My younger brother, Samuel, gave me a call and asked me to go to his university. However, his unusually serious tone took me aback.

I rushed over to his counselling office, only to see him, his fellow counselors, and a female junior whom I had coincidentally helped in the last semester.

The female junior, Sally, was covering her slightly protruding belly. She abruptly dropped to her knees before me in front of the counselors. “Honey, I know this unexpected pregnancy has put a lot of pressure on you. But you can’t just abandon me and our baby!” she choked back with tears.

Then, she reached out to grab the hem of my clothes. However, I stepped back and left.

Sally’s cries turned sharp and shrill. “You heartless jerk! How could you behave like this?! If I’d known that you’d pretend not to know me the second it was over, I would’ve never gone to a hotel with you!”

One of the counselors looked furious, and he seemed furious beyond measure.

“Kid, being young is no excuse. A man needs to take responsibility!”

A crowd began to gather outside the office. Their pointing fingers and contemptuous stares nearly overwhelmed me.

In the middle of the chaos, Samuel casually leaned against the wall and spoke with a drawl. “Chris, aren’t you going to stay and see your unborn baby?”

Hearing what Samuel said, Sally cried even harder.

“Chris…” She looked at me pitifully, and her voice was filled with grievance.

“Even Samuel acknowledges who this baby belongs to. Why are you still refusing to acknowledge him?

Samuel froze and quickly cut in, “Wait! Has it occurred to anyone that I just addressed Chris as my sister?”

“Samuel, do you think I’m deaf?!”

Sally shot to her feet. Her finger trembled as she pointed at me and sobbed. “Ever since I got pregnant, you’ve been addressing him as your brother!

“You two are working together to lie to me. How long are you planning to keep this up?”

I was so shocked that I instantly turned to look at Samuel. He clasped his hands together like he was praying in the corner. His gaze seemed to say that he only wanted to set Sally up. He wanted to make her embarrass herself and did not mean to drag me into this.

“I got pregnant before marriage. I already lost my dignity. All I want is for the child’s father to bear responsibility as a parent. Is that so wrong?”

Sally gently stroked her belly and stared at me through tear-filled eyes.

“Chris, my mom always told me that men with buzz cuts were the most heartless. I never listened to her, and you absolutely disappointed me.

“Who are you calling a man with a buzz cut?!” I yelled.

“I may be 178-cm tall with a lower-than-average voice. But could you please at least confirm someone’s gender first before you ask them to accept responsibility?!

“I’m a woman!”

I rubbed the top of my head. I had a fresh buzz cut, so it was a bit prickly to the touch. I was wrongly accused.

Had I known earlier that I would end up in this disaster, I would have never taken her to the hospital when she fainted from her period cramps!

“Sally, you’ve really gotten it wrong. I had a buzz cut just because it was cool. I actually—”

“Enough!” the counselor, William Anderson, snapped.

“I know you’re young and afraid of taking responsibility. But Sally’s a girl. The price she’s paying is far greater than yours! Do you think you can brush everything off just by saying all this is a misunderstanding?!”

He gave me a look that said I was completely hopeless as I tried to explain myself.

“Look at yourself. You’re not acting like a man at all!”

Exactly!

I did not look anything like a man!

“Mr. Anderson, I really am—”

“That’s enough!”

He waved his hand in dismissal and cut me off again.

“Call your parents. Have them come here right away!”

William paused for a moment before he continued, “Sally’s parents are divorced, and her family situation is complicated. As for the baby, it’s better to have your parents here so that everyone can talk it through.”

Right after that, Sally pounced on me. “Honey, I don’t have anyone else in this world. If you abandon me and our baby, I won’t be able to go on living.”

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”

I flailed my arms and moved back in a panic.

“Stop calling me your honey. I—”

“I know!” Sally interrupted. Her voice was wracked with sobs. “You’re blaming me for not using contraceptives and getting pregnant. I swear that as long as you acknowledge me and our baby, I’ll do whatever you say from now on.”

Meanwhile, the onlookers outside the office erupted in anger.

“Oh, my god! I feel like punching something! How could he get his girlfriend pregnant and run off? Is he even a man?!”

“You can tell from his ridiculous hairstyle that he’s a good-for-nothing. He’s trash!”

“Record it! We have to get him on the campus forum! We have to cancel him!”

“Guys, look at this! We just caught a jerk outside the counselor’s office. Donate, and I’ll record him up close!”

They aimed their phones’ cameras at me like the black muzzles of loaded guns.

Apparently, Samuel did not expect things to go this far. He stepped in front of me, and the veins on his forehead were bulging.

“What are you recording this for? She’s my—”

The mockery and slander around us did not stop. Instead, it only grew worse.

“Stop making things up! Both of you are trash!”

“Useless men are getting craftier these days. Ladies, if you see this, remember to take heed!”

In just an hour, I became the target of mass online condemnation for something that I had never done.

Samuel tried to defend me. I looked at him before I turned to the delicate and harmless-looking Sally.

“Fine. You want to ruin my reputation, huh?

“Let’s see who walks away with a clean reputation at the end of this!”

I turned to Sally as she sobbed quietly at the side. The corners of my lips twitched.

“What proof do you have that the baby you’re carrying is mine?”

The crowd abruptly fell silent. The people who held up their phones to stream the whole thing instinctively turned their cameras to Sally. They were waiting for her answer.

A flash of panic crossed her face, but she quickly drowned it out with another wave of tears.

“Proof? You’re asking me for proof? Don’t you remember anything that night at the hotel?”

“Which hotel and which night?” I calmly pressed as if we were talking about the weather.

“What’s the room number? Where’s the booking record? Or…”

I casually glanced at her belly.

“Can you produce anything that proves we had physical contact? Is there anything that shows I have a biological connection to the child you’re carrying?”

Right then, a trace of embarrassment crossed Sally’s face.

“How am I supposed to explain something like that? Isn’t the baby itself proof enough?”

William frowned and also thought that I had gone too far with my line of questioning.

“Chris, you’re being unreasonable! These are deeply private matters. How can Sally possibly provide concrete evidence for everything?”

“So, you can’t provide any evidence, huh?”

I raised an eyebrow and my voice. Then, I swept my eyes across the raised phone cameras.

“She’s saying that her claims are enough to decide who the father is.

“By that logic, I can point to any male student present or even you and claim that the baby is yours, correct?”

“Nonsense!” William exploded with rage.

I smirked and finally stopped holding back my own anger.

“Mr. Anderson, before you accuse me of being unreasonable, why don’t you stop and think for a moment? You’re forcing me to take responsibility for her claims without concrete evidence. Is that fair to me?”

As soon as I finished speaking, Sally added, “You want evidence, right? Fine!”

She took out her phone and showed us several screenshots.

“These are the tickets from when you asked me out to the movies. This is the receipt from when you took me out for food. And this is the record from the first time we booked a hotel room together…”

She paused for a moment and lowered her voice. However, everyone present could still hear her. “The baby I’m carrying came from the third time we booked a room. Honey, even at this point, you still won’t admit it?”

No wonder she had repeatedly asked me out since that meeting. It looked like she had planned to set me up all along!

I glanced at her so-called evidence, and the corners of my lips formed a cold smirk.

“It’s just a few random tickets and receipts, plus some booking records that anyone can forge. You expect me to be a fool and take the blame? No way.”

“My god! This guy is despicable! He’s the one who demanded proof. Now that she’s shown it, he’s still denying everything!”

“Trash! It’s clear that he’s trying to get laid and walk away scot-free!”

As the crowd’s opinion skewed completely, Sally’s tears began to spill again.

“Honey, how could you slander me like that?

“I understand that there’s a huge difference between our family backgrounds. You may think that I’m not good enough for you, but our baby is innocent!”

William stepped in front of Sally without hesitation, and his tone was heavy with disappointment.

“Sally’s a girl. Do you really think she would sacrifice her own reputation and dignity just to falsely accuse you?!”

William shook his head in anguish. It was as if he were looking at a hopeless case of fallen youth.

“I thought you were just young and afraid of taking responsibility. But now, it’s clear this is a matter of character. You can’t tell right from wrong, and you blatantly twist the truth. No university should ever tolerate a student like you!”

He took a deep breath, as though he had finally made up his mind.

“This is an extremely serious case. It’s no longer just a private relationship dispute. It’s a major violation of university rules, and it has damaged the university’s reputation. You are to offer Sally a sincere apology and take responsibility as a man at once. Otherwise, I’ll contact the university’s administration and pursue severe disciplinary action, including expulsion!”

Sally revealed a triumphant grin behind William.

She tugged on the hem of William’s clothes and gently said, “Mr. Anderson, please don’t be like that. He’s just being careless right now. I’m sure he’s a good person at heart. As long as he acknowledges me and our baby, I don’t need an apology from him.”

Her display of generosity instantly won everyone’s sympathy. At the same time, she effectively nailed me to the pillory as an ungrateful villain.

Public opinion on the internet went viral, and Samuel’s gaze was filled with concern. I knew that it would be useless to reveal my gender at this point.

The people followed the crowd, and they would assume that the denial of my gender was nothing more than an excuse to dodge responsibility.

Not only would I fail to clear my name, but my gender and sexual orientation would also become juicy gossip.

So, I took a deep breath and decided to escalate things.

I turned around and faced the camera nearest to me. “Fellow students and netizens, this whole situation has caught me completely off guard. Frankly, it’s absurd,” I calmly said.

Pausing for a moment, I swept my gaze across the crowd of people with different expressions on their faces.

“At this point, I know any hollow explanation will sound weak in the face of the alleged victim and her so-called evidence. In that case, I’m willing to prove my innocence in a more scientific and straightforward manner.”

I turned to Sally and stared at her calmly, but my gaze carried a quiet authority.

“Sally, since neither of us can convince the other, let’s go to the hospital. We’re going there right now without further ado. We’ll do a prenatal paternity test. Let science tell us if I’m really the father of the child you’re carrying.”

Sally’s face instantly turned pale, and she blurted out, “N-No way!”

Her refusal was so abrupt that it instantly drew everyone’s attention. Even William turned to look at her in confusion.

I pressed the issue further.

“Why not? Isn’t this the most direct way to find out who’s lying? Sally, you’re being diffident.”

Before the crowd’s watchful gaze, Sally’s eyes darted away. She subconsciously twisted the hem of her clothes as well.

She seemed to steel herself after some time.

“Fine. Let’s go. Chris, you made me do this! If the results come back and prove that the child is yours, you need to take full responsibility. You have to admit your wrongdoing in front of everyone!”

Her reaction caught me off guard. But that flash of guilt had not been an act.

So, I smirked and agreed without hesitation.

With that, the farce moved from the counselor’s office to the most authoritative testing facility in the city.

It was not just the students who showed up after catching wind of this. The media and local online influencers came with their cameras and microphones too. They crowded the hospital’s hallway.

No one wanted to miss out on fresh gossip.

While waiting for the test results, the media closed in on me.

“Chris, do you feel nervous?”

“Why don’t you believe Sally? Are there any irreconcilable differences in your relationship that make you reject the child so strongly?”

“You insist on resolving the issue through a paternity test. Don’t you think that’s cold and hurtful?”

I looked at the reporter who seemed the most eager for a reaction and calmly shot back, “What if I told you I’m a woman? Would you believe me?”

The reporter froze for a second before bursting into laughter with the rest of the crowd. His tone dripped with obvious mockery.

“Chris, are you really going to make things up and deny your own gender just to dodge responsibility?”

I smirked and said nothing more.

Since they only believed what they wanted to believe, I would just wait for the results.

The truth would eventually come out.

The seconds seemed to crawl by, and the air in the hallway grew heavy with tension.

Sally kept her head down, and her expression was unreadable. William, on the other hand, paced back and forth nervously. Meanwhile, Samuel stood firmly by my side.

At last, the testing room door swung open. The doctor then came out with a report in his hand.

They instantly focused their cameras on him.

The doctor scanned the crowd before finally resting his gaze on me and Sally. He handed us a freshly printed test report.

On the very last page, one line stood out in stark clarity.