Chapter 2

Thinking about what the bullet comments said, I gathered that I would be treated as the fake heiress and become the next biggest victim whose identity Casper had stolen.

I turned around, picked up the test report, and tore it into tiny pieces before anyone could react. I then tossed the shredded paper into the trash and then turned back before spreading my hands as I said, "Casper, you need evidence if you're going to accuse someone. What makes you think I'm a fake heiress?"

[Is the supporting character a shredder? That report was thick, and she just ripped it up like nothing.]

[The imposter son is so mad that his face is red. Why do I find this a little satisfying?]

[But if she does that, the female lead will just misunderstand her even more and think she is some vicious fake heiress who stole her place.]

I glanced at Jenny.

Her eyes were a bit red, and she looked like she'd been picked on. But when she looked at me, there was a tiny bit of caution and anger, so small you could barely see it. It really did seem like she had already taken me as an imaginary enemy.

Casper rushed to the trash can and tried to rescue the scraps of paper. He squatted on the floor and worked on them for a long time, but he could not even piece the cover page back together. His fists clenched so hard his knuckles popped. If Mom and Dad were not standing right there, he would probably have smashed them into my face the very next second.

"Even without the test report, I can still be one hundred percent sure Jenny belongs to the Shaw family. The moment I saw her, I had this strange feeling that she had to be my sister. Meanwhile, a fake will always be a fake. Don't think tearing up the report means you can keep lying to yourself and freeloading off the Shaw family."

The corner of my mouth twitched, and I gave him a slow, meaningful smile. "No one knows yet who the imposter truly is."

Casper thought I was calling Jenny the fake, and he shot me with a vicious glare, then turned to comfort her. "Jenny, don't worry. She can't steal your identity. I'm firmly on your side."

Jenny sobbed as she said, "Thank you, Casper."

Then, she raised her tear-filled eyes and looked at Mom and Dad.

"Dad, Mom, I know it's hard for you to accept the truth right away, but I really am your biological daughter."

[The female lead looks so careful and pitiful. She must be afraid that Zane and Theresa will choose the female supporting character and not her.]

[But the female supporting character is innocent, too. She is also their daughter. Why force the sisters to fight?]

[Don't you guys think there's a plot hole here? The female lead and the imposter son were the ones switched, so she should be the same age as the imposter son. How did things develop into her being switched with the female supporting character?]

[When the female lead was little, she was not even properly registered in the system. They only put her on the books later when she started school. Her date of birth was filled in without careful consideration, and she ended up the same age as the female supporting character by accident.]

So that was it.

I silently thanked the bullet comments for clearing it up for me.

Looking at Jenny, Mom felt like her heart was aching, and her eyes turned red before she even realized it. She felt an overwhelming sense of closeness to the young woman in front of her, like Jenny really was her own daughter. She could not help walking over to take Jenny's hand, and when she felt how rough her palm was, her heart ached.

Suddenly, Mom remembered I was still standing off to the side. Even if I really was an imposter, she had raised me for eighteen years. To her, both of us were precious. She could not bear to give up either of us.

After thinking for a moment, she turned her head and said to her husband. "Honey, no matter which of these two is our biological daughter, we'll take the other in as our adopted daughter."

"No!" Casper jumped in right away, his face full of disdain as he looked at me.

"Mom, she's just a thief who stole everything that belonged to Jenny. If I had not found Jenny, she might have been stuck in poverty her whole life. While she was living in luxury in the Shaw family, Jenny was suffering. I don't agree to let her stay here, and I want her to kneel and apologize to Jenny."

Next to me, Jenny was so thin she looked almost frail. My dress hung loose on her, and even her hair was dry and split at the ends. All of it proved she had been through a lot.

The bullet comments above Jenny's head exploded again.

[I can't believe that imposter son had the audacity to say that! He's the real thief! He's the one who should kneel and apologize to the female lead. His real parents have beaten and yelled at the female lead since she was a kid! She clearly got into college, yet they forced her to drop out and work at a club as a hostess pouring drinks!]

[The male lead is innocent. He never wanted to be switched at birth, and he has done a lot to make it up to the female lead.]

[He is only talking like this now because of a misunderstanding. He just thinks keeping the fake heiress around would not be fair to the female lead. He didn't do anything wrong from his perspective.]

[But he's the one who benefited from all of it!]

-

The bullet comments argued back and forth, but my attention snagged on those words "either beaten or scolded" and "forced to drop out and be a hostess".

My real older sister had lived that kind of life for twenty years?!

I suddenly understood Jenny's hostility toward me. If I were her, I would not be able to make peace with someone stealing the happy life that should have been mine. But the person she should hate was not me…

It was Casper.

I gave Jenny a long look, then spoke calmly, "If I'm not Dad and Mom's biological daughter, I'll leave on my own. I don't need you to say it."

Casper let out a cold snort. "Then you're definitely leaving. Dad, we have to do another paternity test tomorrow to give Jenny an answer and to make Joan give up."

That was exactly what I had been waiting for.

Dad first agreed with Casper's suggestion to redo the test, then he started scolding him again. "Casper, you're the heir of the Shaw family, but you're not acting like an heir right now! Where's your calm? Also, no matter what the result of the test is, Joan is still your sister. Now, eat."

The sharp-eyed butler had already told the staff to clear away all the dishes that had gone cold and bring out fresh ones.

Casper snorted and pulled Jenny over to the table. He pushed her into the seat where I had been sitting before. "Jenny, you sit here."

Just as he was about to sit beside her, I squeezed him out of the way and dropped into his chair.

Casper's expression changed, and he shouted at me, "Joan Shaw!"

I scratched my ear. "What, you can sit next to her, but I can't?"

Casper glared at me. "Don't think flattering Jenny will let you stay in the Shaw family!"

A strange light flashed in Jenny's eyes. She shot me a quick sideways glance, then began to eat in small bites. It was obvious she had learned some table manners in a hurry.

Mom watched me with relief. Dad then said to Casper, "You're the older brother, so you need to set an example and be more patient with your sister."

Casper had no choice but to sit down beside me, glaring at me the whole time. Meanwhile, I ate happily as if nothing had happened and even took some food for Mom, Dad, and Jenny from time to time.

The New Year's Eve dinner ended in this strange atmosphere.

That night, Mom and Dad arranged for Jenny to stay in a guest room in the villa, and Casper started shouting in protest. "Jenny was switched out for so many years, and as soon as she comes home, you make her live in a guest room? That'll break her heart. Joan's room is the biggest and brightest. She has to give it up for Jenny."

Jenny tugged on Casper's sleeve and said softly, "It's alright, Casper. I'm used to staying in small rooms. The guest room here is already good enough, so I'll stay in the guest room."

Nevertheless, her eyes fell on the photo by my bed where Mom and Dad were on either side kissing my cheeks, and I was smiling brightly. In that look, I saw jealousy, sadness, and longing.

I sighed, shoved the still complaining Casper out of my room, and locked the door, then pulled Jenny down to lie on the soft, big bed with me.

Jenny's eyes went wide, and she flung my hand off in an instant, jumped up, and ran into the bathroom to wash up.

For some reason, Jenny still ended up sleeping in the same bed with me that night. However, she would lie very far away, with her back to me and her head buried under the blanket.

She was like a hedgehog. The moment anyone got close, she curled into a ball and hid her soft belly, protecting herself with her spines.

I knew she was not asleep, so I asked, "I'm eighteen. How old are you?"