Tải xuống ứng dụng
7.61% His Naughty Lessons / Chapter 24: The Women in His Life

Chương 24: The Women in His Life

** Eli **

Eli put down his phone and found his assistant Justin darting meaningful glances at him from across the airport lounge.

"It's rare to see a text message put that big of a smile on your face," Justin observed. "Let me guess — a girl?"

Eli rolled his eyes. "You are supposed to be going over my agenda for tomorrow, not speculate what's going on in my personal life."

"Unless this is the same girl that made you cancel your dinner with Vanessa Jones on Friday." Justin folded the documents in his lap and switched to an even more meaningful smile. "I've been thinking, you know, that it's a bit rare for you to cancel a meeting your father had personally set up and then cut my call on the same evening. You still haven't given me a date to reschedule it yet … And then you've been looking distracted since you came out of the door this morning. So shouldn't it be reasonable doubt for me to think that something in your personal life is affecting your business life, which makes it my responsibility to speculate about it?"

Eli pinned him with a glare. "You're really better made for a paparazzo. How did I not figure that out before letting you take this job?"

Justin grinned, evidently taking the comment as a compliment. Eli rubbed his temple in defeat.

The two of them had known each other since college. Not really close friends, per se, but at least familiar enough that Eli had recognized the interviewee for his assistant's position immediately. He had warned the latter out of pure goodwill that the heir of Sterling Trust wasn't going to be a pleasant boss to work for, but apparently the truth wasn't as convincing as the paycheck being offered. So on the first day of his new job, Eli had found his college acquaintance waiting for him at his office door, beaming flatteringly.

And then he had slowly learned that he was the one who had miscalculated. Justin was good at his job. He always stayed on top of schedules, always remembered every detail in meeting minutes, and always — always — made the best use of every opportunity to poke his nose into whatever rumor he could catch about the women in Eli's life.

He was so good at the last task that it was almost painful. Sometimes, Eli wondered if this was his father's plan all along, and that Justin had passed the interview with flying colors precisely because of his skill as a capable spy.

Thinking of which, Eli reminded himself that there was no way he'd let Justin find out about Harper. He put away his phone. "I'll talk to my father about Vanessa," he said, diverting the subject. "I never wanted to meet her to begin with. No need to bother with rescheduling."

Justin gave him an unfazed look. "The big boss seems quite invested this time. I somewhat doubt you'd be able to convince him otherwise. Besides … If not her, it'll just be someone else next time. It's not like you can avoid these dates forever."

Eli found the good mood that Harper put him in stretched a little thin. "What century are we living in now? Last time I checked, there wasn't a law indicating I can't spend the rest of my life single."

Honestly, if there were such a law and it forbade him from becoming the legal heir of Sterling Trust, that actually wouldn't be a bad thing.

Justin cocked his head to the side. "Interesting … Have I mentioned that our shared friends in college had enlightened me with a few tales of you before I started the job? They didn't quite label you a playboy, but … I'd never have you figured as the vow-off-women type either."

Eli huffed at the probing tone. "I won't be offended if you just say it, Justin. Yes, I prefer casual relationships and don't want to settle down. Not yet and probably not ever, which is unfortunate news for my father, but that's the way it is. He'll only be more disappointed if I do show up to these dates and affront the ladies he has carefully chosen for me."

"Vanessa Jones is different." Justin's tone changed at that, turning more business-like. "There are few heiresses like her in this industry. She's one of the only bachelorettes within the northeast region that has a family background matching your own. Mr. Sterling—"

"I know what my father thinks of this perfect match," Eli cut him off. "And he will realize that not everything goes the way he wishes. Now, enough about that." He waved a hand at the documents spread out on the table between them. "We'll be traveling almost nonstop for the rest of the month anyway. If Vanessa asks, just tell her I need the weekends to recuperate."

Justin snorted and proceeded to arrange the folders. "Well, that could work for a little while. But not all of these clients are out of state. Based on your schedule," — he scanned the top sheet over a clipped portfolio — "you'll be back in town for the second half of next week. Our fourth meeting is with a local company."

That caught Eli's attention.

He wasn't mentally invested enough in his job to keep track of all the destinations they needed to visit in the upcoming month, but he knew at least that this venture was intended for screening future partners in the entertainment industry. There weren't too many growing companies like that locally …

"In Davenshire?" he asked.

"Yep, right downtown." Justin passed him the portfolio. "You barely need to cross the street from your office."

Eli looked down at the paper in his hand, and his eyes landed on the bolded font that read: Miracles Gaming.


Chương 25: Lure the Investors

** Harper **

The successful adventures with Eli more than brightened up Harper's weekend. She got another long draft ready on Sunday, and from the look of it, her readers' enthusiasm over her improved writing was only increasing. Her phone kept flashing with notifications throughout the day, even into Monday morning.

[ Notification: You received a new comment on your book: Secret Crush ]

Harper was eagerly swiping for details when she heard a gasp, "Oof, be careful girl!"

Then she realized belatedly that the elevator had already arrived at her office floor, and that she was just about to trip over the door gap. She quickly shuffled her feet and narrowly avoided planting her face on the floor.

"What keeps you so occupied this early on a Monday?" It was Lindsey, the coworker sharing a cubicle with Harper, who saved her from an embarrassing elevator accident. Lindsey pushed up her glasses and glanced curiously over Harper's phone. "Is there a new game I don't know about that just came out?"

Harper chuckled. This was why she loved Miracles — only here would she get this kind of reaction for being distracted by her phone, rather than questions and jokes as to whether it was her boyfriend texting her. "Nah. Unfortunately, looks like all the good ones already timed their release back at the beginning of summer vacation." She walked beside Lindsey to their desks. "But speaking of which, I did try Legends of Time this weekend. It was awesome."

She chuckled again as her coworker and friend's face lit up with joy.

Like Harper herself, Lindsey was a product designer in charge of new game concepts. Legends of Time was Lindsey's latest work, just out on the market two months ago, and that was the one Harper and Eli spent the rest of their time on Saturday playing on the couch. The person providing the company probably mattered more than the game itself when it came to how much Harper enjoyed it … But she did enjoy it either way, so the developer deserved the credit.

"I'm so happy to hear that. Thanks, Harper." Lindsey heaved a big sigh. "Honestly, I was a bit scared when it first came out. The deadline was super tight, and it was nowhere near the best I could do. Can you imagine coming up with all that storyline in four weeks? I'm impressed no one has found plot holes big enough to drive a truck through yet."

"Well, management obviously had enough faith in you to know that it wouldn't happen," Harper smiled.

"You mean management has no idea that creative work isn't something I can just pull out of my—"

Lindsey cut herself off when the "management" in question — their boss Brandon — appeared from the other end of the cubicle isles.

"You got a minute, Harper?" Brandon stopped in their space and flashed his golden business smile.

Harper blinked. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Lindsey darting a surreptitious glance at her, a what-the-hell-is-management-doing-here-at-9am-on-a-Monday look written clearly on her face.

"Y-Yeah, of course," Harper replied, wondering if she needed to feel alarmed.

"Great. I have a favor to ask you. You're aware of our investors coming to visit soon, I assume?"

Oh, well that wasn't a typical conversation she expected. "I've heard of the meetings that marketing is preparing," she said, though utterly puzzled as to what any of it had to do with her. Being in the development branch, she'd never had the chance to get close to these board meetings. Heck, she didn't even know who the investors were.

"Right, they've been preparing presentations for our current projects in development." Brandon nodded over to the software team's area. "The thing is, it's been brought to our attention that the investors are interested in seeing a broader portfolio than what we currently have. They've been impressed so far with some of our competitors' works in terms of variety, whereas you know, the products at Miracles all focus quite heavily on kingdom-building and FPS. We need to be able to convince them that we can open up a wider market just like our competitors."

Harper nodded. "That makes sense." Except … Again, what did any of this have to do with her?

"So we'd like to add in something new for them in the upcoming presentation. Of course, the time is a bit tight to design from scratch, so we're pulling up a couple of proposals that were shot down in the past. The marketing team has chosen your deep space tactical RPG as one of them."

Harper's eyes went wide. "The one I drafted when I was an intern? But—"

"I know, it didn't pass initial review back then because of the concern that it wouldn't do well within our established market. But that's precisely what makes it a good candidate for what we need this time around." Brandon smiled brightly again. "I'm sure you'd be excited to bring back the project that you've put so much time and effort into, right?"

"Oh, yes, of course—"

"Great, then get on it. And don't worry, the details don't need to be thoroughly fleshed out. We're not necessarily going to put it through production — just a few highlights on the main plot and selling features to entice the investors would be enough for now. I'll also assign someone from marketing for you to bounce off ideas with, so feel free to ask for as much help as you like."

Brandon did the typical I'm-the-manager-don't-you-dare-talk-back-to-me thing and didn't even give Harper a chance to speak again before he left.

Harper's head reeled. She stared until Brandon was completely out of sight, then looked back at Lindsey. "Did he just say they're not necessarily going to develop it?" Her eyes were probably still wide. "So he wants me to spend all this time on a dead project, and to bring it from a preliminary draft stage to something presentable by— When are the investors coming again? Next Wednesday?"

Lindsey gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Good luck sweetie. Now I feel better that I was at least given four weeks."

Harper wanted to wail. This was arguably the most ridiculous workload she'd ever gotten on this job, and she'd be lucky to not have to work extra hours over the weekend. Then she remembered her web novel — poor book, the chapters were just starting to get better, but now she definitely wasn't going to have time to write more for quite a while!


Load failed, please RETRY

Quà tặng

Quà tặng -- Nhận quà

    Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần

    Đặt mua hàng loạt

    Mục lục

    Cài đặt hiển thị

    Nền

    Phông

    Kích thước

    Việc quản lý bình luận chương

    Viết đánh giá Trạng thái đọc: C24
    Không đăng được. Vui lòng thử lại
    • Chất lượng bài viết
    • Tính ổn định của các bản cập nhật
    • Phát triển câu chuyện
    • Thiết kế nhân vật
    • Bối cảnh thế giới

    Tổng điểm 0.0

    Đánh giá được đăng thành công! Đọc thêm đánh giá
    Bình chọn với Đá sức mạnh
    Rank 200+ Bảng xếp hạng PS
    Stone 10 Power Stone
    Báo cáo nội dung không phù hợp
    lỗi Mẹo

    Báo cáo hành động bất lương

    Chú thích đoạn văn

    Đăng nhập

    tip bình luận đoạn văn

    Tính năng bình luận đoạn văn hiện đã có trên Web! Di chuyển chuột qua bất kỳ đoạn nào và nhấp vào biểu tượng để thêm nhận xét của bạn.

    Ngoài ra, bạn luôn có thể tắt / bật nó trong Cài đặt.

    ĐÃ NHẬN ĐƯỢC