The school bell for the first period rang just as Komal locked her small office-cum-equipment room in the gymnasium wing. She had already mentally rehearsed the morning: warm-ups for Class 9, volleyball drills for Class 11 girls, then the inevitable trickle of disciplinary cases during the gaps.
Everything felt surreal. Her own school—where she had once been a prefect, always the one reporting misbehavior instead of receiving it—was now her workplace. And her little brother, the perpetual headache in human form, was somewhere in these corridors wearing the same navy-blue blazer and grey trousers she used to iron for him on Sundays.
She pushed the thought aside. Focus.
The first two periods passed in a blur of shouted commands, whistle blows, and the satisfying thud of sneakers on the wooden court. By the time the mid-morning break bell rang at 10:45, Komal was already damp with sweat under her tight white t-shirt, the fabric clinging transparently in places. She wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist and headed toward the small private room attached to the gym—the “Correction Corner,” as the older staff still called it.
Three girls had already been sent during the last period change.
The first note had been mild. A girl was caught passing notes in math. Komal had made her bend over the padded bench, skirt flipped up, white school panties exposed. Ten firm hand spanks, delivered with deliberate pauses so each one sank in. The girl had sniffled by the end but hadn’t cried. Komal had felt nothing but calm professionalism.
The second was regular level: a repeater who’d been cheeky to the history teacher. Hand + sandal. Komal had removed her right flip-flop—the black rubber one with the slight ridge—and delivered twenty stinging swats after the hand portion. The sharp crack echoed off the tiled walls; the girl had kicked her legs and sobbed openly by the fifteenth. Komal had spoken in her low, even teacher voice the entire time:
“Count them aloud. Start again if you miss one. This is what happens when you disrespect staff.”
The third had been severe. A senior girl caught smoking behind the science block. Note said: severe – hand, sandal, cane – 6 cane strokes minimum. Komal had pulled the girl’s underwear down to her thighs without ceremony. The bare bottom was pale and unmarked at first. By the time Komal finished—thirty hard hand spanks that turned the cheeks dark pink, followed by twenty-five with the sandal that raised angry red ovals, and finally six perfectly placed cane strokes that left thin, raised welts—she was breathing harder than during any PE drill. The girl had howled, tears streaming, promising never again. Komal had let her compose herself for a full two minutes before dismissing her with the standard line:
“Pull your clothes up. Go straight back to class. If I see you here again, it doubles.”
She was washing her hands at the small sink when the door opened without a knock.
The assistant peon stood there, awkward.
“Ma’am… another one.”
He stepped aside.
Sunny walked in.
Blazer slung over one shoulder, tie loosened, top button undone, the picture of studied nonchalance. But his ears were pink and his usual swagger was dialed down to about 60%. In his hand: a folded disciplinary note.
Komal froze for half a second—long enough for her stomach to drop—then recovered. She dried her hands slowly on a towel, expression blank.
“Close the door,” she told the peon. “And wait outside.”
The door clicked shut.
Sunny stood in the middle of the small room, shifting weight from one foot to the other. He tried for his trademark grin. It didn’t quite land.
“Hey, Didi. Fancy meeting you here.”
Komal unfolded the note without looking at him yet.
Severe.
Reason: Disrupting assembly + back-talking to Vice Principal + repeated phone use in class despite warnings.
Implement: Hand (40), Sandal (30), Cane (12). Bare. No remission.
Signed: Vice Principal Sharma.
She read it twice.
Then she looked up.
Sunny was watching her face, trying to gauge whether this was still a game.
Komal’s voice came out quieter than she expected. Almost gentle.
“You really did it.”
Sunny shrugged, but the movement was jerky. “Wasn’t planning on getting caught. Bad timing.”
“Bad choices,” she corrected. “Not timing.”
Silence stretched.
He glanced at the bench, then at the thin rattan cane hanging on the wall hook beside her desk—the school-issue one, about 90 cm long, flexible, with a curved handle. Then back at her.
“You’re not actually gonna… I mean… it’s me.”
Komal set the note down carefully.
“I told you this morning. If the note says severe, I do severe. No exceptions. Not even for family.”
Sunny laughed once—short, nervous. “Come on, Di. You’re not a robot. You can’t just—”
“I can. And I will.” She stepped closer. “Because if I give you special treatment, the whole system falls apart. And because you need to learn, Sunny. Really learn. You’ve been coasting on charm and luck for years. Today luck ran out.”
His bravado cracked further. He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Look… I’m sorry, okay? I’ll apologize to Sharma ma’am. I’ll take the week’s detention. Just… don’t do this. Not you.”
Komal’s jaw tightened. Something hot and complicated twisted behind her ribs—anger, protectiveness, duty, and underneath it all, a strange, shameful thread of power.
“No bargaining,” she said. “Pants down. Underwear too. Over the bench. Now.”
Sunny stared at her like she’d slapped him.
“You’re serious.”
“Dead serious.”
He searched her face for any sign of bluff. Found none.
Slowly—agonizingly slowly—he unbuckled his belt. The metallic clink sounded obscenely loud in the small room. Trousers slid to his ankles. He hesitated at the boxers, thumbs hooked in the waistband.
Komal didn’t blink. Didn’t soften.
“Everything,” she repeated.
He swallowed hard. Boxers joined the trousers.
He stood there for a second—exposed, vulnerable, suddenly looking much younger than eighteen—before he shuffled to the bench and bent over it. Hands gripping the far edge. Bottom presented. Pale. Untouched.
Komal picked up the wooden-backed hairbrush she kept on the desk (the school allowed personal implements for hand portion if desired). She didn’t want to use her bare palm for forty; it would hurt her hand more than his bottom.
She stepped to his left side.
“Count every one aloud. Miss one, we start that section again. Understand?”
Sunny’s voice was muffled against his folded arms. “Yes, ma’am.”
The first section began.
The hairbrush landed with a loud, meaty crack.
Sunny jerked. “One!”
By fifteen his voice was already higher, strained.
By twenty-five he was hissing between counts.
By thirty-eight he was kicking his feet against the floor, tears leaking.
“Forty!”
Komal set the brush down. Her right palm was stinging even through the indirect contact.
She slipped off her right flip-flop again—the same one she’d used on the senior girl earlier.
“Now sandal. Thirty.”
Sunny whimpered. “Didi, please—”
“No talking unless counting.”
The sandal cracked across both cheeks—sharper, more bruising than the brush. Each impact left a perfect oval imprint that quickly bloomed red.
He made it to eighteen before the sobs started in earnest.
By thirty he was openly crying, legs trembling, bottom a deep, angry scarlet.
Komal paused only long enough to switch sandals so the left one (slightly warmer from her foot) could do its work symmetrically.
Then came the cane.
She took it down from the hook. Swished it once through the air—sharp whistle.
Sunny tensed, buttocks clenching.
“Twelve,” she said quietly. “You will thank me after each one. If you don’t, we repeat it.”
The first stroke landed diagonally from upper left to lower right.
Sunny screamed.
“One… thank you, Didi!”
The second crossed it.
He bucked.
“Two… thank you, Didi!”
By the sixth his voice was hoarse, body shaking with sobs.
By the twelfth he was a wreck—bottom covered in a neat lattice of raised, purple-edged welts, skin hot to the touch even from a distance.
Komal hung the cane back up.
Silence except for his ragged breathing and occasional sniff.
She crouched beside the bench, voice softer now.
“Get up slowly. Pull your clothes up. Sit on the chair in the corner until the break ends. No rubbing. No talking. Just sit and think.”
Sunny pushed himself upright with shaking arms. Tears streamed down his face. He wouldn’t meet her eyes.
As he gingerly tugged his boxers and trousers back over the blazing skin, he whispered—barely audible:
“I’m sorry, Di. Really.”
Komal didn’t answer right away.
She just watched him limp to the hard wooden chair, wincing with every step, and lower himself onto it with exquisite care.
Only then did she speak.
“Good. Remember that feeling next time you think about disrupting class.”
She turned away to wash her hands again—more to give him privacy than anything else.
Behind her, Sunny sat very still, bottom throbbing, pride in tatters, and—for the first time in years—actually thinking about consequences.
Komal stared at her reflection in the small mirror above the sink.
Serious. Composed. In control.
But her hands were trembling just a little.
And somewhere deep inside, she wasn’t sure whether she hated what she’d just done…
…or whether part of her had needed to do it.
