For the next week, I did practice tests with my left hand, pushing myself to the limit.
Finally, exam day arrived.
The car had barely stopped when I spotted Hubert and Yolanda pacing by the front gate, phones pressed to their ears, calling someone over and over.
Moments later, another car pulled up. Christina was hauled out by two bodyguards, thrashing wildly between them.
"It was my idea!" she screamed.
Behind her, Myron was being dragged out too.
Hubert stormed over and slapped Myron hard across the face.
"You're the bastard who seduced my daughter?"
"Dad! If you're angry, take it out on me!"
Christina's eyes were bloodshot, her clothes half-torn from struggling.
"Listen to me, Christina," Hubert said through gritted teeth. "This family will never accept trash like him. We're getting rid of him today, and you're going to take that exam like you're supposed to."
Hubert and Yolanda grabbed Myron and started dragging him away, ordering the bodyguards to escort Christina to the exam site.
"No! Myron!" Christina clawed at the air. "Dad! Mom! I'll take the exam! Just don't send him away!"
Myron kept looking back, reaching toward her desperately.
"Christina! Save me! I can't leave you!"
Watching her parents drag away the man she loved, Christina could barely breathe through the pain.
Her eyes, rimmed red, landed on me as I walked past.
"You!"
She grabbed my collar and yanked me toward her.
"What are you talking about?"
Her grip knocked against my right hand. I sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. She bared her teeth.
"You just love running to my parents, don't you? Love being jealous? Do you have any idea that Myron's parents just died? He needs someone by his side right now! If I hadn't been there for him, he would've thrown himself in the river! You'd let someone die just because you're jealous?"
She shoved me to the ground. Her chest heaved as she made a gesture toward someone in the crowd.
"Do it!"
The man from the alley—the one who'd tried to assault me—flickered through the sea of faces.
On the big screen nearby, the "Good Luck on Your Exam!" message vanished. In its place were the photos taken of me in that alley.
The originals had clearly shown me as the victim, beaten and cornered.
But these weren't the originals.