Chapter 73: Juan

Shivani sighed upon hearing Taro's proclamation. "To think that you're gonna retroactively put your head into that mess…" She shook her head.

"Meh, it's gonna be fun. I couldn't speak to many people when I came here, because I… was shy. So, I'm spending my time from now on by talking with others for the most part." Taro replied.

"Huh, very well." Shivani didn't have a reply to what Taro said. She felt that it was great that her teacher could overcome his shyness.

"Hey! Who do you think I should have a talk with next?" Taro asked.

Shivani thought for a while before replying. "Hmm, if you're thinking of going easy with it, I would suggest someone like Abhirami. She's easy to talk to. You just have to ask and she'll tell everything that happened to her the past week or something."

"Fu~fu! I like to live dangerously though! So, tell me, who do you think would be the most difficult for me to 'influence'?" Taro asked.

"Well, you do know that there's one particularly eccentric character in the class… Or, at least I believe you do. On a second thought, I don't know if you think he's eccentric as well. But, he is a bit weird if you are to ask me." She replied.

"I know you're talking about Juan. And yea, I too think that he's not that normal. Like, I have seen many kids having crushes on their teachers, however this guy just straight up says that he's trying to seduce one. Moreover, he says that to his class teacher. You see, I'm not one to snitch, however what if I was one?" Taro asked.

Shivani sighed. "Not normal, huh? You could say that. He's not normal by any means. From perfect scores in the tests to representing our school and winning a gold medal in the national school games for three events nonetheless. No matter how you look at him, he's a model student and a perfect specimen for the school to show off as their diamond in the rough. Even standing near him is tiring. Like, he has a charm that attracts people to a certain degree. So, even if you were to snitch on him, he would've gone scot-free, because he's at a level where the prefecture can't just treat him like every other student." She replied.

"Hmm, so no one would actually point out the stupid shit he might be doing because he has a special status now. Seems like I have a tough nut to crack over there." Taro spoke as he walked the corridors of the school. Since he was so engrossed in his talk with Shivani, he never noticed that they actually reached their destination. "Hey, by the way, you spoke of his charm. By any chance, did you get attracted to that as well?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

"As if! I've been near him for too long to know what he is. I am resistant to his charm. Like, yea he is attractive, however I can only see him like a friend. Especially, when he explicitly stated his taste in women. Like, how could I like a person who says that 'only a mature woman can quench my thirst'? More than feeling attracted to him, I feel sad for some reason. And as I said before, I know him better than most of the people here do, so I feel nothing." Shivani replied, with an expressionless face. "Speak of the devil!" She spoke as she pointed towards Juan prancing around Veronica, the tenth grade English teacher.

"So, is he just attracted to her, or?" Taro asked.

"No, no. There's two or three that falls under his 'refined taste'. However, Mrs. Veronica is the only one in this block, so yea. And she's a bit more attractive than the rest." She replied.

"I see." Taro spoke. He thought Juan's case is a bit weird to just directly start with him. He decided to begin in another direction.

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The class with the twelfth graders went relatively well. Other than Juan, who looked furious because it wasn't Veronica taking the class, everyone else was attentive and it ended up becoming a fun class to lecture to.

After the class, Taro headed to the staff room. There he saw Veronica, who seemed to be preparing for her next class. Although he wanted to have a chat with her about Juan, since he was busy as well, he decided to postpone that talk to later.

Then, the first break came about and every teacher was in the staff room. Taro headed towards Veronica's desk. "Hey, Mrs Veronica!"

"Oh… Mr. Sadanandan. Did you want something from me?" She asked while lazily looking up towards him. She seemed uninterested to have any sorta conversation with.

"Well, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about one of the students in my class, Juan. You know him, right?" He asked.

Suddenly, her ears perked up when he heard the name. "What about him?" She asked, the disinterest from a moment ago had vanished once he mentioned Juan's name.

"Ah, he said that he had doubts on this portion of the chapter. I couldn't really explain it to him. So, care to explain this? Then I can explain it to him as well." He replied. Originally, he was about to ask something else, however he felt like he got the answer he was looking for… or at least, somewhat close to it.

Once, she understood that it was just a doubt clearing session, she went back to her former behavior and blandly explained it to him. Taro thanked her and went back to his desk. "I guess even mentioning his name could attract people's attention, eh? Damn, I was gonna ask if she was attracted to him or something, however I was hesitant to ask that, because then I would have to ring up the police… I hope that isn't the case." He sighed.

After that, every time he had free time, he started digging up information about Juan, like the stuff kids had to say about him, which was mostly good and his records, which was pretty great as well. He learned that Juan stays in the school hostel even though his house was relatively closer to school. The reason stated was that his father worked abroad and he would be the only one left in the home. Taro saw nothing that mentioned his mother other than her name, which intrigued him. However, to sum it up, he felt like spending an entire day behind this felt like a waste. Taro thought that it would've been better if he just straight up talked to Juan.

So, that's exactly what he did. The last period that day was computer, which separated the four computer students from the science batch who are usually taught together because of their less number. So, when the classes were over and they were about to exit their class, Taro stopped Juan saying that he had something to talk about.

"So, what is it?" Juan asked with a pissed off expression. He still felt annoyed whenever he had to face Taro.

"Ah, I would like to meet your parents. Like to talk about things with them." He replied.

"Well, my dad is abroad, so you can't meet him. However, there's my aunt and uncle, so you can meet them. Although, my aunt is mentally ill, even though she won't admit it herself. So, I'll call uncle up. He'll talk to you." Juan replied.

Taro noticed that Juan intentionally left out his mother. Although, that might be because he didn't want to trigger some memories he didn't want to, Taro chose to recklessly push the boundary. "What about your mother?" He asked.

Juan sighed. "Mother… She's dead…"

"I'm really sorry." Taro realized that he went too far with it.

"...to me." Juan continued. "She's dead to me."

"What happened?" Taro asked.

"Well, she… Wait a minute, why do I feel like you're invading my privacy?" Juan caught a whiff of what Taro was trying to do.

"I'm doing no such thing!" Taro replied.

"Is that so? Great! I'll just go then." Juan tried exiting the room, however Taro stopped him from doing so. Juan thought of bulldozing through him, however it seemed impossible to move Taro for some reason. Finally, Juan gave up trying and stayed back.

"I have something else to say too." Taro spoke.

"Really? Tell me then." Juan ordered.

However, there wasn't anything that Taro really wanted to say. He just wanted to hear about Juan's mother and why Juan considers her dead. "Umm… well…"

Juan sighed yet again. "Okay, you don't have anything to say. Move, now! I gotta go." He replied.

"Hey! Do you really think it's okay to tease a story and then take it nowhere?" Taro asked.

"Okay, if it's about my mother, then it's a memory that I don't like to remember and you won't find it interesting as well. So, let's leave it there." He replied.

"I won't know what to think about it if you don't talk to me about it." Taro replied, completely disregarding the first point that Juan made.

"Fine. Sit. I'll tell you my story. However, remember this. You're annoying as hell!" Juan replied.

"Oh, I know." Taro replied as he took a seat opposite to him.

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