Chapter 149: Chapter 149
Ethan did not look shocked in the simple way.
His face said something else.
What is going on here?
The dean had made the decision clearly. The three boys would be suspended. Adam would only receive a warning.
For Ethan, that was absurd. He was the student council president. When he stood against a normal student, the college usually listened. But Adam had attacked three students and still walked away with only a warning.
Ethan kept quiet inside the office. The dean had already decided.
When they came out of the office, the three boys looked lost.
Their earlier confidence had disappeared. They had expected John to save them through this move. Instead, they were the ones being suspended.
One of them looked at Adam once, then quickly looked away.
The three of them left quietly.
They only walked away with lowered heads, and Adam knew they would go to John, the one who had pushed them into this.
Adam had barely taken a step when Ethan came and stood in front of him.
This time, Ethan was not acting for a crowd. There were no boys behind him laughing. His anger had turned into confusion.
"What have you done?" Ethan asked.
Adam looked at him.
Ethan’s eyes stayed fixed on his face.
"The college does not want to go against you at all," Ethan said. "Who are you?"
Adam did not answer.
Ethan looked him up and down.
To anyone else, Adam looked like a normal scholarship student. Yet the dean and the board members had bent around him as if touching him too hard would burn their hands.
Ethan could not understand it.
"Someone is pulling strings for you," he said. "Who?"
Adam only watched him for a moment.
Then he walked past him.
Ethan turned slightly, but he did not stop him again.
Adam reached the classroom a little later.
John was already sitting in his place, looking calm as usual. Anyone else would have thought he had nothing to do with what happened in the corridor.
He knew John had sent those three boys. John had tried to create a situation where Adam would either get trapped or bend his head again.
But Adam did not confront him yet.
There was still time.
Adam sat down and opened his book.
John glanced at him only once.
Inside, John was not as calm as he looked.
That morning, Victor had given him news he had not expected.
His father had asked him to explain properly why he was so focused on Adam and Aster Core.
John had been surprised. Before last night, Victor had treated the matter like something that could be crushed with pressure. Now his tone had changed. The minister had stepped back, and Aster Core was not as weak as John had believed.
Victor had said the other side had power too, and that sentence had stayed in John’s mind since morning. John had expected too much from his father.
Victor had tried to explain that he still had a stronger plan. They could dig deeper and find who was really supporting Adam.
John had refused to stay and listen for long. He had come to college instead.
Now, looking at Adam’s back, John felt the same question returning again.
Who was behind him?
From everything John knew, there should not be anyone. Adam’s life had been ordinary before this.
The answer had to be hidden in the time Adam had disappeared.
That gap was the key.
John’s eyes moved from Adam to Monica.
She was sitting with Adam again.
That bothered him more than he wanted to show.
Since the restaurant, Monica had been acting strange. Her replies to his messages were shorter. She was not cold, but she was not the same either.
He had asked how her study time with Adam went. Her answer had been too simple. After that, every reply felt more careful than before.
The day moved on slowly.
Monica looked at Adam many times, but she did not ask anything in class. Each time she seemed ready to speak, she remembered Adam’s face from the restaurant and stopped herself.
At lunch, John did not sit with them.
Monica sat across from Adam with her tray in front of her. For a while, she only moved the spoon without eating properly.
Then she could not hold herself back anymore.
"Adam," she said, "I know you don’t like this topic."
Adam looked up.
Monica’s fingers tightened around the spoon.
"But I can’t stop thinking about it," she said. "I don’t understand what you were talking about that day."
Adam paused for a second.
’I don’t have proof I can show her,’ he thought.
If he told Monica about the future and John’s other timeline, it would sound impossible.
’Not now,’ Adam thought, and let out a small breath.
"Look," he said, "I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t have anything I can show you as proof."
Adam continued, "But I know enough to say this. For now, I can’t prove it to you. But if you pay attention, you can see some things yourself."
"Pay attention to what?"
Adam is quite about this reply.
Monica did not ask again.
They spoke a little more, but Adam did not give her a direct name again. Monica could feel that he was still holding back.
By the time lunch ended, Monica had made one decision.
She would watch John properly with attention.
The college day ended after that.
Later, Adam stood in another place, wearing Wil’s face.
The area was quiet. There were no college students here. Only a narrow road and the sound of vehicles passing far away.
In front of him stood Leo Harrow.
Leo was not wearing prison clothes anymore.
He wore a plain shirt and newly bought shoes. From a distance, no one would think he had walked out of prison only hours ago.
Leo stretched his neck once and smiled.
"I missed this kind of air," he said.
Adam looked at him without smiling.
A few hours earlier, the police department had declared Leo dead inside the prison. The news had not spread much. It had been buried quietly, just as the warden wanted.
Now Leo was standing in front of Adam as a dead man with a new road.
Adam spoke in a calm voice.
"Your first target is a businessman named George Malani."
