Chapter Eleven – The Last Goodbye

One Coffin. Two Names.

It was raining on the day of their funeral.

Not just a drizzle—a storm, as if the heavens themselves couldn't bear what had happened.

Two black coffins.

One open, one sealed.

Cherry's face was peaceful.

Like the world hadn't broken her.

Like she was still dreaming of warm beaches and stray dogs and a house with Rafael's name on the mailbox.

She looked too soft for a world that took her.

And beside her, the sealed coffin—Rafael's—carried the weight of a vow he never intended to break.

They buried them together.

Side by side.

Just like he promised.

Cherry's Final Letter (Found in Her Journal)

If you're reading this, it means I'm gone.

And knowing Rafael... it means he followed me.

He always said he would.

Some people will say we were reckless. That we were doomed from the beginning. And maybe we were.

But God, if I had the chance to choose again...

I'd still choose him.

Even if it meant dying all over again.

Because for the first time in my life, someone saw me—not as something pretty, not as something to own—but as a storm worth surviving.

Rafael taught me that love is not always safe. Not always soft. Sometimes it's teeth and blood and fire.

But it's still love.

And I hope you find someone who would burn the world for you.

And if you do—don't run from it.

Run to it.

– Cherry 🌹

From Rafael's Diary (Final Entry)

I killed for her. Bled for her.

But I never thought I'd have to die for her.

She saved me.

Not from bullets.

From myself.

She showed me I still had a heart—even after I buried it under bodies and smoke.

I once said love was weakness.

I was wrong.

It was the only thing that ever made me strong.

I promised her we'd be together in the next life.

So I'm coming, Cherry.

Wait for me at the gates.

– R.

Epilogue — A Rose Left on the Grave

Every year on the same day, someone leaves a black rose and a silver bullet on their grave.

No one knows who.

But some say it's a young girl—now grown—whose life was saved because Rafael and Cherry stopped the men who came to burn her world down.

She stands there in silence, fingers brushing their names carved into stone.

And whispers:

"Thank you... for loving each other so loudly that the world had no choice but to remember."