On the day the SAT test results were released, my younger brother, who had always been an average student, turned out to be a perfect scorer.

Meanwhile, I, the straight-A student, had my results voided because my answers were deemed poorly structured.

During a reporter's interview, my brother suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me and slammed his head against the ground. "Henry, I was wrong!

"I shouldn't have scored so high! I really didn't mean to refuse to take the exam for you!

"Please don't send me back to the fighting ring!

"Don't worry! I swear I'll never tell anyone about what you do with men at bars! Please just let me go!"

My parents were heartbroken for him. They slapped me over and over while shouting.

"It's one thing for you to fool around out there, but how could you bully your brother too?

"Thank goodness this was the SAT test, so you couldn't force him to take it for you! Otherwise, you would've ruined his entire future!"

My girlfriend immediately dumped me and got together with him instead. She said she wanted to make it up to him on my behalf.

As soon as the interview aired, videos of me fooling around with other men in bars spread everywhere online. Before long, all my personal information was exposed.

Enraged netizens lured me into a remote forest in the hills. "Are you this desperate? Stay here and reflect on yourself!"

I was coiled by a lethally venomous snake. The pain was unbearable.

My parents clearly knew what had happened, yet they refused to save me. "It's just a small snake. You're not going to die!

"You're not allowed to come home until your brother starts college!"

On the day of our high school graduation party, my brother and his girlfriend received acceptance letters from the country's best college, along with a notebook I had sent them.

The moment everyone heard my name, Henry Jefferson, they froze as if they had forgotten someone by that name even existed.

The first people to react were my parents. Instead of showing concern, they were furious. "Henry is getting more outrageous by the day!

"Ethan got into Kingstone College, and he's not even here to celebrate it. Now he's trying to pull something like this? How can he be so petty?"

My spirit drifted in the air as I stared at the notebook. I felt a dull ache in my chest.

Hadn't that notebook always been with me?

How did it end up here?

Ethan Jefferson's eyes welled with tears. He reached for Mom with trembling hands. "Do you think Henry resents me for getting into Kingstone College?

"Mom, if he's not happy about this, I won't go to college."

Dad slammed the table hard. "You got in with your own hard work. He was adopted. How dare he threaten you?"

"He doesn't share any blood ties with us. That's why he has such ill intentions!"

I lunged at them when I heard that. 'No! That's not true! That's not what happened!'

No matter how loudly I screamed, nobody could hear me.

That's because the snake venom had already killed me.

Seeing the scene unfold, Ethan let out a soft sigh. "Forget it. I've already forgiven Henry.

"As long as he's willing to come congratulate me, I won't hold it against him. After all, I really do think of him as my brother."

That only made my parents feel more sorry for him. "You did nothing wrong, Ethan. You were only proving yourself!

"If Henry still refuses to come back and apologize to you, then I'll pretend I never had a son like him!"

The person who delivered the notebook smiled awkwardly and was about to take it back.

But the next second, our homeroom teacher Bonnie Leighton snatched it away with a cold expression.

"Henry's literature and math scores were voided. He skipped the language exams entirely.

"I'd like to see what a student like that has to say for himself."

Ethan looked at Bonnie. "Ms. Leighton, you don't know this, but before the SAT tests, my brother tried forcing me to take the test for him. I thought it over repeatedly, but in the end, I still felt my future mattered more.

"I guess Henry knew the truth was about to come out. That's why he turned in sloppy answers and even skipped parts of the test."

Bonnie only sneered. "Henry was my student for three years. He betrayed all the trust I placed in him. Of course I won't forgive him.

"But I really do want to see what exactly goes on inside his head."

As she spoke, she opened my notebook and began reading aloud.

[January 3rd, 2024.]

[Today, I ranked first in the entire grade, but I couldn't feel happy at all.]

[That's because when I got home, I discovered that my room had been taken over by a complete stranger.]

"Taken over?" Dad shot to his feet and interrupted angrily. "That was Ethan's first day home! How dare Henry say Ethan stole from him?

"He's the one who occupied Ethan's place all these years and tried to drive Ethan out!"

Mom was even more furious.

"If I'd known he had such vile thoughts, I would've sent him away long ago!

"He'd better come back right now, kneel to Ethan, and apologize. Otherwise, he can forget about even staying in the maid's room!"

My spirit trembled slightly.

I never expected those three sentences to elicit such huge reactions from them.

Even Bonnie seemed stunned.

After regaining her composure, she continued reading.

[That stranger threw every single family photo from my desk onto the floor.]

[All I did was ask who he was, and he suddenly burst into tears, saying everything there had originally belonged to him.]

[That was when I found out he was my parents' long-lost son, Ethan.]

[I had just opened my mouth to comfort him when my parents ran in.]

[I thought they had come to help me.]

[To my surprise, they walked right past me, wrapped Ethan in their arms, and demanded to know why I was bullying him.]

[I said I wasn't, but Ethan immediately revealed the cuts on his arm from broken glass.]

[He pointed at me and complained, "I only wanted to stay closer to Mom and Dad, but Henry called me trash and said I didn't deserve to even fight him for anything!"]

[Mom didn't hesitate for even a second before slapping me. She said, "In this family, Ethan gets whatever he wants. It's not your place, as an outsider, to say otherwise!"]

[Dear Diary, do you believe me?]

[I really didn't do it.]

[What hurt me wasn't Ethan framing me, but the fact that Mom once said I was the son she was most proud of. I was the most handsome son she had.]

[Tell me, how can people change their hearts so quickly?]

The moment Bonnie finished reading, Mom immediately pointed at the diary and snapped, "I already told Henry that even if Ethan came back, I would never abandon him!

"But on Ethan's very first day home, Henry gave him attitude! I'm his mother. How could I tolerate that?"

Dad chimed in as well. "He's been a liar since he was little! A diary is just a book where he can write whatever nonsense he wants!"

The crowd laughed. "Maybe he skipped the part where he hurt Ethan himself."

Netizens quickly realized what was happening.

[Isn't this the guy from that SAT interview?]

[Is this one of those 'guess who's the real heir' family dramas?]

[Why is the fake son even acting offended? Wasn't he stealing someone else's stuff? Calling him an outsider isn't wrong, is it?]

[Exactly! He occupied the real heir's place in a wealthy family for over ten years. It's only right that he returns everything!]

Ethan bit his lip, and his eyes glistened with tears.

"I guess Henry's only acting like this because he's afraid I'll replace him after coming home.

"But even if he refuses to admit it, I still won't blame him."

Bonnie smiled bitterly. "So Henry being an honor student for three years was all an act too?

"I'm honestly curious how he managed to fool so many people."

The next second, she flipped to another page.

[April 1st, 2024.]

[Dear Diary, I've finally made peace with things.]

[Ethan is Mom and Dad's biological son. That's something I can't change.]

[But I'll work harder at school so I won't disappoint them.]

[Oh, and I have a secret to share with you today.]

[Can you believe it?]

[The prettiest girl in school, Celia Harris, confessed to me!]

[Being adopted by Mom and Dad was already the luckiest thing that ever happened to me, and now I get to be with the person I've liked for so long too?]

[Dear Diary, how am I this lucky?]

By the time Bonnie finished reading, Celia's face had turned bright red. She blurted out, "I was forced to date Henry!

"The person I liked was Ethan! If Henry hadn't threatened me and said he'd get Ethan kicked out of the Jefferson family, why would I ever have been with him?"

The crowd immediately burst into whispers.

"I knew she would never like Henry."

"Celia was smart for choosing to do it on April Fool's Day. Henry actually thought it was real!"

Bonnie shook her head. She sounded a little disappointed. "I warned Henry long ago not to get involved in relationships during school. I never imagined this was what he'd thought."

Mom nodded in agreement. "Henry threatened Celia first. Who can blame her?"

Bonnie turned another page and continued reading.

[August 22nd, 2024.]

[Tonight, Celia said she'd been tricked by a group of thugs into going to a bar. I panicked and hurried there without even hesitating.]

[But when I arrived, I found out Ethan had only lost at a game of Truth or Dare.]

[Celia wanted me to drink in his place.]

Before Bonnie could continue, Celia jumped to her feet again. "Henry is hopeless! How can he even make up lies like this?"

Ethan looked at Celia and trembled violently. "Celia!

"If I hadn't been working part-time at that bar to earn money for a gift for my brother, I never would've seen him fooling around with those men!

"Please stop talking! If Henry comes back, he'll definitely take revenge on me! He'll send me back to the fighting ring again!"

As soon as he said that, people began discussing heatedly.

"Wait, is this about those rumors that Henry was hanging around bars with multiple men?"

"Yeah! I heard he was already getting it on with them right in the VIP booth. There are even videos online! It looked to me like he took the initiative!"

"Lost at Truth or Dare? He obviously set those men up to target Ethan!"

"Ethan is way too kind. I can't believe he didn't call the police!"

The livestream comments flooded the screen too.

[No wonder the real heir said he was forced into a fighting ring during the interview. So that's what happened!]

[Henry is seriously evil!]

After hearing everything, Mom hugged Ethan even tighter. "Don't be scared, Ethan! This is my fault. I should've kicked him out sooner!"

Bonnie lifted her head slightly, as if trying hard not to let her tears fall.

It seemed even she felt sorry for Ethan and was disappointed in me.

After taking a deep breath, Bonnie continued reading.

[Ethan said he was allergic to alcohol and begged me to help him, so I relented and drank a glass of wine for him.]

[But after only a few sips, my head began to feel dizzy.]

[In a gaze, I heard Celia saying, "Ethan, Henry really thinks I like him. What a loser. Don't worry. Once we start preparing for the SAT test, I'll dump him. Let's see if he can still show off his grades to you!"]

That was when I realized the person Celia truly liked was Ethan.

The moment Bonnie finished, someone in the audience blurted out, "Wait, didn't Celia just say she was being threatened?

"But now we're hearing she got close to Henry just to ruin him?

"No, if that's true, then–"

Ethan quickly shook his head. "That's not true!

"Henry's always been jealous of me. I've already given in to him so many times, but now he's still trying to slander me and Celia!"

Bonnie paused at the next lines before continuing.

[After that, I think a lot of people surrounded me.]

[It started hurting so, so much.]

[It hurt so badly that I couldn't even sit down.]

[When I woke up again, Celia told me it had all just been a nightmare.]

[Dear Diary, I'm scared.]

The second Bonnie finished reading, Mom staggered backward. "What does he mean by that?"

Ethan visibly panicked. He lunged forward and shouted, "Why is Henry lying? Will he only be happy if I die?"

Dad's expression became twisted with fury as he snapped at Bonnie. "Ms. Leighton, this entire diary is obviously fabricated nonsense. There's no point reading any further!"

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and tried calling me. "You little jerk! Get over here right now and explain yourself to everyone!"

But how could the call possibly connect?

I had already died in the hills from snake venom.

The livestream comments went wild again.

[He's not answering because he feels guilty!]

[That diary was definitely written afterward! He just can't stand seeing his brother get into Kingstone College!]

[Exactly. If he was really assaulted, why wouldn't he call the police? Is he dumb?]

Why didn't I call the police?

It wasn't that I never considered it, but I was just afraid.

Would anyone have believed me?

For some reason, Bonnie suddenly started crying. "If we can't find him, then stop looking."

What did Bonnie mean by that?

Before I could think further, her trembling fingers turned to the next page.

[January 6th, 2025.]

[I thought about it for a long time before finally deciding to break up with Celia, but she suddenly showed me those videos from the bar and called me damaged goods.]

[Watching those videos, I finally realized what happened that night wasn't a nightmare after all.]

[I secretly went to the hospital afterward.]

[Dear Diary, do people really die from AIDS?]

The room instantly fell silent.

Someone finally reacted to what they had just heard. "What? Are you saying Henry got AIDS?"

Celia panicked, but she still insisted firmly, "There's no way he has AIDS!"

Someone in the audience began whispering again. "Looking at the dates of the diary entries, this was before those videos were leaked online.

"And if he really agreed to it willingly, how would Celia even have gotten those videos?"

Mom and Dad both froze as if they had suddenly recalled the times I complained about not feeling well.

A moment later, Mom clutched her chest and collapsed into her chair. "Then those red spots on his hands–"

She reached out and tried to snatch away my diary, but Bonnie sidestepped her immediately and said in a trembling voice, "Let's continue reading and find out why Henry finally gave up on himself."