** 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?
Ahem, Harper gets to check off some office romance tropes from her practice list now XD
Just a quick announcement here for all my lovely angels: you might notice a couple of minor changes coming to this book in the next couple of weeks, as I’m trying to experiment with different ways to help it gain some more traction. If you start seeing a shift in my update schedule (most likely earlier instead of later, don’t worry it’ll still be daily!), or a new book cover that you don’t recognize, or one of those automatic chapter comments that says I shamelessly gifted myself, etc., please don’t be alarmed (and please don’t judge me too harshly)! Getting exposure on WebNovel seems to be a bit harder these days, so thank you for bearing with me while I try to figure it out :) And of course, if you don’t like any of the potential changes, such as the schedule or the cover, do let me know and I’ll appreciate the feedback.
Again, many thanks to all of you who are reading my story and supporting me with your votes! Special thanks to Skye_4447 and mepope for your continuous golden tickets <3 Hope you’ll keep enjoying the book, the journey has just begun!
.
** Eli **
As far as unannounced and likely unwanted surprises go, Harper seemed to have handled it pretty well. At least, much better than the three dozen different ways Eli had imagined she might. The uncertainty gnawing at him all morning eased a little, and he finally managed to smile somewhat sincerely as the tour of the company continued.
"So the one back there is your friend?" Someone sidled up to him as the group filed through a conference room door, leaving space for private whispers. "Local connections are handy indeed, must be nice to run into college friends everywhere you go in town."
Eli paused, glaring back at the source of those words and finding his bettering mood immediately spoiled. Sterling Trust's co-founder and CFO, Stephen Hob, smiled back at him. The two of them had never got along — mostly due to the different sides they took when it came to Eli's father — and no doubt the annoying old grump was already thinking up a thousand possibilities of what could be hidden behind the earlier run-in.
Eli snorted under his breath. Stephen was not the one he felt most concerned about today though, and definitely not the reason why he played this charade with Harper, so he didn't bother explaining. "Not a college friend," he said curtly, "but do remember to at least get her name right when you brandish the news to my father."
He turned his attention back to the group, ignoring Stephen's skeptical look.
~ ~
The day was a long bombard of meetings. State of the Company, sales and business development, financial projections … The same things that Eli had been hearing for two weeks in a row. But somehow, maybe because this was Harper's company, he didn't find it nearly as boring. The marketing strategies presentation was even engaging in places, and for the first time on this partner hunt, he blessed the presenting manager with a few questions out of genuine interest.
At the end of the afternoon, however, when the final meeting for portfolio demonstration rolled around, he started feeling a little nervous. The moment he walked into the crowded conference room, he immediately spotted Harper sitting in the far front corner, her eyes somewhat suspicious when they met his, clearly still confused about the whole encounter.
He fought back a wince and took his seat. Just a little longer — and hopefully he'd be able to play this game right.
"… we are excited to share that we'll be anticipating a major expansion to our portfolio in the next fiscal year." The blonde at the podium had already started the presentation as Eli's thoughts wandered. Smiling brightly, she clicked past the cover slide filled with a mosaic of product pictures. "The first proposal of note is the Deep Space tactical RPG currently under review …"
Oh, that just made everything so much easier than he expected.
The slides omitted names of the specific employees behind the designs, but it took Eli only one glance to know that this very first proposal must be Harper's. Space exploration, alien wars, interstellar diplomatic missions … Basically an ensemble of everything the two of them loved as kids. He almost couldn't help grinning right in front of all the people packed inside the conference room — this girl really hadn't changed at all over all these years, had she? Did she even realize that the anti-colonial battle quest she included as an example was the same one she had blurted out years ago, when she heatedly disapproved of a campaign they were playing at the time?
She must've taken his "pretend the presentation is for me" advice to heart. Every slide had an iron grip of his attention, intriguing him with the vast variety of adventures. But at the same time, the more he paid attention, the more he was truly impressed by how brilliant she was. The sheer scale of this proposal was breathtaking, yet the details were so fleshed out that it gave not the slightest impression of a big empty talk. How did she manage to pull all that off within a week?
This was far more than he needed to run his show.
Eli waited patiently until the presenter was done going through all the selected examples. Then he signaled for a question. "When are your estimates for putting these projects out on the market?"
From within the audience, Harper's head whipped in his direction. He pretended not to notice.
"It will be a gradual process done in multiple phases." The woman at the podium clicked back a few slides. "Nothing is set in stone yet, but since our current products are heavily focused on kingdom-building and FPS, we'll likely start by tapping into our existing market and expanding from there, which means this lost civilization game might go first. Then" — she flipped through a few more slides — "this strategy platformer, then …"
"Have you considered a more transformative approach?" Eli took the opportunity to speak as she navigated the powerpoint. "A new market means risk, yes, but I do see some highly revolutionary proposals here that could open up a lot of possibilities for your company, if you choose to focus on them instead."
"I agree." The technical advisor on his team, Malcolm, chimed in. "The proposal on the first slide, for example, is a good one. Why start with the smaller, more generic games when you have something with this much potential on the table?"
Ah. Eli couldn't have asked for things to turn out any better. He needed to draw attention to Harper's project, to make her boss realize how stupid an idea it was to kill her brilliant work just because they were afraid of the risk. Who better to voice the same thoughts than Malcolm, Sterling Trust's chief technical advisor? He was famous for a pair of sharp eyes on spotting the most promising project ideas, and all their potential partners knew that.
"You're referring to … This proposal?" The blonde clicked the presentation back to the beginning, landing on Harper's project. "Of course … We do have plans for implementing it soon. It's a high priority item as well."
… Marketing was really good at lies.
"That's good, because I also have some followup questions about it." The advisor straightened in his chair. "Will you be able to discuss in-depth designs, or is that out of the scope of this meeting?"
"Oh, we certainly can." The blonde put on another bright smile and gestured to a section within the audience. "Our product designers are right here to answer any questions you might have."
With that, every pair of eyes in the room turned toward Harper.
Bạn cũng có thể thích
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