THE RUMOR

"SCANDALOUS !

Emily Rhodes, White House Chief of Staff, was seen today with a big and bright diamond on her left hand. Did the President give it to her? It's been said that they have been involved for quite a while now. What about Alex Kirkman? Is she still in the game or is this wedding off? Insiders tell everything:

She is only 34 but still, she is the most influential woman in the White House. No wonder when you know that she has been secretly dating the president for years. Yes, she has. Everybody in Washington thinks she is dating Aaron Shore, the National Security Adviser, and it's true they have been playing along very well. Caught in a restaurant late at night, or walking into the same apartment building. But this is just a cover, and we can prove it. Aaron Shore was sacked from the job she is currently holding a few years ago, and sources familiar with the case say that he never forgave her. Playing along is just part of his new job, and when he accepted to come back to the White House, he accepted this role too.

Rumor has it Emily Rhodes had a miscarriage a little over a year ago. She was already involved with the President.

And this ring? No, this isn't an engagement ring from Aaron Shore, just like they would like us to think. This is a gift from Tom Kirkman. Let's just hope he didn't pay it with public money…

So, what about Alex Kirkman? Does she know? Yes. Why is she staying? Because she is the First Lady, and First Ladies don't go. How did she react, when she discovered that the woman she once considered her daughter had become her husband's lover? Not well. This is why she left for Camp David with their kids, Leo and Penny, a few years back. Why did she come back? To keep up appearances.

Still, plenty of questions need to be answered. Be sure we won't left them unresolved.

The Washington Talk had written an article about Emily, and it was a piece of shit. More specifically, Trevor McDoyle, was a piece of shit. They had lost their accreditation a while back and been kicked out of the pool after another fake article, and since then, they were getting revenge every time they could. So when Emily had arrived at work with this big beautiful diamond, two days ago, she knew something would come out. But she didn't think it would be that bad. She didn't care, it had absolutely no effect or her. But this time, they had hit hard and it seemed that a lot of people were believing them. Sure, this was offending her that someone could even imagine her having an affair with Tom Kirkman, but she knew better and knew this would blow off soon.

What she couldn't get though was why people inside the White House would believe this article. Everybody knew they were a piece of shit, and everybody knew she was with Aaron. This had never been a secret. Of course, they weren't exposing themselves, kissing or holding hands at work, but everybody knew. So why believe The Washington Talk? But she had been looked at weirdly this morning when she had arrived at work, and she could hear gossips in the hallway when people were passing in front of her door.

Aaron burst into Emily's office with the newspaper in his hand.

"Did you see this piece of shit?" he asked angrily

"I did" Emily answered calmly.

"And this is all it does to you?" Aaron was so pissed he could not understand how she could keep her calm

"I don't care. Just like you said, it's just a piece of shit" Emily was just indifferent to the article.

"You do realize that they are saying you have an affair with Kirkman right? And that you should not be Chief of Staff? And how the hell did they learn about your miscarriage?" Aaron was so angry.

He sat on the couch of her office and threw the newspaper on the table in front of him. Emily stood up and walked toward him. She sat on the coffee table in front of him and hold his hands.

"Aaron. I don't give a shit about this paper. You know them. They are angry about losing their accreditation, and nobody believes a single line of what they are writing. I actually don't even know how they still have readers."

"I cannot believe that you don't care"

"I believe that you are pissed they think so little of you."

"Damn straight I am! Emily! They are reducing you to a common whore and me to a dumbass puppet!"

"Aaron, you know this will blow off as quickly as it came up…"

"I'm just pissed."

"I know. But you put a ring on your girl, that's all that matters, isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

Emily kissed him quickly and went back behind her desk where she was filling papers for a meeting coming up. Aaron looked at her working for a little bit, and then decided to come back to his office, he also had work to do.

Later in the afternoon, the daily press briefing was about to start and Emily decided to go, as she was often doing, to listen to what Seth was saying. But before she could enter the room, she was jumped over by reporters coming to her to ask about The Washington Talk's article. "Is it true?" "Are you going to step aside?" "What does Alex Kirkman think about it?" She was surrounded by hungry journalists, and only Seth's intervention, threatening them to cancel the briefing, made them go away. Emily ran back to her office and locked herself in it, deciding to watch the briefing live from her office. Seth really had a hard time holding them, they couldn't stop coming back with questions about Emily's alleged affair. Rolling her eyes, she tapped her fist on her desk, annoyed that such a stupid article could ruin a full day of business. When she saw Seth leaving the briefing, she opened the door of her office and caught him on his way to his own office.

"We need to write a statement." Emily started

"I know" Seth answered angrily.

"What do you want to say?"

"I don't know"

"Is that all you have to say?"

"I guess so"

"Seth?"

"Emily!" he exclaimed, playing along with her. "Can you help me one this one? It's your life, not mine…"

"Seth, what do you want me to say? That the Washington Talk is a trash paper? We all already knew that… I don't know, say that you deny everything that they have made up, that yes I am really engaged, that no, the President and I don't have an affair, that my private life will stay private. I mean, it's not the first time you're doing that? Is it?"

"No, but it is the first time it involves two friends…"

Emily grinned. She knew they were friends, she could tell it, but they were never really saying it, and she loved that she could count on him like that. He had been the only one aware of Aaron and Emily's relationship from the beginning. Both Aaron and Emily knew they could come talk to Seth whenever they needed, and that they could tell him everything.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing…" Emily avoided to answer. "Go talk to Lyor. He's the one who knows what to do. He's gonna know what to say."

"Yeah, I'm surprised he hasn't said anything yet."

"Speaking of the devil…" Emily asked, seeing the political director arrive in their direction…

"Guys, you need to do something about this article!" Lyor exclaimed, walking toward them.

"Yes, we know." Seth answered.

"You're the guy for this, Lyor. I let you handle this with Seth. Just please, don't give them anything about Aaron and I. They don't need to know…" Emily commanded.

"Sure…" Seth and Lyor nodded.

It was the end of the day, but Seth had called back the press for a short briefing. They had written a statement and were distributing it while he was walking in the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. I'm sorry we called you back this late, but this couldn't wait tomorrow. You will be able to read the statement later, but we wanted to make a few things clear before. This is the first, and the last time, that the White House is commenting on the private life of an adviser to the President. This statement obviously denies everything, since nothing is true. Let me remind you that if The Washington Talk is not here with us tonight, there is a reason. They lost their accreditation, and every single one of you in this room knows why. On a personal note, I have to say that I am very disappointed that you could believe even one word of what is coming out of this paper. Miss Rhodes' relation has never been hidden, so I don't get why you would believe such an article, especially you, who work in the White House, and see Miss Rhodes every single day. This is all for tonight, I'm not taking any question. Good evening."

The crowd in front of him started yelling to ask questions, as they would always do, even if they knew he wouldn't answer them. Leaving the press room, he walked to Emily's office, where she was waiting for him with Aaron, watching the press briefing.

"Aaaaaaand. It's done. Thank you, thank you, thank you" Seth exclaimed, curtsying as if he deserved an award.

"Come on, man. You just did your job…" Aaron said, rolling his eyes.

Emily gently tapped Aaron on the shoulder.

"Aaron!" she exclaimed. "Thank you Seth, we owe you one" Emily said, turning to the Press Secretary, grateful.

"Why didn't you set the record straight? You could have told them Emily and I are engaged…" Aaron started pouting.

Seth and Emily started laughing out loud. Aaron looked at both of them, confused. He pouted even more and it was like a vicious circle, Emily and Seth couldn't stop laughing anymore.

"What?" Aaron said, starting to be mad.

"I told you…" Emily smirked at Seth.

"Again! What?" Aaron crossed his arms, pissed.

"Ohhhh. Come on man, we're just making fun of you. Emily told me you were jealous from not getting the attention you deserve…"

"I'm not!" Aaron exclaimed

"You are…" Seth and Emily answered in the same time.

Aaron rolled his eyes once more, and Emily offered a drink to her two colleagues before they would head home. Days like this were always exhausting, but it was always making them laugh to see how stupid the press could sometimes be. What would they do without the press...