Monica did not notice how much Adam’s thoughts had changed.
She was still looking at him, waiting for so kind of answer. Adam knew that. He also knew he could not keep staring at her like this for too long.
So he forced his face back to normal.
"I see," he said.
Monica watched him for another second. She had seen the small change in his reaction when she said Adrian’s na, but she did not know what it ant. Adam had only heard of her brother before. That would not be strange. Adrian Valcrest was not an unknown person.
After a mont, she continued.
"I ca here through the normal way," Monica said. "I gave the entrance exam. My marks got in. The paperwork also went through normally."
Adam listened quietly.
"I did not ask my father to call anyone," she said. "I did not ask my brother to put pressure on the college. I gave the exam like everyone else."
Her fingers moved over the glass.
"After I ca here, I watched how other students behaved," she said. "How they talked, how they spent money, how they answered teachers. I tried to act the sa way."
She gave a small smile, but it did not fully reach her eyes.
"At first, I was bad at it."
Adam could imagine that.
For soone like Monica, even a normal cafeteria choice would have been sothing she had to learn. How much to spend. What not to say. Which habits looked normal and which habits would give her away.
"But I worked hard," Monica said. "I really did."
Her voice beca firr.
"I studied for my marks. I did not use my father’s na. I did not use Adrian’s na. Even when sothing was difficult, I wanted to handle it myself."
Adam nodded slowly.
’That is admirable,’ he thought.
It was not nothing.
Monica had chosen to step away from comfort. She had tried to earn her place without using her family. That took effort, and Adam could see that she was not lying about it.
But the deeper respect that ca when Adam saw soone fight from the bottom did not rise in him.
That kind of respect ca from a different place.
For Adam, effort was more than studying without help. Effort was surviving when one mistake could destroy a family. It was walking with no powerful hand to call if things went wrong.
Monica had worked hard.
But she had never been without a net.
Monica did not know what he was thinking. She looked away from him and continued in a softer voice.
"This life feels good to ," she said.
Adam looked at her again.
"That sounds strange," Monica said. "But I like it here. I like walking around without a guard following . I like going to class without soone checking every person near ."
Her eyes lowered to the table.
"At ho, even silence has rules."
Adam stayed quiet.
Monica’s voice beca lighter, but there was a hidden ache inside it.
"Here, I can go anywhere on campus. I can sit in the library for hours. I can walk to the gate by myself. No security guard stands behind . No one reports every step to my family."
She smiled faintly.
"I do not want to leave this life."
Adam heard her words.
But another scene rose in his mind.
John laughing over him.
John talking about Monica like she was a piece of property.
John admitting that he had ruined Adam’s life for years. His parents burned alive. His own life dragged through pain because John wanted to see how long he could last.
The anger ca.
Monica was sitting in front of him, speaking about freedom, and she did not even know what kind of storm moved around her na. She did not know what her family share ant to people like John. In another life, soone had destroyed a third person with no real connection to her just to reach that weight.
’How is that justified?’ Adam thought.
The thought made his chest tighten.
He looked at Monica.
She was still speaking.
"And I thought maybe if I could stay here until graduation, then-"
"Monica."
She stopped at once.
Adam’s voice had cut through her words more sharply than he intended.
Monica looked at him, surprised.
For a second, Adam did not speak.
Then he asked, "Do you realize what is happening around you?"
Monica froze.
"What?"
Adam looked straight at her.
"Do you understand what is moving around you?" he asked.
Monica stayed silent for a few seconds.
Her face showed confusion more than fear. She tried to understand what he ant, but there was no clear answer in her eyes.
Then she said quietly, "Adam, sotis you say things in a way I don’t understand."
Adam leaned back a little.
’As expected,’ he thought. ’She does not know anything.’
She did not know what John wanted. She did not know what her family na could pull toward her. She did not know what kind of people might smile beside her while calculating her value.
In that sense, she was exactly like a sheltered rich girl.
Adam let out a slow breath.
Then he smiled a little.
"Nothing," he said. "Do not think too much about it. What were you saying?"
Monica did not continue.
She only looked at him.
The silence lasted longer than Adam expected.
Then Monica said, "When you talk like that, you sound like my brother."
Adam’s eyes moved slightly.
"Adrian?"
Monica nodded.
"He once told that I do not know how to read the room," she said. "He said I only see what is in front of , not what people are doing behind it."
Adam beca quiet.
That line stayed in his mind.
If Adrian could see that much, then what had happened in the future?
Adam could not understand it.
Adrian Valcrest was not a fool. In the future, he had proved that. He had left the country after the family fight and built an empire that was even larger than what his father had built.
Then why?
Why did Monica end up marrying John?
If Adrian was that smart, if he cared about her this much, why did he allow his sister to stand beside a man like John in that future?
The question kept circling in Adam’s mind.
Again and again.
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