The day my college acceptance letter arrived, Dad cooked a whole table of my favorite dishes.

Then he poured himself a full glass of liquor and downed it in one go.

“Nineteen years ago, I switched you with my biological son so he could grow up with the city’s wealthiest family and live like a prince.

“I kept you from studying because I was afraid you’d turn out too impressive and they’d come looking for you.

“But today, their whole family is moving overseas. You’ll never find your real parents now.”

He smiled cruelly.

“You’re just a loser who got into some mediocre college. You were beaten half-deaf, and you’re missing a kidney. Why would they ever want you back?”

I looked at him in silence.

What he would never know was that the wealthy family had switched the babies back nineteen years ago.

I had been his biological son all along.

I took a deep breath, my nails digging hard into my palm.

“Dad, if what you just said is true, then you broke the law.”

Ken Zimmer shook his head and let out a mocking laugh.

“Joe, who are you trying to scare? Even if I did break the law, who’s going to believe you? Your word alone?

“Even if you go looking for your real family, I can just say the babies were accidentally switched at the hospital. What can you do about it? Do you really think the city’s wealthiest family would give up Victor and choose you instead?

“Enough. I did raise you for nineteen years, after all. Finish this meal, then go off to that mediocre college of yours. I’ll give you ten thousand dollars for living expenses. After that, we’re even.”

With that, he stopped paying attention to me and lowered his head to eat.

I forced down the ache spreading through my chest and finally poured myself a glass of liquor too.

“Fine, Mr. Zimmer.

“After this meal, we’re even.”

For as long as I could remember, Ken had looked at me with disgust.

When I was little, he told me my mother had died from severe bleeding while giving birth to me, so I owed him for the rest of my life. I was the curse of the Zimmer family.

So starting when I was five, he forced me to do chores around the house. If I broke so much as a bowl, he would point at my nose and call me an idiot. A burden. A debt collector he could never get rid of.

He never celebrated my birthday.

But every year, on my birthday, he would carefully pick out an expensive gift and secretly leave it at the gate of the Jasper family’s villa.

When I was seven, a human trafficker dragged me into a van.

I bit the man’s hand with everything I had, threw the door open, jumped out, and ran for my life. In the end, a kind stranger took me to the police station.

I curled up on a chair there, covered in scrapes and bruises, with only one thought in my head.

Would Dad be scared?

Would he feel sorry for me?

But when Ken arrived, he didn’t look at me once. He just quickly signed the release form.

When he led me out, I clearly heard him mutter under his breath.

“What a pain. It would’ve been better if they’d taken him.”

Those words stabbed straight into my heart. Even now, they still ached.

That was the moment I realized he truly hated me.

He had never even attended a single parent-teacher conference for me. He always said he was too busy.

In sixth grade, I won first place in the school math competition.

I begged him over and over to come to the award ceremony. Even if he only stayed for five minutes, that would have been enough.

Maybe he saw the hope in my eyes, because for once, he actually agreed.

But the ceremony ended, and I never saw him.

Only later did I find out that Victor Jasper had a taekwondo match that same day.

Ken had rented a suit specially for the occasion. He sat in the front row with a camera and took pictures of the entire match.

When I got home, I asked him through my tears, “Why did you lie to me? You promised you’d come to my award ceremony.”

Ken hurriedly put away the camera and glared at me.

“I was busy. Who has time for your stupid award ceremony? Get lost. Stop bothering me.”

That was also when I discovered his photo album was filled with pictures of another boy.

He was handsome and clean-cut. In one photo, he was holding a brand-new game console worth thousands of dollars.

Ken would stare at those photos and murmur, “Victor, my good son…”

That was when I learned his name was Victor.

Victor, as in victory.

And Ken had named me Joe.

As in Average Joe.

He wanted Victor to win.

And he wanted me to stay ordinary for the rest of my life.

He wanted me to stay beneath Victor forever.

I felt so wronged that I wished Victor would disappear from our lives.

But I never expected Victor to end up at the same middle school as me.

Even worse, we were placed in the same class.

When Ken found out, he was so excited he could barely contain himself. He ordered me to take good care of Victor at school.

No matter how hard I studied, he only praised Victor. Then he turned around and mocked me.

“What’s the point of trying so hard? Poor trash will always be poor trash. Even if you get good grades, you’ll still end up working for Victor one day.”

Back then, I still didn’t understand.

Why couldn’t he see how hard I worked?

Why did he keep praising Victor, whose grades weren’t even as good as mine?

Naively, I thought that if I just worked harder, he would finally like me.

Then I came in first in my entire grade and won a five-hundred-dollar scholarship.

My shoes were so worn out that my toes nearly showed through, but I still couldn’t bring myself to buy a new pair.

Instead, I brought the entire scholarship home and handed it to Ken like it was treasure.

“Dad, I got this scholarship for coming in first. Your feet always crack in the winter. Use the money to buy yourself a pair of warm leather shoes.”

Ken froze.

The hand he was using to stir the pot paused, and he tugged awkwardly at the corner of his mouth.

“Go wash your hands. I made beef stew tonight.”

It was the best beef stew I had ever eaten.

I thought maybe he would like me a little more after that.

But the next day, Victor came to class carrying a huge bag of imported chocolates and started handing them out.

“Some uncle gave me a ton of chocolates. Everyone can share them.”

My ears started ringing.

“How much did those chocolates cost?”

Victor checked the price tag. “A little over five hundred altogether. But this kind of chocolate isn’t even that good. No matter how pretty the packaging is, it still tastes cheap.”

Then he took out his phone, looking helpless.

“It was from this online uncle. He said he doesn’t have a son, and he just took a liking to me, so he buys me gifts all the time.”

I recognized the account at a glance.

It was Ken’s private account.

He followed only one person.

Victor.

On that account, Ken was unbelievably gentle and thoughtful. He commented on every single thing Victor posted. He remembered Victor’s birthday. When Victor did badly on a test, Ken comforted him softly.

And whenever Victor made even the smallest bit of progress, Ken cheered him on and bought him gifts.

Most importantly, he said he didn’t have a son.

I skipped class and ran home. Then I slammed my phone down in front of Ken and lost it.

“Did you use my scholarship money to buy Victor a gift? Why are you so good to him? Is he your real son or something?”

Ken raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face.

“I’m doing this for your own good! Victor comes from a rich family. If you suck up to him now, he’ll be a useful connection for you later!”

My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold them still. I broke down and screamed, “That was my money! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ken glared at me and exploded.

“You little brat. Once you gave me the money, it was mine. Besides, I raised you all these years. You should be showing me some gratitude!

“Victor is good-looking and talented. He was born to deserve the best! Unlike you, walking around with that gloomy face all day. You’re nothing but bad luck!

“Everyone in your class likes Victor. You’re the only one who doesn’t even have a friend. Joe, nobody likes you. Maybe you should ask yourself why!

“Now get out. Stop standing here and annoying me!”

But he was the reason I had become so withdrawn.

His cruelty had made me feel small and ashamed, and I didn’t even know how to make friends.

I wore patched-up clothes every day. To save on the water bill, he often refused to let me shower, so I was always dirty and smelled bad. He only gave me one dollar a day for allowance.

If I wanted extra workbooks, I had to collect empty bottles and sell them for change. Because of that, my classmates called me a trash picker.

I could understand why other people didn’t like me.

But why didn’t my own father like me?

Why didn’t the only person I had in this world want me either?

After that day, my grades started to slip.

Not only was Ken not angry, he looked visibly happier.

He would snatch my report card from me and study Victor’s ranking carefully.

“Look at Victor. His math score went up three points this time. You can tell he’s been working hard lately. If I had a son like that, I’d wake up laughing from joy.”

Then he would turn around and mock me.

“Joe, you dropped from fifth in the grade to tenth? What did I tell you? You were never cut out for studying. You might as well drop out of school and find a job to support yourself.”

I crumpled the report card into a ball.

I stopped expecting Ken to love me.

All I wanted was to get into a good college and get as far away from him as possible.

In senior year, my grades shot up, and I qualified for the state physics competition.

Victor qualified too.

I held my breath and studied like my life depended on it, all for one reason.

I wanted to beat Victor.

The night before the competition, Ken did something he had never done before.

He brought a glass of warm milk into my room.

“Drink this. Get a good night’s sleep and do your best tomorrow.”

I stared at the glass of milk for a long time.

In the end, I drank it.

But that night, I started vomiting and having diarrhea.

By the time I was rushed to the ER, I was severely dehydrated and unconscious.

By the time I woke up, the physics competition was long over.

I rushed home like a madman and demanded to know why Ken had given me spoiled milk.

Then I saw the comment he had just left under Victor’s post.

“Don’t worry, Victor. You’ll definitely place in the competition. I’ll be praying for you. I won’t let anyone get in your way.”

My phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a loud clatter.

The last bit of trust I still had in Ken was gone.

Victor didn’t place in that competition.

Ken glanced at me and let out a quiet sigh.

“What a shame. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve had you tutor Victor first.”

I forced down my hatred and applied to live on campus.

After I moved into the dorms, Ken never texted me. The only time he reached out was when Victor got sick and missed school. Then he would ask me for updates.

I buried myself in practice problems and studied so hard it scared my classmates.

Then, on New Year’s Eve of senior year, Ken came looking for me for the first time in ages.

“Joe, you haven’t been home in so long. It’s New Year’s Eve. Come home with Dad, okay? I made your favorite beef stew.”

There was a pleading look in his eyes.

His nose was red from the cold, and he was holding a scarf he had knitted for me.

For a moment, my heart softened.

After we got home, he suddenly said he had forgotten to buy dinner rolls. Then he left me alone and went out to get some.

Not long after, my head grew heavy.

My body went weak, and I collapsed.

The door opened.

Several rough-looking men walked in.

“This the kid? He’s so skinny. How much can one kidney even sell for?”

Then I heard Ken’s anxious voice.

“Not just the kidney. There are corneas too. His heart. Whatever you want from him, take it!

“You promised me. I give him to you, and you won’t go after Victor!”

“Enough. We only need the kidney. Let’s check him first.”

My heart dropped straight into the pit of my stomach.

They were organ traffickers.

And my own father had brought them here.

I struggled with everything I had and screamed for help.

But the door had already been locked from the outside, and Ken was standing guard right beyond it.

My desperate cries were swallowed by the fireworks and New Year’s celebrations outside.

A few days earlier, Victor had mentioned that he felt like someone had been following him.

I hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

Now I understood.

Ken had sacrificed me to keep Victor safe.

A fierce will to survive surged through me. I grabbed the fork off the table and stabbed it at the man reaching for me.

“Ah!”

The man screamed, and the next second, we were fighting.

I fought for my life. Curses filled my ears, and I lost count of how many times they hit and kicked me.

Then the pain became too much.

Someone struck my ear hard, and everything rang.

When I woke up again, I couldn’t hear anything out of my left ear.

Pain throbbed on the lower left side of my abdomen. There was a freshly stitched wound there, and the hollow feeling under my skin told me everything.

I was missing a kidney.

They had stolen one of my kidneys.

Ken wiped my body down with a warm towel, guilt flickering in his eyes.

I didn’t even have the strength to be angry anymore.

“Why would you do this to me? Are we enemies?”

Ken was silent for a moment.

“Those traffickers had been following Victor for almost a month. The SATs are coming up. I couldn’t just stand by and watch them hurt him.

“I talked it over with them. They only took one kidney. I gave them extra cash. At least you’re still alive.”

My mind went blank.

I broke down and screamed, “But I’m your son! What does Victor have on you that makes you willing to go this far for him? I’m calling the police!”

He pinned me down impatiently.

“Don’t even think about calling the police. Otherwise, I’ll call those men back, and next time, you won’t make it out alive.”

I completely fell apart.

That New Year’s Eve, I ran out of the house and wandered around like I had no direction left, lost and desperate, until morning came.

The next morning, I made up my mind to end everything.

Then Victor appeared in front of me with a grave expression.

“Joe, I need to talk to you.”

I followed him into the villa and met his father, Steven Jasper, the wealthiest man in the city.

He was a middle-aged man who looked almost exactly like Victor. When he looked at me, there was pity in his eyes.

“Joe, nineteen years ago, your father switched you and Victor in the maternity ward. Our family’s butler saw it happen and switched you back in time. That was the only reason a disaster was avoided.”

Steven’s expression darkened.

“You’re about to take the SATs, so we didn’t want to pursue the matter anymore. But all these years, your father has been clinging to Victor like a ghost. Especially two days ago, when he was caught secretly watching Victor through a window. I can’t ignore this anymore.

“If he keeps harassing Victor, we’ll have no choice but to call the police.”

Victor folded his arms, looking as if he still couldn’t accept it.

“Joe, I had no idea your dad was that online uncle.

“So after all this time, he still doesn’t know the babies were switched back. He still thinks I’m his biological son.

“I never touched any of the things he gave me over the years. You can take them all. Just tell him to stop bothering me.

“You’re his real son.”