- 4.
Brandon visibly trembled when he saw me, as
if he’d seen something terrifying.
After a while, Brandon finally gathered the
courage to hold out his hand.
“Ryan, let’s shake on it!”
<
I’d never argued with him, so why would we
“shake on it?”
Five years ago, I’d just started college.
Like always, whenever I was in a new place, I
would stake my claim on Emily.
Emily was my fiancée.
I loved her, and, being the Miller family’s
oldest son, I’d always been arrogant.
Naturally, I couldn’t stand any guys who
looked at her the wrong way.
Brandon was one of them.
Brandon had grown up in an orphanage.
For some reason, the cold and aloof Emily
always seemed to pay special attention to
him.
Even my sister, who was always on my side,
turned against me.
I confronted Brandon once.
After that, Brandon started facing various
forms of bullving at school
<
TUTTIS Vi Dullyinly at ou11001.
Everyone said that I couldn’t stand him.
Near the end of the semester, Brandon finally
snapped and jumped from the top of the
school building.
They saved him.
He wasn’t hurt.
But he left a suicide note.
It was full of accusations against me!
No one believed me.
Emily broke up with me.
I thought that was the worst it could get.
Then, they announced that I wasn’t the
Miller’s real son.
The real son turned out to be Brandon.
As for where my real parents were?
No one told me!
In one night, I fell from heaven to hell.
In the end, the family I’d known for over
twenty years sent me to a mental hospital.
A place worse then prisen
“I don’t want to worry the family.
I don’t care what you did to me.
It’s all in the past.”
“If you promise not to upset Mom and Dad, I
can treat you like a brother!”
Brandon smiled.
He was well–behaved and generous.
Anyone would praise him, saying he was the
Miller’s first son.
Everyone around him looked at him with
approval.
Dad nodded.
“That’s right.
If you’re willing to change, you’ll always be
the Miller’s oldest son!”
Ashley scowled.
“I’m only forgiving you for Brandon’s sake.
You better thank him.
If you bully him again, I’ll make you pay!”
Five years ago, I would have tried to explain
く
myself to everyone.
I didn’t bully Brandon.
He staged all those things himself.
But now, I wasn’t going to act like a clown,
explaining myself to people who didn’t care
about me.
“I’m sorry.
I came back mainly to get my ID…”
Everyone’s face darkened.
They all thought I was ungrateful.
“Why are you always stuck on small things?
If you’re so difficult, do you want to go back
to the mental hospital?”
“We raised you for so long.
Why can’t you be good like Brandon?
Why are you always disobeying your
parents?”
Mom seemed a bit out of control.
I didn’t understand why she was overreacting.
“But… I’m not your real son!”
www
く
Wasn’t it normal for me to leave and take my
ID?
Mom froze.
She looked at me blankly.
I guess I looked like a stranger.
- 5.
