"Dad, I know I was wrong, I really am! Please don't hit me!" He clutched at his father's sleeve, his voice breaking as he begged. "I'll never do it again, I swear! Just forgive me this once time, please, Dad!"
"Now you know you were wrong?"
"Now you know how to beg for mercy?"
Rajan's voice shook with fury his chest rising and falling. "But it's too late!"
He glared at his son, then turned slightly as if speaking to Alex as well as the crowd.
"Since you've done something wrong, you must pay the price! I may have never taken part in your upbringing but still I am at fault for not developing your manners and spoiling you too much.
I have never laid a hand on you, thinking you'd grow up and learn some sense.
But I was wrong. A child left undisciplined will only become worse, and that failure is on me.
If you don't feel the consequences of your actions, you'll never learn what it means to do wrong!"
