The nightmare is not over yet, as the news spreads further, parents who have enrolled their children in the school where Arcane teaches are afraid that their daughters will suffer the same fate.
The parents are demanding that Arcane be expelled from the school, as they do not want this to happen to their daughters.
"I understand your concerns. However, please calm down. We can talk about this first and discuss it."
The school has explained that the news is not true and that Arcane has never abused any of the students at the school.
"The news is not true. Mr. Arcane Romano did not actually do such a thing, and it is just fake news. Even your daughters know who is lying and know that the news is not true," said Donald, explaining to the parents in the school hall during a meeting with several parent representatives.
They continued to demand that Arcane be expelled from school, feeling that he might have done it but their children were too afraid to admit it.
"That teacher is very disturbing! We don’t want our daughter to become his victim too, and we hope you will expel him from school!" said one of them.
"That’s right! Don’t keep defending him just because he’s your son. We’ve heard all the news that the teacher is actually your son!"
Some parents who didn’t know about it were surprised, but some of them who did know also agreed because they didn’t want Donald to take sides in defending Arcane.
Another teacher who was also in the meeting tried to calm everyone down. He said they were doing everything neutrally. Because they knew Arcane was not someone who had harassed students at the school.
"Please calm down. We are not taking anyone’s side, but we are saying this neutrally. Because that is what actually happened. So we ask you to remain calm, your daughters will not be victims of anyone, not even Mr. Romano."
Arcane, who was there at the time, saw how the parent representative kept pressuring the school to expel him. Because he didn’t want the school’s reputation to be tarnished, nor his father’s, he made a decision on the spot.
Even though he knew this decision would have a huge impact on his life.
The red haired man stood up, silencing the parents and drawing their attention. His green eyes looked at each of them before he finally opened his mouth.
"If that’s what you want, then I’ll do it. I will resign from this school from my position as a math teacher. I hope you will no longer make a fuss about this and will not mention the name of this school again, or even Mr. Stamford’s name," he said firmly.
Donald and the teachers were so shocked by Arcane’s decision, because it meant that it would be difficult for him to find another job at another school. Especially after this incident.
"That’s right! We just want you to leave this school and no longer teach near our daughters. You still look very young, and we’re sure that one day you might actually do something to them!"
The parents nodded in agreement, although some of them doubted that it would happen.
"Please watch your language. How can you say such things to someone who has taught your daughters for a year?" A female teacher tried to defend Arcane, but no one listened to her.
"Mr. Romano, you don’t have to go that far! We just need to make them trust us again without forcing you to leave this school," said Donald.
However, he knew that the parents would not rest until he was completely expelled from the school. Therefore, he decided to resign as a teacher and walked away from the school.
"It’s okay. I don’t want everyone to get involved just because of this problem. Maybe this problem sounds so ridiculous because it’s clear that it never happened."
He bowed slightly to the parents and other teachers, then walked away from the school hall as a sign of his departure from the school.
After he left the hall, the atmosphere became very quiet as the parents seemed to doubt their own words.
Finally, Kyle, who was there at the time, began to speak.
"Is this what you really want?"
Arcane went to pack his belongings in the teachers’ room, putting everything into cardboard boxes. On his desk were several photos of himself with students who had taken pictures with him.
"It’s all over now," he muttered as he stared at the photos.
Originally, he had entered the school only to find out information about his father, Donald. When everything went smoothly, Donald eventually acknowledged him as his son, and they had a perfect life as father and son.
This nightmare began. He didn’t know why everything had ended up like this, nor did he know whether he should say he was sorry or not.
"Should I have... not come here a year ago? If only I hadn’t done that..."
He imagined several scenarios that might have happened if he had never come to teach at that school. His head began to hallucinate because his life was now quite messy. However, from all the things that had been destroyed over the past year, he was able to find Julian.
If he hadn’t decided to enter that school, he definitely wouldn’t have met Julian. And that was one thing he was grateful for until now.
Carrying a cardboard box in his hand, Arcane walked out of the teachers’ room in the school corridor. As he was about to leave the school lobby, several students who had been waiting for him in the schoolyard lined up neatly.
They seemed to be blocking the man from leaving the school, let alone quitting as their teacher.
"You guys..."
At the same time, the parents came out of the hall with the teachers after hearing the commotion in the schoolyard. They were surprised to see all the female students at the school standing in the way of the math teacher leaving them.
"One, two..." One of them gave the signal before they finally spoke in unison.
"MR. ROMANO, PLEASE DON’T LEAVE OUR SCHOOL!"