During my mother's prenatal testing, the doctor discovers that I, the baby she's carrying, have the XYY syndrome. Since Mom's health is frail, it will be hard for her to have another baby. My parents somberly decide to have me anyway.

When I'm in elementary school, my nanny is playing with me when I accidentally break her arm by stepping on it.

During middle school, a few thugs try to rob me on the street, only to end up in the hospital because of me. This one incident makes me famous. Word keeps spreading until I become known as a bully in school. No one dares to offend me at all.

I've since graduated from college. During a class reunion with my college classmates, Zoey Johnson, my girlfriend of three years, brings Michael Greer, her male best friend, with her.

When a game of Truth or Dare starts, Michael bluntly shares one of Zoey's secrets.

"I know she has a mole on one of her nips."

He looks smug about what he has just revealed. Everyone else has fallen silent.

After glancing at Zoey, who's sitting beside Michael, I pull her off the couch and say, "Take your top off. Let's see if he's telling the truth."

"Neil, I don't think you need to go that far," one of our classmates called out.

The rest of them in the private room glanced at each other, too scared to make a sound.

Zoey Johnson pulled her jacket tighter around herself as she glared at me in fury. Michael Greer, her male best friend, got up and held her protectively in his arms.

"What the hell are you doing, Neil?" he questioned. "It's just a game. Do you really have to blow things out of proportion like this?"

I took out my phone and snapped a photo of the two of them pressed together before instructing the bar to give me a copy of the security footage.

Eyeing Michael coldly, I grabbed him by the collar and threw him aside. "Sorry, but I'm not in the habit of sharing my girlfriend with another guy."

My eyes flickered back to Zoey, who'd curled in on herself. Reaching out, I said gently, "Be good and take your top off."

I grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. She was actually trembling in fear.

"I-I know I made a mistake, Neil," she stammered in apology. "I should've introduced Michael to you sooner. You wouldn't be getting jealous if I did, right?"

When I didn't respond, Zoey hugged me and continued, "Neil, Michael and I just grew up together. We're childhood friends. We even bathed together when we were kids. It's not strange that he knows my secrets."

I mercilessly shoved Zoey away and reached out to yank open her collar. She let out a shriek. "Neil! Have you lost your mind?"

She hastily covered her neckline while trying to kick me away, but I easily caught her slender calf the moment it came toward me.

"Zoey, I can't accept my girlfriend having such an intimate relationship with another man—especially when…"

When I hadn't even seen "a secret" like that of hers myself.

An indescribable sense of bitterness flickered in my heart, and an unnamed anger surged within me. Without knowing it, I'd tightened my grip on Zoey. It wasn't until she cried out in pain that I let go.

My eyes were bloodshot.

Zoey was clearly frightened. She ducked behind Michael before snapping at me, "Stop making a scene, Neil! I've already explained things to you. If you keep acting like this, I'm going to break up with you."

The words "break up" made me clench my jaw.

Meanwhile, Michael took the chance to wrap an arm around Zoey before shooting me a smug look. "Neil, look at you. Why are you scaring our precious Zoey like this?

"She told me you were born with XYY syndrome. Hah! I've heard about people like you. You're all violent and aggressive. Freaks like you shouldn't even exist in this world!"

I glared furiously at Michael, feeling an instinctive urge to smash my fist into his face. But when my eyes met Zoey's, I caught myself.

He was right about that anyway. I was born with XYY syndrome. Even though it'd been disproven already, many people still held onto the outdated belief that people like me were born with a violent streak.

In fact, I probably wouldn't even be born if not for Mom's health condition that made it hard for her to have another child.

Nevertheless, once I became aware of the misconceptions, I slowly learned to be even more vigilant about controlling my emotions.

Growing up, people called me a monster or a freak. The neighbors wouldn't let their kids play with me. Even the housekeeper kept her distance.

When I was little, I accidentally stepped on my nanny's arm and broke it. I spent three days by her bedside, tearfully apologizing for that.

During middle school, I stumbled upon a couple of thugs who were trying to rob a classmate of mine. When they spotted me, they tried to rob me, too.

In order to protect my classmate and me, I fought back with all my strength. Who would've thought that these thugs would be far weaker than they pretended to be?

Yet somehow, my reputation just kept getting worse. People even started calling me a school bully and would go out of their way to avoid crossing paths with me.

I didn't have a single friend, spending all my time alone instead.

That only changed when I got to college—when Zoey lit up my world like a sun.

I connected my phone to the projector in the room and pulled up all the chat logs Michael had sent anonymously to me, along with the photos of him kissing Zoey.

With a look of sorrow and confusion, I turned to Zoey and asked, "Zoey, are you also fine with me flirting with other women?"

Zoey bit her lip and said nothing.

I posed the same question to everyone else in the room. "If it were you, could you accept your partner having a friend of the opposite sex that they're this close with?"

My gaze landed on Michael next. "You want me to accept your relationship with Zoey? Sure. Just admit in public that you're only interested in men, then."

I had no problem with Zoey having a gay best friend.

But even though I'd never formally met Michael before, I'd long heard about how he changed girlfriends as often as he changed his outfits.

Michael scoffed. "Believe whatever you want, but Zoey and I are childhood friends. We've been inseparable since we were kids. Don't worry. No one's got their eyes on her. She's just like a sister to me."

The other classmates around started chiming in, one after another, all of them criticizing me.

"Neil, no offense, but you're being overly petty and jealous."

"That's right. They've been friends since childhood! If they were going to date, they would've gotten together ages ago. What makes you think you'd still have a chance with Zoey?"

All of our classmates knew that I'd relentlessly pursued Zoey the moment I met her.

At the beginning, she'd simply shown me an act of kindness. She handed me a plaster when I got hit by a basketball. But it was the first time anyone had ever approached me on their own.

After that, she'd remind me to turn in my assignments and urge me to prepare for the exams. On rainy days, she'd even ask if I'd brought an umbrella.

When I finally worked up the courage to ask her out for a meal, she readily accepted and even watched a movie with me.

Little by little, I became sure of my feelings and confessed to her, but she refused me by saying, "I only see you as a friend, Neil. If you want to be my boyfriend, you'll have to pass my test first."

Thus, I spent a year wooing her. I brought her breakfast every morning, helped her complete her lab reports, and even toned down my temper for her sake.

Everyone in our class said she was like a zookeeper who'd tamed the wild tiger—me.

Zoey would chuckle and correct them, saying, "Neil's actually a very kind person. You're all just intimidated by how he looks."

A year later, I finally got my wish when she agreed to be my girlfriend. We'd been dating for three years now, and not once had I ever seen her hang out with another guy.

Since I trusted her, I never checked her phone. I believed that she'd know where to draw the line with other guys.

Even though being born with XYY syndrome didn't actually make me a violent or aggressive person, the outdated misconceptions lingered in people's beliefs. Therefore, I made sure to always keep my emotions in check and keep my condition a secret as well.

After going to college, I only ever mentioned my condition to Zoey. Never would I have expected her to turn right around and expose my secret to Michael!

I stared at Zoey now, curious to see how she would react.

With a sigh, she said, "You really need to fix that temper of yours, Neil. Are you seriously trying to prove everyone else right when they call you a monster?

"Our classmates are right. Michael and I have a completely innocent relationship. If we wanted to date each other, we would've done it ages ago. I wouldn't even have agreed to go out with you."

I had no words. What kind of man and woman with a perfectly innocent relationship would kiss each other passionately in public?

To me, they seemed more like a couple than Zoey and me.

Michael shot me a gloating smirk, his gaze taunting. That was the final straw for me. I marched over and threw a punch.

The class reunion ended on a sour note.

Zoey helped the swollen-faced Michael back on his feet and left with him, not bothering to even spare me a glance.

The rest of our classmates eyed me as they left. Some gave me pitying looks, while others seemed stunned. But most of them just looked amused by the spectacle.

Zoey didn't contact me for a whole week, but Michael messaged me every single day. They'd go to a bar together every other day. She'd wear a crop top with a low neckline and sit in Michael's lap.

From the angle Michael took his videos, I got a clear view of everything spilling out from the top of her neckline. He even ran his hand up her thigh, sliding all the way to the top, until she let out a soft moan.

Rage flooded through me, but all I could do was punch the wall in vain.

Despite being together for three years, the most intimate thing Zoey and I had done was hold hands.

She'd said she was pretty conservative when it came to intimacy before marriage—that she couldn't accept jumping in bed with a guy so quickly and didn't want to give herself away so easily.

I'd suppressed my own desires, making sure to show extra restraint around her. I was always careful to treat her with the utmost care, afraid of scaring her.

But she was perfectly fine with sitting in Michael's lap and getting intimate with him.

It finally hit me that Zoey never loved me. She didn't care about my feelings at all. Since that was the case, there was no reason for us to stay together any longer.

But before breaking up with her, I decided to give her a gift.

Five days later, Zoey's father, Ernest Johnson, celebrated his birthday. As he'd always liked me a lot, she had no choice but to invite me to her house for the party.

The moment I entered the house, I was triggered by the sight of Michael's hand caressing Zoey's behind.

When she spotted me, she surreptitiously gave him a warning pat. He squeezed her butt one last time before releasing her, his expression neutral.

Zoey had dressed up for the occasion. Her heels clacked loudly as she walked toward me, a slight frown on her face. "What took you so long, Neil? My dad's been waiting for you."

I handed two gift boxes to her. "One is for you, and one is for Mr. Johnson."

Hearing that, Zoey opened her gift box with a puzzled look. I gave her a pair of earrings. However, they were no ordinary earrings—I'd installed a listening device in them.

"Consider it an apology. I went a bit too far with the way I treated Michael. Let me put them on for you, Zoey."

I gently brushed aside the loose strands of hair by her ear—only to notice a deep mark on the back of her neck. It was a hickey. I forced myself to stay calm, doing my best to keep my hands from trembling as I carefully put the earrings on her.

Zoey didn't notice anything unusual about my emotions. She even grinned at me and asked, "Do they look good on me?"

The corners of my mouth felt tight, a bitter taste rising in my throat.

"They do."

When Mr. Johnson spotted me, he came over and patted me on the shoulder before pulling Michael over as well.

"Neil, Zoey told me that you and Michael got into a bit of a fight. Her mother and I watched the two of them grow up together, you know. It's normal for them to be close to each other. A grown man like you mustn't be too petty."

Chuckling, I responded with a slightly confused expression, "But Zoey hasn't even kissed me before, Mr. Johnson, let alone done anything else beyond that. Can you accept it if Mrs. Johnson hugs and kisses her male friend—and maybe even gets pregnant with his child?"