Love Beyond Circumstances

Monday mornings were supposed to be slow, heavy, and miserable.

But not for Karina.

She hummed softly as she walked through the school gates, her uniform skirt swishing as she twirled her fingers through her hair. For the first time in forever, she felt… light. Happy. Like she mattered to someone.

Axel had picked her. Out of everyone, he had chosen her.

Their weekend date still played in her mind like a soft melody. His hands had been warm when they held hers. His smile gentle. His eyes, though sometimes distant, always returned to her like a home.

Sure, she hadn't told her parents. If the Friedemanns knew she was dating a "commoner," they would explode. "We didn't send you to that school for love stories, Karina. You have a job to do!" they would say.

But that didn't matter. Not when Axel made her feel like a real girl, not a project. Not an investment.

She walked faster now, eager to see him.

Karina spotted him from across the courtyard , Axel, surrounded by flashing cameras, booming microphones, and eager journalists. His posture was strong. His voice was clear.

And he was smiling.

A strange, cold smile.

Karina pushed through the crowd, confusion in her chest. "Axel?" she called out. "What's going on?"

He looked at her slowly, like a stranger.

Then he turned to the press. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Karina Friedemann. Or rather- Elisabeth Milo ."

The reporters gasped. Phones were raised higher.

"She's not Mr. Friedemann's daughter. Not even close," Axel said, his voice dripping with calm venom. "She was illegally adopted, without her birth mother's knowledge or consent. Smuggled into the country under a false identity."

Karina's heart skipped. "What…?"

The crowd erupted. Journalists leaned in. "Is that true?" "Karina, were you kidnapped?" "Are you even a citizen?"

"I- I don't know," Karina stammered, her eyes wide with horror. "Axel, what are you saying?!"

Axel turned fully to the cameras now. "The Friedemanns, this 'powerful philanthropic family', built their empire on lies. They claimed to rescue the less fortunate, but that was a front. They used Karina as a business prop to win sympathy points. Their entire 'adoption campaign' was staged for PR. None of it was real."

"No! That's not true...!" Karina cried, whispering softly. She still found it hard to process it all. Axel, exposinicrimes she didn't even know she committed. The whole school mocking and insulting her including Brianna!

Axel raised his hand. "Oh, and let's not forget the forged documents. The same ones Mr. Friedemann used to get out of a major contract scandal, pretending his wife was in premature labor so they could delay delivery and double-bill their partners."

He pulled a black folder from his bag.

Karina's eyes went wide. That folder. 'No, no, no! Her dad gave her that folder to keep it safe. How was she so stupid to give Axel'

"I have here," Axel announced, "the document proving their deception, given to me directly by Karina Friedemann herself."

Karina's knees buckled. "No, no! Axel, that was fake! I was told it was fake!"

She fell like fainting, maybe the earth should open up and swallow her! This feeling was worse that shame and worse- It was being aired live by the press!

He held the paper up to the cameras. The press zoomed in.

"This document," Axel declared, "was covered up to prevent exposure. Mr. Friedemann silenced a whistleblower with hush money and used Karina to hide the trail. Now the truth is out."

The crowd exploded.

Students began whispering.

Then shouting.

"Fraud!"

"Liar!"

"Fake rich girl!"

Karina backed away, shaking her head, makeup beginning to run down her cheeks. "I didn't know… I swear I didn't know…"

Someone threw a water bottle at her. Another shoved her shoulder. Her designer bag was ripped off her arm.

"No! Please stop!"

More phones. More flashes. More voices.

"Is it true you're an immigrant?"

"Are you even a student here?"

"Did you fake everything to climb the ladder?"

Karina screamed and broke into a run, mascara bleeding from her eyes, her once-perfect outfit now wrinkled and dirty. She shoved through the school gates, her car already vandalized- windows smashed, tires slashed, graffiti reading "TRAITOR" sprayed in black across the doors.

She didn't stop.

She didn't look back.

She just ran.

---

At Home – The Final Blow

Karina burst through the Friedemanns' front door, gasping, her chest heaving.

But what she saw made her freeze.

The living room was filled with police. Businessmen in suits stood with folded arms. TV reporters were setting up lights.

Her world shattered again.

Mr. Friedemann was in handcuffs.

Mrs. Friedemann was shouting at the officers, waving papers, her perfect bun unraveling.

Even Annalise, her sweet autistic sister, was being escorted into a police van. She looked calm, but her eyes were red.

"No…" Karina whispered. "No, no…"

Mr. Friedemann turned to her, eyes filled with fury.

"You gave him the document?! You ruined us!"

"Dad, the document is fake. We can just..."

"Even If the document is fake, do you think anyone would believe us! D- Don't call me dad! I am not your father!"

He spat at the floor. "You were never my daughter."

That broke something in her chest.

Albrecht stepped forward, his hands were being cuffed by a policeman. Albrecht has always hated her. Usually he wore a blank stare anytime he looked at her.

But now, his face was cold and she was sure that if the cuffs were removed from his hand he wouldn't hesitate to beat her up.

She looked at him, slowly whispering "I'm sorry,"

"I always knew you weren't one of us," he said. "I just didn't think you'd be the nail in the coffin."

Annalise stood at the threshold, her once-gentle expression replaced with a stiff, unfamiliar glare.

"I hate you Karina!" Anneliese struggles and said.

Karina collapsed to her knees. The words Anneliese said... It broke her. She was so stupid to have fallen for Axel, right after his break up with Brianna, they started dating!

She was so stupid not to have seen through his lies- thinking everything she felt, he felt it too.

Axel didn't just ruin her school life! He ruined her social status, her family, her dignity!

"Oh Axel, you would pay!" Karina screamed in her mind, her hand gripping the floor would tightly as though she wanted to pull it off.

The officers approached. "Elisabeth Milo, under charges of aiding in fraud and false identity, you are to be deported to your country of origin, Germany, effective immediately."

Her scream was silent.

Her tears loud.

Her body refused to move as they took her away.

The house that once stood tall in her mind now shrank behind her.

And Axel?

He was probably watching it all on TV.

Smiling.