[Daffodil Academy]

The news of Teacher Thorne’s sudden resignation spread across the school like wildfire. Just that morning, everyone had seen him smiling as usual, and within hours, the announcement came that he had resigned.

Most of the students were confused, unable to understand what could have caused such a sudden decision.

But Nate knew. He could feel it deep in his bones.

He had always believed that Teacher Thorne would continue shielding him, dismissing every complaint about his behavior as long as his father supported him.

Every time Nate bullied someone or a complaint was raised, Clement would step in and quietly bury the matter before it ever reached the principal.

Nate had always gotten away with everything.

But now, with Clement gone...something felt very wrong.

As Nate stood there, still trying to process everything, a group of students from Leo’s class began discussing the same topic, catching Leo’s attention.

"That’s strange," Mia muttered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I saw Teacher Thorne this morning, and now he’s suddenly gone."

"Yeah... this is bad," John said, his face turning pale as realization struck him. "We thought Nate would get scolded by him, but now that he’s gone... what if Nate comes after us?"

He looked at Mia in panic.

It was the two of them who had gathered the courage to complain about Nate, hoping things would finally change.

But now...

"What do we do, Mia?" John asked, shaking her arm and snapping her out of her thoughts. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Mia blinked, still processing everything. Before she could respond, Leo’s voice interrupted them.

"What are you two talking about?"

He had just joined them for lunch.

The moment Mia and John saw him, they stiffened, clearly caught off guard.

Leo frowned.

Mia quickly nudged John and forced a weak smile. "I-it’s nothing," she said, opening her lunchbox to avoid his gaze.

Leo pouted slightly, his eyes moving between the two.

John was clearly nervous, and Mia was clearly avoiding him.

Something was off.

"Hey, did you hear about Teacher Thorne’s resignation?" a student behind them suddenly said.

Leo, Mia, and John turned toward the group.

"I heard the principal expelled him because he failed to do his job as a teacher."

"How do you know?" another student asked.

"I overheard the staff talking when I went to give some notebooks to Teacher Margaret," the first student replied. "They said Teacher Thorne had been ignoring complaints about Nate’s behavior. Somehow it reached the principal, and that’s why he took such a big step."

Silence fell over the group.

Mia slowly looked at John. He looked like he might faint. And Leo... his expression changed.

While the group continued talking, Leo and his friends finished their lunch and stepped out into the corridor, heading toward the washroom.

Leo walked ahead, but John and Mia slowed down, exchanging uneasy glances.

"Leo, wait!" Mia suddenly called out.

Leo stopped and turned back, along with John.

Mia tried to steady herself, but the guilt was already weighing heavily on her.

They had been hiding the truth from Leo.

And that didn’t feel right.

He was their friend.

Even if they had only wanted to protect him, keeping him in the dark now felt worse.

"What you heard earlier... it’s true," Mia said, stepping forward until she stood in front of him.

She glanced at John and gave him a small nod.

"Y-yeah," John added, walking up beside her.

Neither of them had wanted to hide anything from Leo. But seeing him endure Nate’s constant bullying had pushed them to act.

They thought they were helping him.

But they had never imagined that the person they trusted would turn out to be the one secretly protecting the bully.

Leo frowned slightly, looking between the two.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

Mia hesitated, then took a deep breath. "We were the ones who complained about Nate... to Teacher Thorne."

Leo blinked.

John nodded nervously. "We thought he would help. We thought he would stop Nate."

Mia’s fingers curled tightly at her sides. "But instead... he ignored everything. Every complaint. He just covered it up."

A brief silence followed.

Leo stood still, processing their words.

"So... you knew?" he asked, his tone softer than they expected.

John quickly shook his head. "Not at first! We only realized after hearing the others talk about it."

"We didn’t tell you because..." Mia’s voice dropped, "...we didn’t want you to feel worse. We thought we could handle it ourselves."

Leo looked at them for a long moment.

There was no anger on his face.

No disappointment.

Just quiet understanding.

"You should have told me," he said finally.

All this time, he had believed his father was the one behind everything.

He knew how protective Xander was, and after realizing he was being bullied, he had expected him to step in.

But never once had he imagined that Mia and John had been trying to help him all along.

And that realization...

made him feel unexpectedly warm.

He really did have friends who cared about him.

John lowered his head. "Sorry..."

Mia bit her lip. "We didn’t mean to hide it from you."

Leo let out a small sigh and stepped closer to them.

"It’s okay," he said gently. "You were trying to help."

Both of them looked up in surprise.

Leo smiled. "And you did."

Mia blinked. "We... did?"

Leo nodded. "If you hadn’t complained, the principal might never have found out."

Even though Leo believed his father’s involvement had brought everything to light, he couldn’t ignore the courage Mia and John had shown.

John frowned slightly. "But now Nate..."

His words trailed off as Leo placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Don’t worry about him," Leo said firmly. "He won’t find out it was you."

For the first time, Leo felt something shift inside him.

He had always endured Nate’s behavior in silence.

But now, remembering Ivy’s words... he knew one thing, and that was he wasn’t going to stay quiet anymore.

Hearing Leo’s reassuring words, both Mia and John smiled and resumed walking, only to stop once again when they saw Nate and his friend standing right in front of them.

John gulped and slowly moved closer to Mia, while Leo held Nate’s gaze without flinching.

"Did he hear us?" John whispered nervously, but Mia quickly shushed him. He glanced back at Nate, his anxiety clear.

"Let’s go," Nate said.

Without lingering, he walked past Leo and his friends.

Relief washed over them as the distance between the two groups grew.

But just as they were far enough, Nate’s friend Ethan spoke under his breath.

"Why didn’t you say anything?"

Nate stopped. For a brief moment, he stood still before turning back to look at Leo and his friends walking away.

But soon the corner of his lips twitched slightly and yet he said nothing.

Turning back around, he continued walking as if nothing had happened.

But one thing was certain. He had not forgotten what he heard. And sooner or later... he would make sure they paid for it.