His Naughty Lessons

** Harper **

If Harper had more time and mental bandwidth, she might have dwelled a little longer on the not-so-surprising yet still disheartening revelations from May, or the ill-timed invitation from Eli that sounded suspiciously like a date. But with the investors meeting drawing closer and closer, she had neither the time or the mental bandwidth, so all the whirlwind of events from the weekend were quickly behind her as the dreaded Wednesday finally arrived.

The marketing team had decided to pull another last-minute meeting just before the investors' arrival, so Harper found herself sitting in the conference room at 7am, groggily sipping her coffee, and watching the presenter walk through every single slide yet again. It had become increasingly clear over the week how important this meeting was for their company — from the amount of time and manpower pulled into the presentation, to the simple fact of how dressed up everyone was. She felt a little out of place wearing her typical work blouse and casual slacks, while all the other men and women were clad in sleek suits and black dresses.

But then again, unlike them, she was from the product development team. She wasn't officially part of the presentation anyway, only a sit-in just in case the investors ask tricky technical questions. In the end, no one would really pay her enough attention to notice what she was wearing.

"That should leave us about fifteen minutes for questions," the presenter, a partnership strategy specialist named Naomi, concluded at the end of the walkthrough. "From our past experience, potential partners are typically interested in topics such as market outlook or future product line strategies, and my team can easily answer those. But we did hear that one of the senior members on this board likes to go into technical details." Naomi gave a nod toward the corner where Harper was sitting. "So, product team, we'll be expecting help. Make sure to stay sharp."

Next to Harper, Wallace nudged her elbow. "Show time," he winked. "Excited?"

Harper smiled. The anxiousness building up all week collided with a tinge of pride and hope, and she wasn't sure if that could pass as "excited". This was the moment to test her work … Would it manage to impress? Would she really be lucky enough to earn a chance for her proposal, like what Eli suggested?

"Alright, the bigshots are coming in any minute now. Everyone back to your posts." One of the program directors clapped his hand, and everyone rose in a clatter of chairs.

"I'm honestly a little nervous," Wallace declared on their way out of the conference room. "They said the investors are looking at six different companies across the northeast region. That's a lot of competition. Theoretically speaking, we should have some advantage being local, but rumor has it that they really hit it off with one of the startups last week." He sighed. "The pressure is so high."

It was the first time that Harper heard about such insider's information. "The managers all know that already?" she asked. "No wonder the workload only got heavier and heavier over the week … I suppose the product team is pretty cut-off from news like this. I actually don't even know who the investing company is."

"Seriously?" Wallace gave her an incredulous stare. "I mean, you can practically see their building from our windows. It's—"

A burst of voices cut him off. They both turned around. At the office lobby, a small group of suited men had just joined the equally suited management team, followed by a busy exchange of greetings and handshakes and introductions. The bigshots had arrived.

"Opps, we should probably make room. They're going to be touring the office soon." Wallace made a gesture to move down the hallway.

Harper, on the other hand, couldn't help a longer look. The earlier conversation had made her oddly interested in this new group's arrival, and she wanted to catch a better glimpse of who these mysterious devils were that made their whole company shiver under stress for a week. She studied the strangers curiously.

It was a smaller crowd than she expected, maybe five or six people, most of them mid-aged men. An old-fashioned company that valued experience and social power, she reckoned. The figure at the front of the group, however, who was currently facing away from her and half-blocked by a dozen bodies, looked younger, his dark brown hair standing out among the rest. And in a strange way, he seemed a bit familiar …

"Harper?" Wallace called from behind her. "They're coming this way, let's—"

Harper turned to follow him back to their cubicles. Or, at least, she began to. But right at the same moment, the investors group started to move as well, down the hallway she was standing right in the middle of, and when the front figure turned his face toward her—

Harper froze, staring into a pair of blue eyes that she couldn't be more familiar with.

He looked different in a suit. Amazingly so. Elegant, professional, perfectly combining the air of a fashion model and a billionaire in the making. But how could it be him? How could Eli, out of all people, be the leader of the investors board?

"Harper McKenzie?" Eli said as he halted in his tracks, seemingly surprised to see her as well.

Except … He couldn't be surprised. He knew she worked at Miracles, and he knew she had been preparing a presentation for this meeting the entire past week. He knew they would run into each other today … So why didn't he tell her? Why hadn't he mentioned at all that it was his company coming today?

"You two know each other?" The marketing director came up to Harper's side, his face suddenly eager. Personal connection advantages were too precious a thing to not make good use of.

"Yes. What a coincidence." Eli smiled at her, his expression making the "surprise run-in" perfectly believable. "Good to see you here. Are you working with—" he looked at the group of marketing managers.

"Ah, she's on our product development team." Brandon made his way out of the crowd, beaming as if it was the most privileged thing to be Harper's boss. "Concept and Narrative Designer. In fact, one of her projects—"

"That sounds like a fascinating job." Eli smoothly interjected, in a way that was surprisingly not rude. "We should catch up later then, Harper. I would love to hear an insider's scoop once we've learned all about your company through the meetings."

Dozens of pairs of eyes shot toward Harper, some curious, some jealous, some suspicious. Harper wasn't sure how to react at all. "Um … Yeah, of course. I'll be happy to," she managed to say, hoping it was appropriate for the situation Eli was trying to orchestrate.

He smiled again and nodded once. Without more delay, the group resumed their tour, and Harper hastily stepped aside as far as she could.

"I can't believe it." A voice whispered behind her, and she almost jumped at the abrupt reminder of Wallace's presence. "You know that guy?" he asked in pure amazement. "Eli Sterling, Vice President and Venture Capital Director of Sterling Trust?"

Well … Was it too late now to pretend that she didn't?