"Lila Rossi! What do you think you're doing?!" Lila turned to her mother, who had entered the kitchen. 

"I was just. . ." Lila dropped the spoon she had been holding. " . . .Eating. . ."

"Seriously, Lila?!" Her mother yelled. "How many times have you eaten today?? Three?! What makes you think you can come in here and eat so carelessly however you like!"

"Mom, I just . . . I just felt a little hungry. I ran out of money to buy some snacks and. . ." Lila stopped, knowing her reason was beginning to sound stupid. 

"You ran out of money?! What kind of excuse is that?!" Her mother yelled. "Have you seen Marinette herself?! She makes her own money instead of relying on her parents to buy her whatever she needs. She's all popular now and all you do is sit here and be lazy!"

"Mom, don't worry." Lila hated having to hear the same words come out of her mother's mouth all over again. "Gabriel is going to be hosting a designing competition, and I plan to join. It may not be enough to get me more popular than Marinette but it'll be enough for the family."

"Well, you better work hard, and try to impress Gabriel and his assistants!" Her mother proclaimed, folding her arms. "I heard that Marinette and Emilie are going to be Gabriel's assistants."

"What?!" Marinette is going to be his assistant. Marinette, just how popular are you?! 

"And prepare yourself," Her mother said, leaving the kitchen. "Your teacher is going to be here soon."

Lila silently groaned. Ever since she left her school, she had been getting homeschooled. She disagreed to leave the house most of the time, because she was sure that everyone knew her, and would always point at her, calling her a liar for what she had done last year. 

It made her feel sick in the stomach to realize that not everyone had forgotten what happened last year. Even people online commented and posted mean words about her. 

"Lila is just like those girls that have a crush on Adrien but worse. I can't  believe she did what she did, trying to make us all believe that she and Adrien were really dating."

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 "I never believed any of the words she said anyway. She was just a sick liar who only wanted Adrien to get more popular."

                                                                                                                                                                         1488👍         23👎

"She's too lazy to get popular on her own so she decided to pretend to date Adrien so everyone would know her name."

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"Hey, she is popular. Everyone does know her name, haha. Nobody likes her one bit, that's all, haha!"

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Lila shook her head, trying to get the comments and the words people had given her out of her head. It wasn't working, so she put her dishes in the sink and walked upstairs to her room. 

After everyone realized that she had been lying about her and Adrien, when she had gone to school, not a single person liked her one bit. Boys were always making fun of her, calling her attention-seeker, and girls were always circling her, bullying her and calling her names. 

It was then that she couldn't take it anymore that she decided to quit school and stay home. Her parents hadn't been happy with her one bit, but she didn't care, as long as she was away from the others that wanted to hurt her. 

Things had been harder for her too. She had started getting bullied online as well, until the point where her mother took her phone away. Sometimes though she would sneak inside her room and steal her phone back to see if the mean words had stopped. 

It never did. 

Not only did she embarrass herself, but she also embarrassed her parents. Every time her parents went grocery shopping, or to work, people would already come to them, saying stuff like, 

"Hey, aren't you Lila's parents?"

"Didn't you teach your daughter properly not to lie and try to deceive others?!"

"What kind of parents are you?!"

"Such a shame your daughter is. Get rid of her. The world does not need someone like her at all!"

After all that, her parents started giving her hard times at home, making so many rules for Lila to follow, such as "you can only eat 3 times a day". It sucked, but she knew it was still all her fault. 

It had started with one lie. It was true that you should never mess with popular people, or else they could end you. It was wrong of her to create lies about her and Adrien, she knew that, but she never knew that so many people were going to find out about her lies and hate on her this much. 

She never knew that Adrien was going to have a press conference, telling everyone that all Lila said was false. Of course everyone believed Adrien over Lila. Lila didn't have a chance against Adrien at all. 

But it still hurt to hear him say those words, especially in front of everyone.

"Lila and I are nothing! Don't believe a single word she says. She's just seeking attention. Attention-seeker, that's what she is. Liar, that's what she is. Faker, that's what she is! I hope you all understand what I'm trying to say."

Lila sighed and took out her phone from under her pillow. If her mother caught her with this, she would be in so much trouble. She turned on her phone, wanting to see if the whole Adrien-Marinette situation had died down. 

It hadn't. 

"Oh my goodness. Adrien and Marinette are from my school. I heard that they got partnered for an art project."

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                                                                                    "That teacher knew what he was doing by partnering them up. Lol."

                                                                                                                                                                              15👍       1👎

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Lila didn't know why, but she felt a fit of sudden anger in her body that she urged herself to reply back. It was a good thing her user-name didn't have her actual name in it. 

"That's not true! Marinette and Adrien do not belong together okay?! So stop saying that, you twats!"

She waited a few seconds. Seconds later, 2 people had disliked her comment. She gritted her teeth and threw her phone at the wall out of anger. 

Who did these people think they were?! 

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Gabriel heard the door opening and he walked up to it but was surprised to see that Adrien wasn't with Gorilla. 

"Where is he?!"

Gorilla seemed to stare at him for a while before he spoke in a low voice. "With Nino, sir. Both of 'em working on a project."

Gabriel sighed. "Whatever. Anyway, I'm meeting up with Emilie again. I'll take myself there, don't worry. You stay here so when Adrien comes back home, he won't be home alone."

Gorilla nodded. 

Gabriel opened the door and headed out. He didn't know why he wanted to head over to meet Emilie. He didn't even know where she lived, but he wanted to find out anyways.

                    ☆☆ 3:58pm| G - hello again, Emilie. I want to come over to your place so we can talk more about the                                                                        plans for the upcoming designing competition☆☆

           ☆☆3:59pm| E - oh, alright then. I'll be waiting. Should I prepare anything for you while you're coming over☆☆

           ☆☆3:59pm| G - that won't be necessary, Emilie. We'll just talk. Anyway, if you don't mind, do you think you                                                                                    can send me your address?☆☆

                                                                   ☆☆4:00pm| E - sure thing☆☆

Emilie sent him the address and he quickly started heading over there. He was still wondering to himself why he was doing this, after all, he had never gone to a woman's place to visit her. But he still couldn't stop himself from moving forward. 

Finally, he reached the place of the address Emilie has given her. There, sitting on the porch was Emilie herself, seeming to be waiting for someone. 

Gabriel got out of his limo and started walking up to her. 

It's just for the designing competition. It's just for the designing competition! He kept telling himself as he neared Emilie, who had stood up with a smile. 

"What a surprise. I didn't know you would come to visit me."

"But I texted you, telling you I was coming," Gabriel frowned as he reminded her. 

"Oh yes, I know that. What I mean is I never knew you would consider ever coming over. I was quite surprised when you told me you were." Emilie took his arm and started dragging him inside. "Let's go in before some people catch us together and start making up rumors."

"Right," Gabriel nodded, following her inside. The house looked absolutely amazing from the outside. It wasn't a big house, but it wasn't small either. 

He didn't know why, but he felt so comfortable when around Emilie. He had never felt this way in a long time; he had never felt this way after the way Nathalie had left him. Going inside the house suddenly felt like home; so comfortable and safe. He had a different feeling, unlike the ones he had at the mansion. 

As they turned to the left and entered through the door, Gabriel was met with a big, beautiful and charming living room. The walls were painted bright blue. There were couches that looked brand new, and a glass table right in the middle. In front was a large TV, and under was a fireplace. 

"I know you said no, but I'll ask again," Emilie turned to him. "Would you like anything?"

Gabriel took a look around again. "Sure. I guess a glass of water would do?"

"Alright then, be right back." Emilie started walking inside a different room through a different door. Gabriel walked up to a couch and sat on it as he waited for her to come back. Soon Emilie was back with one glass of water. 

He took a sip, nothing but silence filling the room. Emilie sat down beside him. 

"Listen, I . . . I saw you chasing that woman that other time when we first met each other," She spoke. "You probably might not want to talk about it, but. . . Who was she?"

Gabriel placed the glass down without a word. He didn't say anything even after a few seconds, and Emilie nodded in understanding. 

"I'm sorry I brought her up. She must have hurt you or something, right?" Emilie bit her lip. "Sorry."

Gabriel took a deep breath and stared at the glass as if it was what he was talking to. "I just. . .haven't seen her in 17 years, so it was really a surprise to see her that day."

"Oh, I see. She must have been important to you, right?"

"Very. But it's obvious that she never felt the same way. All she wanted to do was get away, and she has. Look at her now; she's got a new husband and two kids!"

"New husband? She was your...ex-wife?" Emilie gasped in realization. Then she looked down as she covered her face. "I've faced the same situation before. Everyone warned me of him, but I didn't listen. I was so stupid back then. I went and got married to him, he adopted two kids without asking me and he went and stabbed me in the back. It was as if all the good things I ever did for him had vanished from his brain!"

"It's true when they say all good things come to an end," Gabriel muttered. "Unfortunately our good times with the ones we thought we loved came to an end, and it's probably never going to happen again."

"Even if he ever came back, I will never accept him," Emilie spat. "But I have to thank him though. He was the only reason I ended up like this. Before I was an emotional wreck, but then I decided that I should do something besides crying myself to sleep, so I did. 

"Pfft, your designing competition was the first thing I joined. You may not remember me, but last year's competition wasn't the only contest that I joined. I came 2nd place 3 years ago as well. I kinda felt down about last year because I thought all I would ever be was a 2nd place winner."

"I loved your design though," Gabriel exclaimed rather quickly. 

"Me too. It just...wasn't good enough. But you know what? I didn't give up. I worked hard. And look at me now. I'm known as 4th place on the Popularity Board. Now that's a huge step forward."

"Did you ever hear from...him again?"

"I did, once," Emilie nodded. "He was apologizing, saying how I had misunderstood, and that he needed me back."

"What did you do?"

"I made sure everyone knew the kind of person he was: a cheater! It was funny to see him get attacked by my fans," Emilie laughed out loud, Gabriel joining her with a small chuckle. 

He felt better after hearing from Emilie. This was exactly what he needed; not someone feeling pity for him, but someone who just understood, and could actually make him feel like it wasn't his fault at all. 

"I can't imagine a man ever leaving such a woman like you," Gabriel suddenly blurted, later slapping his forehead at what he had just said. 

Emilie laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I... Nothing, don't think about it!" Gabriel looked the other way out of embarrassment. Impossible! Gabriel Agreste never felt embarrassed of anything, but here he was, his face red from what he had just said. 

It felt good to laugh in such a long while though, and he felt even better doing it with Emilie Dawson. 

"Sometimes I did use to wonder...if she ever regretted leaving, but that day... When I saw her with that man," Gabriel sighed. "I knew she didn't regret anything."

"Let's not talk about it anymore!" Emilie stood up. "Let's not hurt ourselves more by remembering what they did to us. Instead we should try to forget them. They don't deserve our love after what they did. Okay?"

After a while, Gabriel nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He had never felt so close to a woman before, besides Nathalie. 

But now Nathalie was out of his list. 

And hopefully soon out of his life! 

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