Adam and Monica left John standing outside.
John did not stop them.
He only watched as they walked away. His face stayed calm, but his eyes did not leave Adam’s back until the corridor turned and both of them disappeared from view.
Adam noticed that look without turning around.
That made his mood a little better.
The restaurant was not far from the college. It was the sa kind of small place students used when they wanted to talk away from the canteen noise. There were a few tables near the windows and a quieter corner near the back.
Adam chose the corner.
Monica sat across from him.
For a mont, neither of them spoke. A waiter ca, placed two glasses of water on the table, and waited for the order. Adam ordered sothing simple. Monica gave a small nod and said the sa was fine for her.
When the waiter left, Adam looked at Monica.
He expected her to take so ti.
She would probably open her notebook first. She would talk about the classes he had missed. She would ask one or two normal questions. After that, when the air beca lighter, she would slowly begin speaking about herself.
Adam was ready for that.
Monica did not do any of it. She did not open her notebook or ask about class.
She only looked straight at him and spoke.
"Adam, I still rember what you said that day."
Adam paused.
Monica’s fingers rested on the glass, but she did not drink.
"You said I do not feel like soone from a normal family."
Adam watched her face.
"I rember," he said.
Monica breathed in once.
"I do not tell this to anyone," she said. "I never wanted to tell anyone."
Adam did not interrupt.
"But I am telling you," Monica continued. "Do not misunderstand . I am not saying this to impress you. I am not trying to show off, and I am not asking you to treat differently."
Her voice beca quieter.
"I am saying this because you are the only friend I feel I can tell this truth to."
Adam’s expression did not change much.
He only nodded.
Monica noticed that.
Most people would have leaned forward by now. So would have asked what she ant. So would have started guessing. Adam did none of that. He only waited.
That made her feel strange.
It also made her feel a little safer.
"And maybe," Monica said, "you already had so doubt."
Adam gave a small nod again.
"A little," he said.
Monica looked down at the table for a second.
Then she raised her eyes again.
"Do you know my family?" she asked.
Adam answered honestly. "No. I do not."
Monica watched his face carefully.
"My real na is Monica Valcrest."
The na stayed between them.
Adam did not widen his eyes, drop the glass in his hand, or lean back in shock.
He only looked at her for a mont and said, "I have heard that na. The Valcrest family is one of the richest families in the country."
Monica stared at him.
That was it?
If she had said that na in front of soone else, the reaction would have been very different. They would have asked if she was serious. They would have looked at her clothes, her bag, her watch, her face, as if trying to prove the na with their eyes.
Adam only accepted the information.
That calm reaction surprised her more than a loud reaction would have.
Still, she continued.
"My family is very strict," Monica said. "My father is strict. He controls almost everything in the family."
Adam listened quietly.
"I am the only daughter in the house," Monica said. "I have two elder brothers."
The words ca out slowly at first, but once she started, they beca easier.
"My oldest brother cares about a lot. Maybe too much. When I turned eighteen, I asked him for one wish."
Adam’s eyes stayed on her.
"I told him I wanted to study in a place where no one knew my na," Monica said. "I wanted to enter a college with my own marks. I wanted to change my identity for a while and live as a normal student, not as soone from the Valcrest family."
She gave a small, helpless smile.
"It sounds childish, right?"
Adam shook his head.
"No," he said.
Monica looked at him for a second, then continued.
"My father would never have agreed if I had asked him directly. He does not like risks. He does not like unknown people around the family. He does not like anything that can damage the family na."
She lowered her voice.
"So my oldest brother spoke to him for . Father listens to him more than anyone else."
Adam still looked calm.
Then Monica said the na.
"You must have heard of him too. Adrian Valcrest."
For the first ti, Adam’s reaction changed.
It was small, but Monica saw it.
His fingers stopped near the glass. His eyes beca still for half a second.
’Adrian Valcrest?’
Adam’s mind moved back to the future at once.
He had heard that na many tis.
Adrian Valcrest had not stayed under the Valcrest family forever. So ti from now, a fight would break out inside that family.
After that, Adrian and the other brother would stand on different sides. Adrian would leave the country and build his own empire outside.
And that empire would beco even larger than what his father had built.
In the future, people spoke of Adrian like he was a monster in business. He had broken away from the family, taken his own share, and turned it into sothing far bigger.
Adam had known the na.
He had known the story from far away.
But he had never known this.
’Adrian Valcrest was Monica’s brother?’
Another piece clicked into place.
If the Valcrest family split later, then Monica’s own position inside that family would also change. The wealth and control around her would change too.
That ant John’s future marriage to Monica had not been random.
John had been reaching for more than a rich girl.
He had been reaching for the share and weight that ca after that family split.
Adam looked at Monica again.
She was still waiting for his answer, not knowing what storm had just opened inside his head.
’So that man from the future,’ Adam thought, ’was her brother.’
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