Chapter 17

Emily's POV
　　Since I moved into Andre's house, it's been a long time since I've had any news of him dating an actress or model.
　　He rushes home immediately after work every day to have dinner with Kate and me. And I slept in the same room with Andre and never smelled any woman's perfume on him.
　　I could feel that he took our relationship very seriously.
　　"Daddy, I want to eat ice cream."
　　Soon it was summer.
　　Andre didn't work today, and I suggested taking Kate shopping.
　　Kate doesn't often eat ice cream because Andre thinks it's too cold for Kate.
　　Every time we go shopping, we pass by the ice cream store in the mall and Kate keeps staring at it, but we're usually not allowed to buy one.
　　"I'll go get it for you."
　　I don't think it should be a problem to have ice cream once in a while, mainly because Kate looks so pathetic that I am a little bit reluctant to refuse her request.
　　Andre often told me that it was very bad for Kate's growth for me to indulge her like this. He wanted me to try to be cooler and not forget all my principles just because Kate was spiteful.
　　I tried to follow Andre's advice, but it didn't help much. I could never really say no to Kate when confronted with her. That's why I always observe Andre's expression when I agree to Kate's requests. If Andre did not show any expression of dissatisfaction, I knew that the matter was agreeable to Kate. If Andre said no to Kate's request, I would leave the decision to Andre.
　　Andre didn't stop me. I think he agreed with Kate's request for ice cream.
　　I took my wallet and walked towards the ice cream store. As I was approaching the ice cream store, a couple came up to me, holding hands and looking very intimate.
　　It was Dylan and Emma, why were they dating? Have they been made up?
　　"I remember you telling me you had broken up with Emma, Dylan when you approached me to get back together. Now you guys are making up again?"
　　I looked mockingly at their hands clasped together.
　　Dylan let go of Emma's hand as soon as he saw me and looked at me sheepishly, "No! Emily, it's not what you see. I didn't lie to you. We broke up, it's just that Emma kept pestering me. We don't have any relationship anymore."
　　Emma glared at me so angrily that her long nails scratched the expensive leather bag in her hand.
　　I was so dismissive of Dylan's behavior. He was so dissolute and cowardly. Every time he blamed someone else for his mistakes, there was no sense of responsibility that a man should have.
　　But it's none of my business what happens to them. Maybe it would be a good thing if Emma could pester Dylan to stop pestering me.
　　I turned to leave, but Dylan grabbed my arm.
　　"Don't go, Emily, please let me explain."
　　"Mr. James! Please stay away from Emily, she's my girlfriend now!"
　　I didn't expect Andre to bring Kate to me. He walked up forced Dylan to let go of my hand and pulled me to his side.
　　Dylan and Emma both looked at us in shock at his words. Perhaps in their eyes, Andre had only treated me with playful intent, but now he was telling them that he meant it for me.
　　"Is she Andre Vincent's girlfriend?"
　　"Yes, it's her. Looks just like the picture."
　　"She doesn't look as hot as me, so how can Andre like her?"
　　"I don't think Andre is sincere about her, he's just temporarily bewitched by her."
　　I don't know why everyone is looking at me with strange eyes today. Whenever I walked past them, a group of people would gather and whisper behind my back.
　　I don't know what's happening to make people pay so much attention to me. My clothes are now prepared by the maids, so I shouldn't be wearing the wrong ones. I touched my face and there was nothing strange on it. But people kept gawking at me, and everywhere I went, people discussed me.
　　I couldn't hear what they were saying.
　　"Hey, Emily!"
　　"Tom, good morning. Did something happen? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"
　　I looked at a sweaty Tom who looked like he was in a hurry as if he needed my help with something troublesome.
　　"Emily, didn't you read the news about yourself today?"
　　I had a bad feeling and hurriedly opened my phone.
　　I finally knew why my classmates were looking at me with that kind of gaze. The internet was full of news about me and Andre, and some people even pointed out my illegitimate daughter status! All the netizens were cursing me and cursing me!
　　"How can an illegitimate daughter be worthy of dating Andre?"
　　"It must be this bitch who seduced Andre with her body."
　　"Oh my god, I'm so heartbroken. how could Andre be haunted by such a woman?"
　　"Hey, what are you all so sad about, how could Andre fall in love with such a woman? He must be just playing around, after a while this woman will be abandoned by Andre."
　　"God, I heard that this woman's mother is the third party who destroys other people's families. She is a shameless bitch just like her mother!"
　　I didn't think they would even know about Hellen. People on the internet were now trolling her with the most vicious words. I was in a terrible mood.
　　I took my phone and scrolled down to see a photo of me. The background of the photo was the same mall I went to yesterday with Andre and Kate.
　　This photo was taken yesterday?
　　The dress I was wearing in the photo was the same one I was wearing yesterday. And the fact that I am an illegitimate child is known to very few people, and Hellen's situation is well hidden, except Emma and her parents only I, Andre and Susan know.
　　Susan couldn't have betrayed me, and Andre couldn't have talked to the paparazzi about it.
　　Bella and Toby hate the fact that everyone doesn't know that Hellen and I exist, and there's no way they would voluntarily tell the press about it.
　　So now there's only one person left to suspect, Emma.
　　She may not have taken the photos, but I know Andre has been surrounded by reporters who secretly hide in the crowd to catch him with actresses and models. So the information about me being an illegitimate child and Hellen must have been volunteered to the journalists by Emma, otherwise, no one else would have known about it.
　　Emma was so crazy that she didn't even care about Toby's reputation, she just wanted to destroy my life. Didn't she ever think that the fact that I was an illegitimate child would have a bad effect on Toby's company if people knew about it?
　　"Tom, thank you for telling me this. I'm going to go back to class."
　　"Emily, are you okay? I think you should take the day off." Tom didn't understand my behavior, "You should know how obsessed the girls at school are with Andre. You're going to have a really bad day if you stay at school."
　　"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Tom, but today's class is very important to me. I'm sorry, I have to go."
　　I thanked Tom and moved quickly to run to class.
　　Many eyes gathered on me.
　　Inside I wasn't as calm as I looked on the outside. I was very flustered now.
　　Most of the comments on the Internet were accusing me, and many people took the opportunity to attack Andre's philandering.
　　This could affect Andre's company's reputation.
　　I'm not afraid of being accused, but I don't want my loved ones to be subjected to malicious discussions and insults because of me, whether it's Hellen or Andre.
　　I sat in the corner of the classroom. People stopped focusing on me after class started. I was in no mood to listen to the class, and my heart was filled with helplessness and sadness.
　　I thought I should do something to fix this, but I didn't know what I could do to make it work.
　　There was nothing I could do!