The Perfect Seduction

CHAPTER ELEVEN: WORK

Semi had never been the one to shy away from work, rather she embraced every challenge as though it was her last and most valuable project but working with Neil had proven to be quite difficult.

She walked into the office to begin her shift, only to be informed that Neil needed her in his office. Now here she was, walking behind him into a high-class building that was not their headquarters.

“Where exactly are we headed?” Semi impatiently asked Neil, whom stopped but his back still faced Semi.

“We are covering a story on John Dawson,” Neil answered plainly and without waiting for Semi to react, he continued walking on.

“Wait a minute, you mean John Dawson the famous basketball player?” Semi asked Neil, while still running after Neil in the hopes of keeping up with him.

“Yes” Neil answered plainly, his eye twitching with irritation that Semi was behaving like a little girl in a candy store.

“Oh my goodness, I have wanted to get a story on this guy for months but he’s been out of the radar. I wonder who he is sleeping with now” Semi said excitedly but her excitement was cut short when Neil stopped, spun around and looked at her. Something about the way Neil looked at her sent chills down her spine.

“You seem awfully excited to catch this man in the act” Neil responded, his voice calm and collected and not a hint of irritation or any other emotion.

“Of course I am, if I could just get one picture of him coming out of a hotel with a woman or something like that then—”

“That’s it, just one picture?” Neil asked, seemingly surprised at what Semi had just said to him.

“Yes, one picture is all it takes” Semi responded, not knowing what she said had bothered Neil and left him deeply disturbed.

Neil removed his attention and looked at the interior of the building around and him as though he was studying the intricate details that the architectures had paid attention too.

“Hello!” Semi called out to Neil and it was only then that he paid attention to her but the way he looked at her made Semi wished that she had not said a word.

“So you studied to be a reporter, am I correct?”

“Yes I did and why are you asking?” Semi asked Neil, a bit triggered by how he had chosen to ask that particular question.

With a swift move, Neil placed both his hands into his trouser pockets and smiled at Semi, whom was not finding his actions funny any longer.

“It’s just that it all makes sense and at the same time it does not” Neil responded but his answer left Semi confused the more.

“I do not understand you” Semi insisted.

“It’s just that I cannot comprehend how it is that a group of individuals who are qualified to report accurate news are writing news based on utter bullshit” Neil laughed it off but his actions offended Semi the more.

“We do not base our stories based on just bullshit! We do research and we have sources”

“And how reliable are those sources if I may ask, for all we know the source in these cases could be lying and trying to ruin someone’s reputation” Neil spouted. Semi tried to argue but she knew that whether she liked it or not, Neil was right at the end of the day sources were known to lie.

Often the stories that they wrote were left unchecked and in reality, all that mattered was how much magazines they ended up selling. Whether the stories they wrote hurt people or not, they simply did not care and that the money was all that counted.

“Neil I know that—”

“Don’t bother explaining anything, I’ve only worked with Trends magazine for one week and already I know what that company stands for”

“And what is that?” Semi asked Neil who smiled at her.

“Lies!”

“How dare you?” Semi gritted through her teeth and just as she was about to react, a young woman in formal wear walked up to them.

“Good day sir and ma’am, Mr. J. Dawson would see you now” She informed them and Neil walked away leaving her behind. Never in Semi’s life had she ever met such an arrogant man who felt that he owned everything but now that she thought about it, Neil Droviski did own the company that she worked at.

Semi followed Neil to a quiet room, with chairs far from the prying eyes and this made Semi feel unsafe. Noticing Semi’s discomfort, Neil smiled and leaned closer to Semi, whom sat next to him.

“Relax, the only reason that we are sitting here is because we don’t want strangers taking pictures and drawing up their own conclusion on things” Neil told her and Semi’s face reddened with anger. Deep down, Semi knew that Neil’s words were jabs to her and how she conducted her research on people.

“So, have you worked with this source that is going to feed us information on John Dawson?” Semi asked Neil, hoping to move on from Neil’s dis on her.

“Yes indeed I know this source; I feel that he would be in a better place to tell us more about John Dawson. I mean they have known each other since day one and I simply thought who better to tell us about John Dawson that him” Neil answered plainly but his response still left Semi feeling a little awkward about things.

In a little less than ten minutes, Semi heard footsteps coming towards them and both she and Neil stood up from their chairs.

“Hey Neil, good to see you!” Semi’s jaw dropped as John Dawson walked into the room with a woman in his arms and welcomed Neil as though they had been long lost friends. Neil walked towards John and they hugged each other, leaving Semi wondering what had she walked into.

“It’s been quite a while, I heard you brought a Magazine company” John joked.

“Yes I did, I simply felt that I needed to show the world that not everything they read is true and that my company will only deliver the truth” Neil responded, sounding every syllable that way Semi knew that once again he was referring to her.

The two men let go of each other and John Dawson turned his attention to Semi, he smiled at her and extended his hand to Semi.

“Good day, I’m John Dawson and you are?” John asked her and for just a split second, Semi hesitated.

“My name is Semi and I am a senior publicist at Trends magazine” Semi responded, sounding as confident as she possibly could.

“Nice to meet you, your magazine has written quite a lot about me and most of them not always positive” John Dawson informed her. Semi was very much aware of what she had written about John, the strings of women that he would take to bed but what amazed her was that John had one of his mistresses with him.

John had caught Semi looking at the woman besides him and he smiled.

“Semi I want you to meet Isabella Morton, my fiancé” Semi felt as though the world had spun out of its orbit, she could not believe her ears.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Contrary to what the tabloids write about me, I have been engaged for quite some months now. Isabella and I have been high school sweethearts but she had chosen to stay out of the limelight all this while”

Isabella extended her hand to Semi. Semi would have imagined that Isabella would have been angry at her for writing all those fabricated stories about her fiancé but the young woman did not show any traces of anger. Isabella seemed polite and calm.

“So may we sit down and continue this interview?” Neil asked, all parties agreed. Within minutes refreshments were brought to them, the conversation had started and it seemed that Semi had missed the bigger picture once again.

Upon listening, she doubted her skills as a reporter because it felt as though everything she had written about John Dawson was far from the truth. The strings of women he was pictured with were simply his business associates, distant relatives or wedding planners.

She did not know what Neil was trying to prove to her but it seemed as though he wanted to be right about something and even Semi had to give him props for that.

“So I hope my fiancé and I have given you all the information that you need and we have left nothing out” This time it was Isabella speaking out, throughout the interview she had not said much, rather both Isabella and John had looked at each other with love in their eyes.

Somewhere deep in her heart Semi envied them for being so happy to the point where not even rumors were enough to shake their bond. Growing up Semi had always craved that kind of love but as she grew older, she found that that kind of luck she surely did not possess.