Chapter 147: Chapter 147
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 become 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. Someone 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 retirement. 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 same 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 became still.
’So this is your move, John.’
One of the boys looked him up and down.
"Look at that," he said, smiling. "He really came back."
The second boy gave a small laugh.
"We didn’t even get to meet 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 came together at once.
John had sent them. That much was clear.
But this also told Adam something 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 someone 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 something in your mouth?"
All three laughed.
A few students stopped walking. Some moved to the side of the corridor. Their faces showed the same thing.
Something 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 moment, 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 time.
Either way, Adam had to lose something.
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 shame.
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 became larger. One slap became two. One corridor became the whole college.
He would not live that again.
The boy behind him lifted his hand again.
This time, 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 came from behind him.
"What kind of mess are you making here?"
Adam’s head turned slightly.
Another one?
For a second, he thought John had brought a fourth bully too, someone 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 same motion.
He was ready to hit.
But the moment 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.
