But everything changed during the hacker competition when the fake daughter, Sophie, presented a program identical to mine. That was when I realized that my family's decision to bring me back was part of a scheme.
Sophie had cried on camera, looking pitiful as she said, "I've returned our parents to you, sister. I don't understand why she still wants to copy my code."
She even produced snippets from previous forum posts to prove that every step she took was done independently.
Mrs. Smith rushed out in tears, pleading with the judges, "Please give Emma another chance! She's been lost for so long, growing up alone in an orphanage. It's normal for her to have such behavior; she's still young. I'll take her home and raise her properly."
Kyle Smith was furious. "I knew from the start she was a jinx! We should never have brought her back. With her moral corruption and plagiarism, she's brought shame upon our family!"
"But I didn't plagiarize at all..."
Before I could finish my defense, Mr. Smith slapped me across the face.
"How dare you argue? We shouldn't have brought you back! You think you can act like our true daughter and steal Sophie's code? Get out! We Smiths will never allow someone like you in our family!"
I was stunned by the slap and momentarily at a loss for words. I even started to doubt whether I had actually copied Sophie; otherwise, how could our codes be identical?
But then I noticed Sophie leaning against Mrs. Smith's shoulder with a provocative look in her eyes. It all became clear.
This was Sophie's scheme. She resented me for coming home and taking away her family, but everything that belonged to them originally belonged to me.
With my biological parents and brother's words echoing in my mind, I felt crushed; everyone believed I was the one who plagiarized.
Online harassment intensified against me as people wrote hateful comments like: [Look at how pitiful Sophie is crying! Is it because she's not biological that she's destined not to be loved? After living together for so many years, isn't that enough?]
[This Emma really is ungrateful; how heartless of the Smiths to abandon their daughter they raised with care just because they want this morally corrupt person!]
[Maybe it's the Smiths who made Emma copy Sophie's code; after all, Emma is the true daughter!]
In the end, the entire internet demanded that the Smiths kick me out.