Paparazzi (Actor Mark and Damien x Harmony OC)

Chapter 6: What are we to do?

     "Damien! Always a pleasure. Come on in," Mark greeted at his door, allowing the man in.

     "It's good to see you as well, Mark," Damien replied, shaking his friends hand.

     "How did the audition go?" Damien asked as the two men moved to the lounge room, taking their respective seats across from each other.

"Great! I don't doubt I'll get the part~" Mark smirked as Damien playfully rolled his eyes.

"Any word from Will?" Damien inquired.

Ben attended to them, pouring them each a nice warm tea as the night settled in, crisp and cool.

     "Not yet. And Celine? How is she?" Mark asked, sipping his tea.

     "She should be returning from her trip within a few days," Damien replied, taking a small chocolate and taking a bite of it.

     "That's good to hear. I'm excited to hear how she enjoyed it," Mark said.

     "Yes. Not to change the subject so bluntly, but if I may, I have some rather... well I don't know what to make of it, but I did some deeper research on our predicament," Damien stated.

     "Go on~" Mark said, leaning forward and listening intently.

     "I'm sure you read today's paper?" Damien inquired.

     "Of course. I didn't know what to make of it but... truthfully, the photograph has me worried," Mark replied honestly.

     "Apparently Harmony unknowingly spoke to the man apparently responsible for writing these headlines. Supposedly he goes by Tom-" Damien said.

Mark was already squirming in his seat to interrupt, but Damien cut him off before he could, adding, "I can fill you in on those details later, however I think I need not say this was all a misunderstanding and that you can take my word for it that Harmony contributed nothing to that ridiculous article?"

     Mark slowly nodded.

     "Alright. As soon as I finished speaking to Harmony earlier, I thought it was high time I go and have a word with this Tom fellow, so I paid a visit to the local news company at their headquarters. I was pleasantly surprised to be treated with much respect and was even given an impromptu meeting with the head of the company, despite the fact that I know such a man must be busy. After some research, turns out there is no fellow who goes by the name Tom working at the company," Damien stated.

     Mark tsked in annoyance and leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms and saying, "Honestly?"

     "But~" Damien added, "The manager was kind enough to go through the records of the past five years, seeing how distraught I was on the matter. There was an employee named Tom who worked for the company a few years back. A journalist. He was fired for writing grossly exaggerated columns and spreading false rumors and gossip through the papers without consulting any of the heads of staff on them."

     "Then that must be him! But if we've been reading these papers, how is it he's been messing with the papers of the local news for as long as he has? Someone at the company must have noticed," Mark countered.

     "They have. Apparently these mysteriously added columns have been an issue they've been trying to correct for months but only now that I brought this information to light do they know the mysterious gossip columns are the works of the ex employee. They always think they've managed to sweep the last of the issues out, but the columns managed to land on people's doorsteps anyways," Damien said.