Adam stood beside his father in the present.
Dinesh's face looked calmer now.
That alone made Adam's chest feel lighter.
For many days, his father's worry had been moving through the city without Adam being able to touch it. Now Dinesh was in front of him. Alive. Safe. Holding him like he had not wanted to let go.
Adam looked at John.
Then he looked at Monica.
For a moment, the campus around him became quieter in his mind.
Monica's face brought back too many memories.
When Adam had first returned to the past, he had blamed her too. In his mind, she had stood too close to the beginning of his ruin. She had been near John. She had been part of the life that had broken him.
Later, after the anger became less blind, he had begun to understand something else.
Monica had also been trapped.
Not in the same way as him. Still trapped.
John had used people. Adam had been one of them. Monica had been another.
