Her quiet accusation sent shockwaves through the crowd, and everyone gasped in disbelief.

"Where does it hurt?" Dad, dripping wet and baffled, tried to recall the rescue. "I didn't bump into anything on the way up..."

"Wow, I thought he was a good guy, turns out he's just a creep feeling up some girl!"

"Man, even in a crisis, he managed to get handsy. That's a new low!"

"He looks so decent—how could he do something that sleazy?"

"Isn't that his daughter over there? She's about the same age as the girl he grabbed. What the hell?"

Dad, normally clueless, suddenly caught on.

He shot to his feet, his face flushing bright red, and blurted out at Megan, "Young lady, you can eat what you like, but don't make stuff up!"

Megan swallowed hard, her body trembling as she hugged herself, too scared to speak again.

The crowd started to get rowdy, voices overlapping in frustration.

"Hey, why are you bullying her like that?"

"Look at him! Red in the face—must've struck a nerve!"

"Got your fists clenched, planning to hit her?"

"Go ahead, buddy, there's plenty of us here watching!"

Dad's face and neck grew redder with panic, which only seemed to fuel the crowd's anger.

To them, it looked like he was caught and furious about it.

They instinctively formed a protective circle around Megan, shielding her from Dad.

I jumped in, desperate to set things straight.

"You've got it all wrong! My dad would never do something like that!"

"He was only trying to help! You can't just accuse him without any proof!"

"Megan, come on, say something! You're always so vocal—why are you quiet now?"

"The lake's deep; nobody else dared to jump in when you fell. It was my dad who risked his life to save you!"

Megan stuttered, "I... I blacked out. I don't remember anything."

"What do you mean you don't remember?!" I shouted, feeling my anger boiling over.

Turning a rescue into an accusation, and now she says she doesn't know? Who would ever step up again?

"Megan! Megan!" A voice shouted from across the distance.

"Dad!" She looked up suddenly and scrambled toward the voice.

She reached her father and collapsed into his arms, crying her eyes out.

Her dad, Dan Maxwell, looked shocked to see her soaking wet and immediately demanded, "What happened?"

But Megan just kept sobbing, unable to explain.

Dan, now clearly frustrated, was surrounded by people all talking at once, trying to fill him in.

When he finally understood, his face turned a deep shade of red, and he charged at my dad, swinging a fist while shouting, "You bastard! How dare you touch my daughter? I'll kill you!"

Dan came at my dad like a mad bull, throwing punches and kicking wildly.

And my dad? He just stood his ground, shielding himself but refusing to fight back.

"Get off my dad! He didn't do anything wrong!" I screamed, rushing forward to pull Dan off him.

But suddenly, a fist flew straight at my face, and everything went dark as I crumpled to the ground.

My mom ran over, panic-stricken, tears streaming down her face as she helped me up.

The crowd just stood around watching, not intervening, until the police arrived to break it up and separate Dan from my dad.

Dad's face was already swollen and bruised from the beating.

The police took us to the nearest station, where a noisy crowd had gathered in the lobby.

After getting the details, a police officer turned to Megan and asked, "Can you confirm if he did anything inappropriate to you?"

Megan, her eyes overflowing with tears, whispered, "I don't know... all I know is it hurts..."

Dan, furious at her response, shouted, "What kind of question is that? Don't you know how crucial a girl's reputation is? No one would joke about this!"

"Why are you questioning my daughter and not grilling him? Is this some sort of victim-blaming?"

"Is this how the police handle things?"

The officer, trying to speak over Dan's shouting, finally said, "We have to establish the facts to resolve this properly."

Dan, even angrier, rolled up his sleeves like he was ready for another fight.

"Facts? It's clear as day! He took advantage of my daughter in the water! All these people here can back me up!" he yelled, pointing wildly at the crowd.

It was a total misrepresentation of the truth.

"That's a lie! My dad would never do that! If he hadn't jumped in, your daughter might've drowned! He saved her life!"

I couldn't hold back, trying to defend my dad while feeling angry that he wasn't speaking up.

Dan, eyes blazing, shot back, "You little brat! Running your mouth like that—are you cursing my daughter?"

"Like father, like daughter. If he's bad, you're no better!"

"Megan says you two are classmates? God, that's embarrassing!"

As Dan ranted on, the officers were clearly losing patience.

"Okay, you both have your perspectives, but how about we start by getting the young lady checked out?"

At that suggestion, Megan violently shook her head, hiding behind her dad,

"No! I don't want to! Dad, I'm scared."

Dan immediately shielded her, saying, "What check-up? Hasn't she been humiliated enough? Do you think I'm just going to stand here?"

The officer, confused, asked, "If you won't agree to mediation or an examination, then what do you want?"

Megan tugged at Dan's sleeve, and they whispered to each other for a moment.

Then Dan, fuming, declared, "My daughter's finals are coming up. She doesn't want more drama."

"If you apologize publicly here and now, we might consider dropping this."