The moment the announcement rang out, it felt as though the air itself had been split open.
“Please welcome the groom and the bride!”
The words did not merely mark the start of a ceremony—they detonated like a signal flare over the courtyard. Cheers erupted instantly, surging outward in waves. Voices overlapped, laughter burst free, and excitement spilled across the stone pathways and wooden terraces, refusing to be contained.
“Teacher!”
“Teacher and Madam!”
“Please—this way, please!”
Amid the thunderous applause and uninhibited shouts, Dylan Brooks stood calmly beside Sophie Walker, his hand steady at her side. They had already been prepared, already positioned, as though everything up to this moment had merely been a prelude. Compared to the unrestrained joy around them, the two of
