears. "Stealing attention two days before your wedding, that's exactly the kind of thing I promised myself I wouldn't do.""You're not stealing anything," Leon said firmly. "This is exactly what tonight should be about. All of us finally getting the happy endings we spent this whole year fighting for."Nathan, still looking faintly overwhelmed by the sudden crowd of enthusiastic near-strangers congratulating him, managed a warm, slightly bashful smile. "I've heard so much about both of you," he said. "It genuinely means a lot that we ge

AARON'S POVI found Leon standing near the garden entrance, staring at his phone with an expression I recognized instantly — the careful, deliberate stillness he adopted whenever something threatened to unbalance him right before he needed to hold everything together."What is it," I asked, my own nerves for the ceremony momentarily forgotten.He showed me the message silently, and I read it twice, feeling the strange, disorienting collision of two entirely separate worlds — the joyful chaos of our wedding day, and the persistent, unwelcome shadow of a man who had spent so long trying to destroy it."He wants you to vouch for his character," I said slowly. "Today. On our wedding day.""I don't think he knows it's today," Leon said, though his voice carried an edge of something bitter regardless. "But Aaron, the timing feels almost cruel, doesn't it? Like even now, somehow, he's still finding a way to intrude.""You don't have to decide anything right now," I said gently, taking his ha

AARON'S POVThe honeymoon suite the venue had arranged for our first night felt almost absurdly peaceful after the emotional whirlwind of the day — soft lighting, a bottle of champagne neither of us had the energy to properly appreciate, the distant, fading sound of the reception's last stragglers finally heading home."I can't believe we're actually married," Leon said, collapsing onto the bed still half-dressed in his suit, a dazed, happy smile spreading across his face. "After everything.""I keep thinking the same thing," I admitted, sitting beside him, working at my cufflinks with fingers that felt clumsy from exhaustion and lingering adrenaline. "It feels surreal. Like some part of me is still braced for the next crisis to interrupt this.""Maybe that's just going to be part of how we experience good things for a while," Leon said thoughtfully. "After a year like the one we had. Maybe joy and vigilance just have to coexist for a bit, until we relearn how to trust that things can

AARON'S POVSix months into our marriage, life had settled into a rhythm so comfortably ordinary that some mornings I still had to consciously remind myself how extraordinary it actually was, given everything we'd fought to reach it.Rose and Nathan's wedding planning progressed steadily, Leon and I both roped into various duties that ranged from cake tasting to, memorably, an entire afternoon spent helping assemble centerpieces while Rose narrated increasingly elaborate stories about her and Nathan's early courtship. Maya had settled beautifully into both her new fellowship and her new neighborhood, dinners at her apartment becoming a regular, cherished part of our weekly rhythm. Elijah visited more frequently than any of us had initially expected, slowly building the kind of easy, comfortable relationship with the rest of the family that made it hard to remember a time before he'd been part of it. Patricia, having fully stepped back from any official role in Ethan's case, had become

AARON'S POVWe called Maya first, putting her on speakerphone at our kitchen table that evening, Leon's hand steady on my shoulder as I read the letter aloud.There was a long silence on the other end when I finished."A father," Maya said finally, her voice careful and measured in a way that told me she was working hard to keep her own reaction in check. "Aaron, our mother never once mentioned anyone. Not to me, not in anything I ever found going through her things.""I know," I said. "That's what's bothering me too. If he was real, if he was actually searching for us all these years, why wouldn't she have ever said anything, even privately?""Maybe she didn't know how to find the words," Maya offered, though her voice carried the same uncertainty mine did. "Or maybe he's exactly who he claims to be, and there's some painful history there she just never worked up the courage to share, even in the letters."We arranged a group call with Elijah, Grace, and Patricia the following evenin