An Interview With a Playboy

Jennafei woke up with tears. She must have had a sad dream last night. It’s a wonder how she can’t remember what it was. She twitched her lips when she read Donald’s text message early in the morning. He was asking for a date tonight. She just snubbed the message and rose up from bed to start the day.

Arriving at the office of Manila Daily Journal, she was called by the editor in chief who was also one of the share holder of the publication.

“Miss Castro, I want to give you an a.s.signment,” Mr. Augustin started, he was in mid-forties and a part of his forehead was already showing.

“Okay. What is it?” She did not bother to sit down since he was also standing up.

He smiled first before speaking. “I want you to get an interview with the most talked-about basketball player these days.”

She’s felt nervous from what he said. “What?”

“John Dexter ‘Dex’ Peralta. The son of the international business magnate Don Romulo Peralta the Third and the fashion tyc.o.o.n Elvira Romero Peralta. His comeback was too celebrated and we need to—“

“No!” She rejected sternly.

Mr. Augustin’s forehead creased. “What? No? Why?”

“Because he doesn’t entertain interviews.” She lowered down her voice. “You know that. From the very start, he never entertained any of the interviews from any of my colleagues.”

“Yeah, I know that. Everybody in the business knows it. The exact reason why a lot of people request for Dex.  People want news about him so badly, especially the girls.” He smirked. “They are very eager to get detailed news about the rich and famous basketball heart-throb. Women…”

She rolled her eyes.

“That’s why we need to get an interview from that basketball player. We have to be ahead from other publication to get a detailed interview from him. I can already see how big our sales will be once it got published. That’s why we have to do everything to get him to agree to take our interview.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I’m not even a sports journalist to write about him,” she added. She can’t understand why do they have to her this a.s.signment when they have seven sportswriter.

“He can also be in a society page. And you don’t have to be a sportswriter, Miss Castro. You just have to be that beautiful.” He even viewed her overall.

Unlike before, she knew how to dress well now. Because she is now a TV personality and writer for lifestyle section of this publication, she’d learned how to be cla.s.sy and fashionable. She also learned how to apply make up and do her hair. She doesn’t use gla.s.ses anymore and got used to wearing contact lenses. She has to be presentable all the time because she often attend social functions which was what she writes in her column.

“I don’t understand.”

“That’s why I chose you. I think that you are the most beautiful among our single writers.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Dex was very insistent to decline any interviews but it’s more likely for him to agree if it’s a beautiful girl who will ask him an interview. It’s an open book that he is fond of women. You can use your beauty and charm as your gadget to get his ‘yes’ for the interview.”

“What?” She can’t believe what she just heard. “Are you suggesting I flirt with him or seduce him so I could bag the interview?”

“Subtly.”

“She looked at him disbelievingly. “No way, Boss.” She couldn’t be “Fei” again.

“Are you declining an a.s.signment?”

“Yes, Boss.” She knew he could not afford to fire her if she refused an a.s.signment. She is already well known and she has a good performance at work. “Especially when I’m being forced to do something that I think was offensive for a woman like myself.”

It looked like he was surprised. “I thought that you are a tough reporter. How come you are refusing such a very challenging a.s.signment?

“Because I can’t flirt with someone just to get an interview. That’s too cheap. I’m not that kind of person, Mr. Augustin. Just give me any other a.s.signment, Boss, just not this.”

“Even if I tell you that I will promote you as a section editor?”

She stared at her boss. It was like a deja vu. She felt that she went back to the time Leila had offered her to be the next editor in chief of their campus paper.

She won’t forget how everyone from the publication was overjoyed when she submitted the interview she had finished with Dex. She was not able to finish the ten questionnaires, she was missing one question, since never had the chance to ask him the last question after she saw him kissing another woman. But the result of the article was great. Everyone was surprised from the content. She wrote down every answers Dex gave her.

“A Week with a Campus King,” that was the t.i.tle of the article. She wrote down everything she has gone through just to get an interview from the guy to humor the readers. Of course, she did not include what she found out about how unhappy he was with his family and the part when he toyed with her feelings. She must be mad at him but she could not divulge his deepest secret and how cruel he was.

It will only appear that she was bitter about what happened. Aside from that, she can’t fry Dex at the campus since he still the owner of the sixty percent shares of the campus. She had no plans to be kicked out. That’s how she decided to stay professional as a school reporter.  She just wrote what she should write.

After that, what Jennafei was hoping for happened. A lot of people appreciated her. The next semester, she became the next editor in chief of their school publication.

Everything seemed to be happening again. An impossible a.s.signment. Dex Peralta. Promotion. Of course, she wanted the promotion but she could not afford to be Dex’s toy for the second time around.

“Think about it, Miss Castro. I heard that Dex had flown to South Africa with his cousin, Kimberly Romero. I know that he will come back for practice because next month will be the new basketball conference. So you still have time to think about it.”

He will wait for nothing.  And speaking of Kimberly, when she started writing in society page, she found out that she was connected with Dex. This Kimberly turned out to be the ‘Kim’ he mentioned one time. She did not attend her controversial engagement party but her cowriter, because she knew that Dex will be there as well.

She did not want to see him again. That’s why her editor in chief will not have a positive answer from her. Never.