Chapter 6: The School Bell

Ananya was in the staffroom. When she saw me, her eyes burned with resentment.

“Why are you here? Where’s my mum?”

She knew that no matter how badly she messed up, Meera would never blame her, while I was always the bad guy, scolding and punishing her.

At this point, Ananya saw me not as a father, but as an enemy.

I said impatiently,

“Do you really think your mum cares about you?”

Ananya rolled her eyes, her phone buzzing with another Insta notification.

“Then I don’t need you to care either.”

The class teacher stepped in, frowning at me:

“Recently, Ananya has skipped class, gotten into fights, bullied other students, and even extorted money. More seriously, she’s in a relationship.

The board exams are in a month. How can she get into a good college like this? She used to be top of the class—now she can’t even reach the minimum for third-tier colleges.”

As expected, I didn’t rush to speak. I just watched Ananya’s reaction.

She showed no remorse at all, just stood there indifferently as if we were talking about someone else.

“Parent of Ananya, I’ve warned her many times, but she never listens. If this keeps up, I’ll have to give up on her.”

“And being in a relationship doesn’t just affect the kids themselves—it influences others’ values. If everyone copies her, our school’s board exam results will plummet.”

Ananya glared at me.

“Did you tell the teacher about my relationship? Last time you caught me with my boyfriend, Rajeev, how can you be so disgusting? You say you won’t care about me, but you get others to control me. Because of you, the whole school criticised me. How am I supposed to show my face?”

Seeing how unreasonable she was, I almost laughed. She really thinks everyone else is blind. The comments all say she and the male lead openly flaunt their relationship at school, and now she blames me.

What kind of author writes a heroine like this? How can she be the main character?

And those comments are still praising Ananya for being brave and daring to love and hate.

I didn’t even look at her anymore. For someone who can’t understand human speech, anything I say is pointless. As for Ananya, I’ll just treat it as if I don’t have this daughter.

I stood up and apologised to the teacher:

“Sorry, teacher. We can’t control this child anymore. You can handle her however you see fit—detention, suspension, whatever. She doesn’t want to go to college anyway, so there’s no point in us worrying.”

Both the class teacher and Ananya stared at me in shock. I went on:

“From now on, don’t report these things to me. My office is very busy—I really don’t have time for these trivial matters. I have things to do, so I’ll be leaving.”

Ananya said to the teacher with pride:

“See? My dad doesn’t care about me, so you can give up. I’ll decide my own future.”

The comments exploded:

[This is the big heroine we love! Even if she slacks off now, she’ll ace the board exams, get into IIT or Delhi University, and become an even more amazing powerhouse with the male lead.]

[Why do I feel like the villain is acting weird? He didn’t break up the main couple. But this is good—we don’t have to watch those heartbreaking breakup scenes again.]

I looked at the barrage and laughed.

Ananya has always had poor self-control, a lower IQ than her peers, and is lazy. If I hadn’t spent years supervising her studies and pouring money into tuition, would she ever have made the top ten?

Now, with no one managing her, can she really become what the comments say?

As I walked away, the school bell rang behind me—loud, insistent, and for the first time, not meant for me.