Adam left the canteen.

Only John and Monica remained at the table.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Monica looked at the food in front of her, but she was not really seeing it. Her mind kept returning to the question Adam had asked her.

Are you really from the same world as me?

That one line had entered her chest and stayed there.

Did Adam know?

Did he know what family she came from?

If he knew, how much did he know?

And if he told someone, what would happen to the life she had built here?

Monica liked this life.

That was what frightened her most.

She had not realized how much she liked it until Adam’s question made her imagine losing it.

It was not perfect. It was not always comfortable. She had to hide things and watch her words. Even then, it felt more real than the life waiting for her at home.

Here, people spoke to her without bowing.

Here, teachers judged her answers, not her family name.

Here, she could be a scholarship student because she had earned that position with her own marks.

At least, that was what she had believed.

If people learned who she really was, every result would become doubtful in their eyes.

Marks would become family influence.

Hard work would become a story rich people told about themselves.

That thought made her chest feel tight.

Then Adam had looked at her and asked if she was truly from a lower middle-class family.

He had not said her family name.

He had not accused her.

That made it worse.

If he had named something directly, she could deny it or ask how he knew. Instead, he had looked at the way she thought and touched the place she had been hiding.

Monica’s fingers tightened slowly around her spoon.

Maybe she really did not know enough.

She had entered this life from the outside, but had she understood it? She had copied habits and controlled her spending. Was that the same as understanding what people like Adam lived through?

Her eyes moved toward John.

John was eating calmly.

Monica hesitated.

Then, because she was Monica, the question came out anyway.

"John," she asked, "what is struggle?"

John looked at her.

The question surprised him for a moment.

Monica continued before he could answer.

"I mean... what is a life full of struggle actually like?"

John placed his spoon down slowly.

Now he understood.

Before he arrived, Adam and Monica had been talking about something deeper than suspension. Monica’s expression after Adam left pointed in one direction.

Adam had made her curious about his life.

That was not good.

John knew Monica’s character. Once a question entered her mind, she did not let it sit quietly forever. She would follow it until she felt satisfied.

If that curiosity moved toward Adam, it would disturb the path John had made for her.

John smiled.

"I do not really know myself," he said. "You know my family background."

Monica listened.

John continued, "But from what I have heard, struggle is when life does not give you what you want."

Monica kept looking at him.

John spoke in the same calm voice.

"You work hard, then you still have to do more than others. Sometimes you do everything right and still have to accept less than what you wanted."

Monica became quiet.

This answer gave her something to hold, but it did not fully calm her.

John could see that clearly.

Monica was listening to him, yet part of her mind had not returned from Adam’s question. That was the real problem. If she had simply asked about poverty as a passing curiosity, John could have ended the matter with a few smooth words.

This was not passing curiosity.

This was the kind that stayed.

And if it stayed, it would take Monica back to Adam again.

He did not push further.

Inside, his thoughts had already moved.

One reason he had pushed Adam out of college was Monica.

Adam and Monica had grown too close. It had not been love, not in the simple way fools would think, but it was a connection. Monica spoke to Adam in a way she did not speak to others. She gave him attention without noticing how much that attention mattered.

John had wanted distance.

If Adam left the college, that distance would grow naturally.

After that, Monica would be easier to guide.

She still had a few females friends, but John could deal with that later. Slowly the people around her would become fewer. If three years passed with John as the most stable person near her, dependence would form by itself.

That had been the simple plan.

Adam had ruined it.

John felt anger at that, but he also felt excitement.

That was the strange part.

If someone else had disturbed his plan, John would have only felt irritation. With Adam, the feeling was different. Adam had not simply survived a push. He had returned to the same place where John had tried to remove him.

That made him worth watching properly.

His eyes moved toward the direction Adam had left.

The smile on his face did not disappear.

’Adam,’ John thought, ’you won one round. I really did underestimate you.’

Not anymore.

Until now, Adam had been an interesting piece that had moved silently.

Now he had value.

Now he had the ability to damage something John wanted.

That meant John had to treat him properly.

The first rule was information.

Before crushing an opponent, one had to know what stood behind him.

John was not foolish. The college would not bring Adam back just because it suddenly felt kind. Someone had pulled strings. Some backing had appeared behind Adam.

That backing was the first target.

John lifted his glass and took a small sip.

His smile stayed gentle enough for Monica to see nothing wrong.

’I will reach whoever is backing you soon,’ John thought. ’And when I do, I will destroy that support first.’