SIN (Lecturer Dear)

Chapter 77: The Confession of Darren

Inside the closed meeting room, Darren was convened by university officials and faculty deans. The Rector showed a screenshot that contained news about the perverted deeds of one of the lecturers at their university.

"Is it true that this photo was taken in the research room that you managed?" ask the rector carefully.

"Yes," Darren replied.

"Are the photos of the men and women's feet taken from under this table a picture of the Father and the students?" The question that was thrown slowly came back out of the mouth of the rector.

"Right," Darren replied back.

The lecturers who entered the position structure at the university then reacted. Some of them did not hesitate to throw criticism at him.

"How dare you commit indecent acts in the campus environment!"

"You don't deserve to be called an educator let alone a master teacher!"

"Don't let him be on our campus!"

"You're taking advantage of a student who's crazy about you!"

The Rector raised his hands up, asking other lecturers to be calmer. Staring into Darren's eyes, he asked again, "Can Mr Darren explain the meaning of this photo?"

Standing straight with a straight view, he admitted that the news circulating is himself, but for the information in the photo upload is not true. In other words, he confirmed the photo of a student under his desk, but rejected the news that he was perverted with the student.

"The photo is not what most people perceive." Darren is still stingy to explain the truth.

"Professor Darren, it's not just your problem, it's a university problem. This concerns the public's belief about the lecturers who are here! Can you explain the chronology in the photo? Why would a student be in such a position and what would she do?" ask the rector with a serious look.

Calmly, Darren said, "He came to see me and hid under the table when he heard the door open."

The lecturers looked at each other with frowns after getting a piece of explanation from Darren.

Vice-Chancellor II said, "Why hide? What were you doing at the time? If you don't do something, you don't need to hide, right? Instead, hiding it is increasingly inviting suspicion. Why would he hide when someone comes in?"

"It doesn't matter what we did in there, but the status that binds us makes him rush into hiding so as not to be suspected by other students. He's just afraid that someone knows our relationship."

"Oh, so that student is Mr Darren's girlfriend?" ask the rector accompanied by a view of other lecturers who whispered to each other small.

Darren shakes. He thinned his lips, then replied, "It's not my girlfriend, but .. it's my wife."

The Rector and all those in the room were shocked with wide eyes.

"Bu–isn't professor Darren still single at this campus?" ask vice-chancellor II.

"How can we believe the same thing?" search one of the lecturers in a cynical tone.

"If you don't believe me, you can see the information on my ID card." Darren takes the wallet in his pants pocket and shows his new ID card which has changed status to married. He also took his smartphone and showed them their wedding photos.

"Why don't you tell us, we're saying that Mr. Darren is married?" Pak Budi Luhur who was in the room immediately chimed.

"I'm sorry, Mothers. It was my fault. I'm the one who asked my partner to cover our marital status."

"Why is that?" The marriage is hidden," asked the lecturers in wonder.

"When I give that condition, I think only of myself. I am not ready to take the title of husband of my own student. I'm afraid people will judge unprofessional for marrying the students I teach. I was afraid to forget to position myself as a lecturer when I met him in the campus environment." Darren paused his sentence for a while, only to take a slow breath, then again said, "But .. I didn't realize, this selfishness affects my partner. I forgot to think about the feelings of the couple who saw the students always trying to get closer and get attention on me. I forgot to think he could have liked or bullied the guy out there. I forgot to think about the slander that attacked us both due to the ignorance of the people. I was also not agile enough to anticipate this kind of misunderstanding would occur. I'm really sorry for embarrassing the university with this news."

At that very instant, a sudden silence crawled the room. The lecturers and university officials just looked at each other.

"Although she's Mr. Darren's wife, she shouldn't have come to the research room if she's not interested. It's nothing, no one knows that this kind of thing is happening" said the old female lecturer.

"My wife is very young. The thoughts and actions he took were very simple, he was also careless, and sometimes gave up easily. But it was precisely that made me unable to look away from her, unable to ignore her, and unable to resist meeting her. He's innocent. I was the one who asked him to come to the research room back then. I always ask him to meet secretly." Darren pleaded for his wife not to be blamed. Though from the beginning, Karen who often secretly came to the room even though she had often warned him.

Some lecturers even justify because they are newlywed couples.

"Then can Mr Darren ask your wife to clarify the true events of the news? This news has already gone viral, some of the posts we have managed to take down, but it can not eliminate the negative perception of the minds of people who have seen it. Netizens always swallow the news circulating without finding out the truth. They will not easily believe with the clarification provided by the university. And if the news turns out to be nothing like the initial guess, they'll assume we're engineering" the rector said.

Darren was stunned with consideration. "I'm sorry, as a husband, I didn't allow my wife to be exposed to the public. It's my way of protecting her from being blamed by other students. She has not wanted to be exposed as my wife on this campus, especially if she has to appear on social media to give clarification" he said.

"The statements made by the men for news like this have never been trusted by the public" said the rector accompanied by a heavy breath.

"I won't be doing any clarification on social media either!" darren.

The Rector and the lecturers were shocked instantly. They don't understand Darren's attitude.

"In this case, I and my partner were victims of ITE slander and violations. Why do we always force a vilification victim to refute the accusations directed at him? Why not find the culprit and force him to prove the accusation? In Indonesia, privacy protection is still very weak. People easily expose and virtualize someone for the satisfaction and profit they get. After all, the photo only shows two male and female legs in one table. Isn't the evidence for the narrative in the news circulating still weak?"

"Keep, what solution do you offer for the misunderstanding of your secret marriage!" sambar one of the lecturers.

Darren turned to the lecturer, smiled a faint smile and said, "Inviting the perpetrator to clarify for himself the news that he had been viralizing."

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