“Excuse me?” The professor got angry after only this one comment already. But his anger was still not as big as his confusion. Neither he nor Khem’s parents understood what Ford wanted from them.

“You are here because of Khem’s behavior in class, right? Because he talks too much and is too happy?” Ford didn’t need an answer to his question, he knew this was the exact reason these three people were sitting together. Therefore, he didn’t wait for one of them to answer his questions. “I know you talked with Khem about this last week, too. He was with you, all quiet and silent, wasn’t he?” Another question Ford didn’t need an answer to. “Well, that’s why I’m here now.” Ford took a few steps in their direction. In the break Ford made before continuing to speak to them, none of the adults filled the silence. Ford couldn’t tell if they were too shocked or if they actually wanted to listen to what Ford had to tell. “You want Khem to change. You want him to stop talking about things that don’t belong to your subject,” Ford turned to Khem’s parents, “or you are just not interested in. You think he is nosy and too loud. You want him to concentrate on the important parts of life.” Ford paused for a second to calm himself down again. He didn’t want to explode right here right now, but he also didn’t want to hold back. “If you want him to do that, if you want him to change, you have to take his happiness from him. That’s it. You want him to stop talking, just break his heart and make him sad and he will stay quiet.” Ford saw how shocked all of them were when he said those words. They hadn’t expected them in any way, hadn’t thought such cruel words would escape Ford’s mouth. Ford smiled, he didn’t look sad, either. He just stated the facts those adults had to understand. “You know, people like you are the reason people like Khem end up miserably and get less and less in this society. Shouldn’t you as his parents and you as his teacher, who will prepare him for the next steps of his life, be happy about his happiness? Shouldn’t you be happy that he is happily living every single day?” Ford paused again. Not to calm down, he didn’t even want to calm down anymore. He paused for these three adults to process and to understand what he had just said. “Yes, I get that you can’t teach if he is too loud,” Ford said to the professor. “I mean, that’s reasonable. But have you ever asked Khem nicely to keep it down? You only threatened him to throw him out of the class if he is too loud again. Shouldn’t you, as a professor teaching CommArts students, know that sometimes being nice and friendly is enough?” The professor stayed quiet. Ford turned to Khem’s parents again. “I also understand that it can be annoying to always have to listen to what he has to tell. I don’t want to listen to him from time to time, either. But you too, have you ever asked him to tell you about it later? Instead, you hurt your son in the worst way possible. You make him feel like he disappoints you, like he is a disappointment. Every single time. You raised him so, so well. Khem has such a beautiful and precious soul. He is happy while other people our age can’t even find the energy to get out of bed every morning. Don’t ruin what you have done in the past years. Don’t break Khem like that.” Guilt was written all over Khem’s parents’ faces, his mother probably teared up because it hurt her too much to know her son thought of himself that way. Ford saw that they had understood him, that all three of them had noticed their mistakes. “Khem doesn’t know I’m here,” Ford continued, “and it can stay that way. I hope you consider my words and talk to Khem again.” Ford showed them a fake smile before he bowed to them. “I’m sorry for interrupting you. I will go now.” And just like Khem’s parents had left Khem last week, Ford left now as well. Without turning back another time, he walked to the door, stepped out of the room into the hallway, and closed the door behind him. The only difference was Ford’s smile. In the end, he could only hope for them to rethink and change their behavior. But he was sure that it was going to happen. He was sure that none of them would continue to hurt Khem. And it felt so good to finally teach these adults a lesson.

Ford’s smile didn’t leave him for even a second. He walked through the building with the same smile on his face, walked through campus to the place outside of the cafeteria where he always spent his breaks with his friends. His smile didn’t fade for one second. Even when he saw Keb standing alone next to the building of the cafeteria, he didn’t lose his smile. Ford walked over to his friend, followed the look of his eyes after he had stopped next to him. He also looked at the three people sitting at a table a little distanced from Ford and Keb. He looked at Moon’s smile but didn’t care much about it. He looked at Khem who smiled even happier than Moon. Ford had tried his best to make sure Khem could continue to smile like that. He had done everything possible for him to keep this happy smile alive. Now, he would have to wait. Wait for the professor and Khem’s parents to take action. Ford’s eyes wandered to the third person sitting at the table. One seemed even happier than the two happy souls beside him. Ford was caught off guard to see the older one this happy. To see him laugh and smile like that. Ford noticed the same thing Keb had noticed. Ford noticed that something had changed. That someone had changed him. Ford put one of his hands on Keb’s shoulder to let him know that he wasn’t alone anymore and to not surprise him too much with his words. “Do you think Moon can make them happy again? It’s been a while since I saw One and Khem that happy.”