** 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!
** Eli **
[ A warm hand slid under and grazed over her thighs. "Did I not satisfy you?" he breathed into her ears.
She moaned uncontrollably as his familiar touch tickled the itches inside her. His lips found hers before the next sound broke free, and his fingers slid up to the top of her thighs, dipping into the wetness there, caressing every sensitive spot with equal care while his tongue made love to her mouth … ]
The girl was certainly a fast learner, Eli thought as he went over the latest chapter of Secret Crush once more. The improvement in both language and scene details was plainly visible, and it was obvious from the fan reactions that everyone loved to see the change. It turned out that Harper was right about what she needed — just a dash of personal experience added to the mix, and she didn't even need an editor to help her get those scenes right.
Eli smiled proudly, scrolling through the excited comments that showered the author with praises. But then one of them stood out at the end:
[ Dear author, please don't stop updating! I'm dying to read more! ]
Hmm … The reader was right. This was still the same chapter from Saturday. Three days had passed since then, and Harper hadn't posted anything new.
It was somewhat unusual. Even during the time when her readers weren't nearly as enthusiastic, Harper had always kept her update schedule steady. As far as Eli could tell, she had never gone days in a row without updating at all.
Why the sudden drop, especially when she was having such a good streak of success?
Eli considered it for a minute and picked up his phone. Surely, being her editor gave him the privilege to call her for important matters like this.
The beep went quite a few times. When the call finally connected, he barely heard a "Hello" before it was followed by the sound of a loud thump, as if the phone on the other end had fallen onto the ground and tumbled over concrete. A short curse ensued, and then finally, Harper's voice said, "Oops, sorry. I had a handful and dropped my phone."
Eli noticed the jingle of keys in the background. "Did you just get home?" He glanced at his computer screen. It was already past 8pm. "Is everything alright? I can call you back later if this is a bad time."
"Oh no, we're good. It's just been a long day. Work is finally catching up with me after two months of slacking." Harper's laugh sounded tired. "I'm fine though, just really looking forward to the weekend … We're almost halfway through the week, right? Please tell me Saturday is coming up soon."
Eli chuckled. "Yes, Saturday will be here before you know it. Is there a big project coming up for you? I thought your company was usually reasonable when it comes to deadlines."
"Well, usually." Harper sighed, and Eli imagined her rubbing her temples in exhaustion. "So it turns out that we have a big investor's visit next week, and the boss decided that the presentation they currently have is not good enough. They wanted to add more projects to the showoff list, including the ones that were only half-baked drafts … which means that a few of us unlucky chosen ones get to bake those drafts the rest of the way by mid next week. And of course they only told me about this yesterday." She sighed again. "Sorry, I'm whining. I'm not typically very pleasant to chat with when I'm tired."
Eli hadn't realized that his upcoming meeting with Miracles would have caused collateral damage to Harper's workload. He mentally deducted ten points for the company, though then immediately added a hundred back for the effort Harper had to put in. "You're always free to rant to me, Harper. Whenever and wherever you like," he assured her. "But try not to overwork yourself. Burning out your brain before the presentation won't be helpful in the long run."
Harper hummed a halfhearted agreement. "I'm fine. The worst part is just that … my boss made it clear that he doesn't even plan to eventually develop this game I'm drafting. They told me to put whatever cool idea I can think of in there just to impress the investors, and once it serves that purpose, they're going to pull the project. So I feel like all this work I'm putting in is pointless anyway."
Eli couldn't help a frown, deducting another fifty points for the ass that was Harper's boss. She obviously wasn't aware that the "investors" making the call next week was going to be himself, and he considered if he should tell her that he could simply demand the company to go through with whatever proposal she put forward.
He decided against it though. Harper always took pride in her work. Even if he wanted to help her, she wouldn't be happy if her project were to get a second chance because of his favoritism instead of her genuine effort. He'd have to handle this situation more tactfully.
So he only smiled again. "I'm sure you'll be able to convince the investors otherwise at the meeting. Just imagine it's me you're trying to persuade: what would you say to make me believe that this will be the best game in the world? All you need is to sell your audience a good proposal they can't refuse. If they feel serious about it and want to see it through, it's not like your boss has a choice to say no."
There was a brief moment of silence. "Really?" Harper sounded suddenly hopeful.
"Of course. The ones with the money always make the rules. And to be honest, if your presentation is nearly as effective as your latest web novel chapter, the convincing shouldn't be difficult at all."
Harper laughed. This time, her spirits seemed higher. "Ah, I totally forgot that my latest chapter is out there for you to read … Is that why you called me? To give me some more pointers on what to change?"
Eli was relieved by the shift in her tone. "Nah. Quite the contrary, I was calling to sing the praises of how perfect it was." He paused a little before adding, "And just to see how things are going with you … since you stopped updating for a little while. Anyway, I'm glad it wasn't because you decided to drop it or came down with a cold."
Another brief moment of silence. "Oh … Um, thanks for checking on me." Her voice grew a little softer. "I really appreciate it. Don't worry, I'm alive and well and not going to lose faith in my projects any time soon. Not in either of them."
Eli felt the smile spreading wider over his lips. He liked the determination and rising confidence seeping through her voice … And he knew just what he needed to do to make it stay that way.
On a metafiction note: did you know that Harper’s web novel is written in collaboration with Witchhazel? The excerpt Eli was reading at the beginning of this chapter is taken from Be Gentle, Immortal Master :) If you haven’t read that book yet, they highly recommend that you give it a try! (Just head over to Witchhazel’s profile and find it in her list)
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