STAND BY YOU

Oh, Why you look so sad?
Tears are in your eyes
Come on and come to me now

“Teacher Kang, aren’t you coming?”, Jung In-Jae texted her co-worker. It was time for the second period already and he hadn’t shown up.

It was probably because of the incident. The scandal about the student who had came to him, talking about her personal problems and he gave her his time. He actually tried to help her. After a while of a nonsense conversation the girl simply confessed. She said her heart would jump during his classes, that she couldn’t take her eyes off of him, that she kept on thinking of him all day and night and that she wanted to get to know him better… as a man.

“Teacher, I know it may sound crazy… but I do feel like we have some kind of connection.”, the girl had gotten up from her seat, approaching Kang’s chair. He hadn’t noticed the evil look in her eyes until she was close enough to touch his face.

“I know you like me too.”, he saw her lips move but didn’t hear any sound.

For a nanosecond Kang Se-Chan got scared. Something like that never happened. Many students had disliked him at Seungri High School but none of them had shown that kind of affection.He felt himself being by a ball of darkness.

As soon as the girl touched his face, teacher Kang abruptly removed them. He got up, not losing his grip on the girl’s wrists, his expression was a mix of fear and anger.

“Leave.”, he told the girl, his voice sounded firm, almost scary. The girl bit her lower lip and left, crying her one-sided love, while teacher Kang fell on his chair. If a womanhad confessed her feelings for him ,Teacher Kang wouldn’t be worried, but that girl was a kid, a student. He was barely aware of her existence, let alone attracted by her.

The day next he was stared at. Some students would look at him with disgust, some others wouldn’t even greet him. There were people talking behind his back and even the other teachers would look at him weirdly.

“Good morning.”, he greeted, but nobody replied, just eyes full of judge and disgust. Around 10 minutes after confusingly sitting on his chair he was called by the principal to have a private talk.

“You’re being reported for ual harassment against a student.”, she said and teacher Kang gulped. He slowly fell on an endless dark ocean of a hopeless darkness again.

Teacher Jung had arrived tardy that day so they didn’t even get to meet.

 “Have you heard? The kid’s parents are coming. It seems like it wasn’t only at school.”, In-Jae heard and somehow she thought that was something to worry about.

“After teacher Jo saying so many good things about him… who would ever think he’s this kind of person?” another comment and teacher Jung felt uneasy.

“How disgusting! Who know how many other girls Kang Se-Chan has abused in here?”, that one was too much.

“Yah!”, Jung In-Jae got up from her chair, making some noise.
  “I don’t think teacher Kung  would ever do something like that.”, it was teacher Jung’s voice that sounded louder than anyone  else’s. She was standing, a strong expression on her face.
“I just can’t believe you’re actually thinking he would… you guys are really…”, she didn’t finish and left the office puffing with anger.

Jung In-Jae repeated her speech in her mind, she knew what to tell the principal but she didn’t know what the principal would say.

The principal was in a meeting with the student who had reported teacher Kang as an abuser, her parents, the vice-principal and teacher Kang himself.

Se-chan stared at the girl and she avoided any kind of eye contact. She had a shameful expression on her face, knowing her lie was ruining an innocent’s life.

“Professor Kang… we can’t maintain this kind of person here. If your abusive actions are proved you’ll have to leave immediately, the police will be contacted immediately too.”, principal Im said, her tone was severe.

“On the other hand, if it is proved to be false… the student must be expelled from the school for causing such a big issue, and she must apologize in public.”, teacher Jo stared into the young girl’s eyes. He knew Se-Chan well, he wasn’t this kind of person.

For a moment teacher Kang saw his whole academic life passing right in front of his eyes.

 The student seemed slightly unhappy with this situation. She had said teacher Kang had attracted her to the gym, where he had tried to abuse her, using strength and words that shouldn’t be repeated. She said It had happened right after the last period, when there was nobody around anymore, when the janitor was already gone and just teacher Jung remained in the building, holding class 2.

When asked about how she had escaped the place, the girl said she couldn’t remember. The rest of that day was just a blur.

Listening to the conversation from the outside In-Jae couldn’t hold anymore. She had to do something. She knew the true facts and she couldn’t let such unfairness to happen right under her nose.

“That’s not it!”, she entered the room without knocking, catching everybody’s attention.

“Kang Se-chan was not with her. I can prove it. He…”, she hesitated.
“He was not with her because…”, she made a pause and looked at him. Kang had a worried expression, he was begging for her not to say anything.

“…because he left  with me and he stayed with me the whole night.”, she sighed and looked down. She knew everybody would know that they had an intimate relationship by the end of the day and maybe her reputation would be ruined. But she couldn’t just accept something like this to happen.

Silence. The principal and the other teachers, plus the student’ s parents and the student herself took some considered time to process the information.

Se-chan just looked at In-Jae with a pitiful expression while she held an apologetic look in her eyes.

“Her?!”, the student exclaimed, her eyes full of jealousy.
“You didn’t want me because you were with her?!”, she yelled, her parents turned to her right away.

“She is… she is so small! You’re a big man, you need a woman who can please you properly and…” – SLAP! The girl couldn’t finish her sentence. Her mother’s palm had hit her face with full strength.

Teacher Jung didn’t get to send the message. Someone entered the teachers’ office and everybody turned around to check who it was.

“Oh, professor Kang…”, the vice-principal greeted when Se-chan entered the teachers’ office.
“We… all of us… would like to apologize for our…misunderstand.”, he stuttered.

Kang simply nodded and walked to his chair. He prepared his papers as a normal day, but there was a dark cloud above his head.

“Let’s go?”, In-Jae held his hand and for a moment their heartbeat carried the same anxiety.

The two teachers walked closely to class number 2, where they entered together. As murmurs started, In-Jae raised her voice and talked seriously to the students.

“It’s been proved teacher Kang didn’t do what people said he did. It was an unforgivable mistake. The student who reported confessed it was a misunderstanding, so all of you must respect teacher Kang as much as before. If anyone has anything to say, say now and say it to me.”, teacher Jung had never sounded so fierce, her gaze was in those poisonous mouths she knew well. 

The students remained silent and some even felt guilty for doubting teacher Kang’s values.

“Yooooosh!! That’s our teacher!! Of course teacher Kang wouldn’t do that! Look at him!! He has eyes only for teacher Jung!!” ,  Ki-Deok exclaimed and everybody followed his noise.

“They were made to each other!”, others cheered. And the normal atmosphere was slowly restored.

The first periods passed fast. Though Kang was still a bit uncomfortable with the past situation he managed his classes well.

On the back of school, where there was nobody to see him if he needed to curse, Kang Se-chan stood still. Relief was starting to take over his soul when tiny arms and hands got wrapped around his waist.

“We must go back.”, In-Jae said, her eyes closed, her arms tightening around Se-chan’s body.

The male just sighed and turned around to face her. He looked at her for a moment and kissed the tip of her nose.

“ Don’t worry. I think it was time for them to know already.”, In-Jae smiled to him and yelp in surprise when he hugged her.

“Such a great woman for such a small man…”, teacher Kang  whispered as his heart grew more in love with teacher Jung.

I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you