Just a reminder to choose not to accept someone's apology is NOT mean, and it's a perfectly valid option. An apology consists of acknowledging your wrongdoings/problematic behaviour, identifying what needs to be changed and how to change it, and acknowledging how your words/behaviours/actions caused someone/a group of people harm. You may ask for forgiveness, but you are not entitled to it, since forgiveness is entirely at the discretion of the victim. Although it's a tough pill to swallow, apologizing solely for the sake of forgiveness means putting your comfort before that of the victim.
P.S. Never feel guilty or obliged to accept someone's apology, if you do, you might want to do some self-reflection as this is often a sign of people pleasing and the avoidance of confrontation (trauma response) which can have long-term negative effects on you and others.
Shoutout to the author for having the MC stand her ground and I don't feel bad for that guy at all.
Thanks for listening to my little rant ~~~ (づ ̄ ³ ̄)づ
I'm happy they finally mentioned the legality issues around the project because I was wondering how they were going to avoid defamation charges