Adam went to college the next morning.
The day before had gone smoother than he had expected.
He had not thought the warden matter would beco that easy. Money often moved official work, but this had been easier because Adam had connected it with his previous life.
Leo had escaped in the future. A prisoner like Leo could not just walk out of prison on luck. Soone inside had to open the way. Later, an investigation had happened, but the warden had not been caught properly.
Now Adam understood why. The man was old and close to retirent. He was also greedy enough to take one last large deal before leaving the system.
’Good,’ Adam thought as he entered the campus. ’That part is not my problem anymore.’
He crossed the gate and walked toward the class building.
The campus was already busy. Students were moving in groups. A few looked at Adam when he passed, but he kept walking.
He had almost reached the corridor when three students stepped in front of him.
Adam stopped.
For a second, he did not speak.
He knew them. They were the sa three boys from the start. The ones who used to laugh near the roadside like the place belonged to them. The ones who had shoved him and blocked his path.
Adam’s eyes beca still.
’So this is your move, John.’
One of the boys looked him up and down.
"Look at that," he said, smiling. "He really ca back."
The second boy gave a small laugh.
"We didn’t even get to et you properly after your grand return," he said. "Heard the college is taking very good care of you these days."
The third boy stepped behind Adam as if he was only moving around him.
Adam did not turn.
Inside his mind, a few pieces ca together at once.
John had sent them. That much was clear.
But this also told Adam sothing else. John was not moving comfortably right now. If he had been comfortable, he would not have used these three so openly. In the previous life, John had used this kind of pressure much later, after Adam had already been cornered.
Now he was doing it early because of Monica.
Yesterday’s restaurant scene had hit him. Adam had expected John to react, and this was the reaction.
Monica was not only soone John wanted near him. She was also a weakness. Adam had touched that weakness, and John had answered with the cheapest move he could use inside the college.
The boy behind Adam suddenly slapped the back of his head.
The sound was sharp enough to make the students nearby look over.
"Why aren’t you speaking?" the boy asked. "Got sothing in your mouth?"
All three laughed.
A few students stopped walking. So moved to the side of the corridor. Their faces showed the sa thing.
Sothing was starting again with Adam.
Farther down the corridor, John stood near a pillar.
He watched quietly.
His face was calm, but his eyes stayed fixed on Adam.
’Go on,’ John thought. ’What will you do now?’
If Adam hit them, the bullying might stop for a mont, but that would give John what he needed. A fight inside the college would give him witnesses and a reason to push the matter up again.
If Adam did not hit them, John would make it worse next ti.
Either way, Adam had to lose sothing.
That was what John wanted.
Adam stood still for half a second after the slap.
His eyes opened wider.
Anger rushed up so fast that his fingers tightened.
’Fuck. He actually did it.’
His body wanted to turn at once. His hand wanted to grab the boy and slam him into the wall. Old anger pushed up with old sha.
Then Adam forced himself to breathe.
’No,’ Adam thought. ’Think.’
If he raised his hand here, the college might not fully protect him. John was waiting for that.
But if Adam did nothing, then this would not end.
He had lived through that once.
He knew how small things beca larger. One slap beca two. One corridor beca the whole college.
He would not live that again.
The boy behind him lifted his hand again.
This ti, Adam moved.
’Fuck it.’
He turned halfway and drove his foot into the stomach of the boy in front of him.
The kick landed hard.
Adam had not been wasting his mornings. He had been waking up early and pushing his body with heavy exercise. He had done it for exactly this kind of situation.
The boy took the kick and folded forward at once.
His smile vanished.
He clutched his stomach and dropped to the floor, breathing like the air had been knocked out of him.
The boy on Adam’s right froze.
He had been ready to slap Adam too, but the kick made his hand stop in the air.
Then his face twisted with anger.
"You bastard!"
He pulled his arm back and made a fist.
Adam did not wait for him to swing.
His fist shot forward first.
It hit the boy right on the nose.
The boy’s head jerked back. Blood started running from one nostril, thin at first, then a little faster. He stumbled back with both hands near his face.
The third boy finally reacted.
He moved from behind Adam, but Adam had already turned toward him.
Adam grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down hard.
The boy lost balance.
Adam drove him straight to the floor.
The sound of his body hitting the ground made the corridor go quiet.
For a second, no one laughed.
The students who had been watching only stared.
Adam stood in the middle of the corridor, breathing a little harder now. The anger was still inside him, but it no longer moved blindly.
Then a sharp voice ca from behind him.
"What kind of ss are you making here?"
Adam’s head turned slightly.
Another one?
For a second, he thought John had brought a fourth bully too, soone else to make sure Adam looked like the one who started everything.
His body moved before the thought finished.
Adam straightened and turned around, raising his fist in the sa motion.
He was ready to hit.
But the mont he saw the face in front of him, his fist stopped in the air.
It stopped only a few inches away from the person’s mouth.
Adam’s eyes focused.
The fourth person was not another bully.
It was Ethan, the student council president.
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