The Light of My Life

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.