Chapter Five

As Adrian stepped into his small apartment, he could not fully take off his mind off Ethan.

He unloosened his tie with one hand while he dropped the books he was carrying in the other hand on the table. 

He walked straight to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, then grabbed a glass and poured in some of it. Then, he grabbed the glass and went over to the window, he gazed down at the street while sipping the alcohol.

Seconds later, the world around him faded and what came next was the scene from last night. Everything played slowly, giving him the feelings that it was happening at the moment.

After some time, he shook his head and pulled himself out of the thought. 

The thought of sleeping with his student didn't just sit right with him. Adrian let out a long breath before emptying the remaining whiskey in his glass.

He had always drawn a clear line between his personal and professional life. All these years he taught at the university, he never looked at any student beyond the classroom.

Yet fate had a cruel sense of humor.

Out of all the people he could have met that night...

It had to be Ethan Sinclair.

He closed his eyes once more, the memory replayed once more.

Just then, his phone rang. He walked away from the window and went to the table where he had dropped his things. He took his phone and looked at the screen.

"Dan?" He mumbled and swiped the screen. "Hey, Dan. What's the matter?"

"Big brother, have you seen the news on I*?" The voice from the other end sounded urgent and worried.

"No, what's up?" Adrian asked, frowning.

"Big brother, you need to check it out for yourself. But I assure you, I don't believe them I know you can not do such a thing!"

"Wai—!" Before Adrian could say something, the call was ended, leaving him frowning deeply. 'the news...' he thought and clicked on his I* app.

The moment the app opened, the first thing he saw was his picture under a bold headline. "Male Lecturer In Starlight University Caght Harrassing A Young Girl." 

Seeing this, he frowned. 

Under the headline was a short video clip so he tapped on it.

The footage was grainy, as though it had been captured from a security camera with poor resolution. The man in the video bore an uncanny resemblance to him. He was standing in a university corridor while a young woman appeared to stumble backward before the recording abruptly ended.

The clip lasted less than fifteen seconds, and yet within those fifteen seconds, the internet had already reached its verdict.

Thousands of comments flooded the screen.

"So disappointing."

"I attended his lectures. Never expected this."

"People like him shouldn't be allowed near a university."

"Disgusting... Every disgusting, eww!"

"I bet his parents never taught him how to respect people!"

"Perhaps, he learnt from his father."

"He is not fit to be a teacher!"

Adrian's grip around the phone tightened.

He replayed the video again and again.

His expression gradually darkened. "This isn't the original footage..." He said as he enlarged the video frame by frame.

The timestamps skipped unnaturally, the shadows changed between cuts — someone had definitely edited the recording.

"I think I remember when this happened..."

Before he could think further, his phone rang again.

This time, it was the university's dean.

Adrian answered immediately.

"Dean Harrison."

"Mr. Vale," the older man said with a heavy sigh. "I need you to come to the university tomorrow. The board has called an emergency meeting."

"I've seen the video."

"Then you already know the situation."

Adrian remained silent.

"I hope you can explain what happened."

"I can."

"Good," the man said and puased for a while. "...But whether anyone is willing to listen..."

The dean didn't finish his sentence and the line went dead.

Adrian slowly lowered the phone and sighed. Then his mind went back to five years ago.

****

Adrian was eighteen when he joined the underworld organization. At the age of twenty, he became the head of his team because he was favored by the big boss and also a result of his hard work.

Everyone feared him. He killed without mercy, he disliked anything associated with evil, and also protected his teammates. This made everyone... Or some people like him. There were others who hated him too but still feared him.

Then comes Melissa, daughter of the big boss who fell in love with him. After some time, he also fell for her and the two of them planned to get married, it was no secret in the underworld.

But everything began to fall when a certain young man appeared.

Little Devil as he was fondly called. He was always around Adrian, and soon, gossips about them being together began to circulate around the organization. Some believed, some doubted but no matter how untrue it was, it didn't prevent trouble from stirring.

One day, they found Melissa lying unconscious in a pool of blood while Adrian was standing before her with a gun in his hand.

No matter what he said, they all believed he was the one who shot her. He was arrested for it.

Melissa didn't die, so Adrian had hopes and waited for her to clear his name but even after recovering, instead of clearing his name, Melissa stated that he was the one who shot her out of jealousy because he saw her with Little Devil.

This was when Adrian's world collapsed completely.

Adrian managed to escape from prison and run away from the country, to this place where he obtained a new identity and became a lecturer.

But even after years, he could not believe that his past would come hunting him again.

He sighed once more and gulped down the remaining content in the glass.

----

At the same time, Ethan was frowning as he swiped through the comments under the latest news on I*.

"These people are damn harsh," he muttered. "Are they even humans?"

Just then, a call came in.

"Chris what's up?" He asked the moment he picked the call.

"Where have you been, man? I've been trying to reach you severally."

"I'm sorry, I've been busy, you know," he replied.

Chris sighed from the other end. "How is it going these days?"

"Good. But there is something I'll be needing your help on."

"What is it?"

"Hold on, let me send you the video," Ethan said and hung up. Then he scrolled through his phone for some seconds, tapped many times, and then called Chris back. "I sent you a video. I want you to check the reality of the video and get back to me. I don't believe that video clip is real so I want you to check it out for me."

"Why are you interested in the video?" Chris asked him.

"No questions, just do what I asked you to," Ethan said and ended the call immediately. He stared at the video clip for a long time, no matter what his eyes were seeing, he believed that Adrian wasn't the one in the video.

"Just wait, Adrian. I'll clear your name at all costs."