After Dark (Prompts)

One Night - 11

"Good afternoon, Director."

The elderly gentleman turned from the papers he was reading to his assistant who entered his office.

"Here are the updates for the week. There's something that might be of interest to you with regard to the private school we run," the assistant said. 

A frown formed on the face of the head of the Board of the conglomerate. "An administrative case on one of the teachers," he said. "You know that I do not take these things lightly."

"I know which is why I raised it immediately, Sir. You would want to look at the people involved as well," the assistant pointed to the relevant section in the report.

Seeing the list made the Director frown.

"Get me the preliminary write-up of the case. When is the hearing?" 

***

Hyun Jin-heon's heart was breaking. 

He caused trouble to someone who was very dear to him and he couldn't even help her because he was so far away.

"This is so unfair!" Im Soo-ah complained. "I informed that Principal as soon as things were getting serious with us, even if I didn't have to! You're not his parent. You're not in charge of Ji-ho's assessments. I'm not doing anything wrong!"

She hated that she started crying, but she did not do so because of pain. Im Soo-ah was crying out of frustration over the whole scenario. The whole thing was just wrong.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't mean to dump this on you when you have so many things to take care of there."

"Don't worry about it. I'm okay. Besides, this involves me, too. What do you want to do? How can I help? You can have lawyers with you in these cases, right?" Jin-heon asked.

"Yes. I've spoken to one already," Im Soo-ah shared. "I don't want this to go on my record. They  might stop me from teaching. I can't... I can't imagine not teaching."

Hyun Jin-heon was silent for awhile. He felt the pain in what she said because she had already told him how much she loved her profession and her students, and he saw first hand how devoted she was to this job. Taking a deep breath, his heart breaking at the thought, he said what he thought was the easiest way out. "Maybe we... What if... Let's break up."

"WHAT?" Im Soo-ah raised her voice at what he said because she could not believe she heard him correctly.

"If we're not together, they won't have anything on you. Not even something remote," he told her. "Your record will be clean."

"We didn't break the rules!" Im Soo-ah said. "If you were the chauffeur, like I initially thought, this wouldn't even be an issue."

"Yes, but I am Ji-ho's uncle," Jin-heon said. "Let's --"

"Shut up," Im Soo-ah warned. "Don't say it again. It really hurts me. With everything I'm going through, that hurts the most."

"Soo-ah, I'm sorry. I just --"

"I don't want to talk anymore," she cut him off. "I should rest."

They ended the call, both of them feeling terrible. 

She knew he meant well and was only considering her welfare, but it still hurt. They had barely just started and they weren't in the wrong. A break up was not the answer. Fight the case -- that was the proper thing to do.

He did not get the chance to explain it but he worried that this would take away something they both knew she was passionate about: teaching. He did not intend to let her go and fully intended to be present in her life until such time that things were clear and Ji-ho was no longer in her class, which was ending soon anyway. He simply did not want complications for her and he thought the solution was quick and reasonable.