Big book question explanation

GRE Verbal Problem Solving
1

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Hey ,
So I was going through the explanation of this question and I am still not convinced why option B is wrong.
Also can you please tell me the reason why Greg chose different in the second blank of this sentence?

Looking forward to hear from you
Thanks
Regards
Dushyant

2

For the first blank they are saying that history = fiction in not likable ,
and as there are no contrasting words we carrying the same idea for blank (ii)—> Thus, history and fiction are not equal or they are different/distinct