His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 83: Just a Friend

Chapter 83: Just a Friend

** Harper **

They didn’t get to buy any lottery tickets in the end, because as soon as the new secret cult members shared their first meeting together, where the preliminary plans for the business trip to Hawaii was revealed, the fresh wave of shock blew all other thoughts off of everyone’s mind.

"I can’t believe it. Wow, I seriously can’t believe it." Lindsey was clutching her laptop so hard when she came out of the meeting. "Two weeks at a five-star beach resort in Hawaii, just to get to know the core team and hash out the scope of the project? I knew the investors had money, but this is ... Wow, just wow."

"Feeling lucky that you’re part of the core team now?" Naomi emerged from the room next, a wide smile dancing over her face. "Talk about good timing. The whole office is going to be so jealous of you."

"The whole office is going to be so jealous of all of us," Lindsey corrected her. "I mean, really, is this standard protocol for Sterling Trust? How can a regional investment firm afford this much extravagance with all their partners?"

That comment was probably meant to be just a casual remark. But as Harper followed the group to file out of the meeting room, the words suddenly gave her pause.

Was this standard protocol for Sterling Trust? For the first time since she heard the news, she realized that such a question had never occurred to her. All the surprises had caught her off guard, and she had been too busy processing what the changes meant to her project and her personal life. But now, with the question voiced out loud, she couldn’t help but start to wonder what this huge turn of events truly meant.

She wasn’t familiar enough with either Sterling Trust or joint ventures to know whether this level of high-profile partnership was normal. But one thing she did know — Eli’s relationship with his father was hopelessly strained, and that fact must be a non-secret throughout his company, given the way some of his colleagues acted toward him during the meeting two weeks ago. Needless to say, even if the high-stake investment and extravagant trip to Hawaii were standard protocols in the industry, it wouldn’t have been easy for him to pull off in the current context.

How far did he have to go to secure such a deal with Miracles? The question stabbed at Harper. She had never asked about it, too stunned to ponder that far when Eli revealed the news to her over that romantic dinner. Now that she was finally thinking everything through ... Damn, she could only wish that the surprises didn’t come at the cost of the father-and-son relationship getting even more strained than it already was.

"Harper? Still processing the shock?"

Her thoughts snapped back to reality only when Naomi nudged her elbow. The marketing lead was studying her face with a curious interest. "You know what, I actually wasn’t expecting you to look so stunned by all the news today. I would’ve thought that you knew it already, given your ... connection with Sterling’s vice president."

Oh ... Right. Harper remembered belatedly that despite her genuine puzzlement over what Eli was doing, the scenario must’ve looked different to her coworkers. Ever since they spotted her getting into Eli’s car at the end of that fateful meeting, the rumors had been spreading quite colorfully in the office, and from the way Naomi was studying her ...

"Um, Eli is just a friend." Harper cleared her throat. Obviously, she wished he could be more than that, but this was unfortunately the truth for now. "He didn’t tell me much—"

"Hey, Harper." Wallace’s voice interrupted her. He was the last to clear the meeting room, holding something in his hand. "I think this is your phone? You left it on the table."

"... Did I?" Instinctively, Harper reached for her pocket. Her phone wasn’t there. "Oh, you’re right," — her eyes darted to the familiar shape that Wallace was clutching — "Thank you, I must’ve forgotten—"

The next syllable froze in her throat when Wallace held out the phone, and the motion woke up the screen, lighting up a full list of missed notifications:

[ App Notification: You received 24 new kudos on your book: Secret Crush ]

[ App Notification: You received 3 new reviews on your book: Secret Crush ]

[ Message from Chelsea: I’m grabbing the tickets right away! Does next Saturday work for both of you? ]

[ Message from Eli: Cheers to the official news :) ]

Oh. Crap. That last message ... was probably ambiguous enough to undermine her previous statement. Did Wallace see it? Which direction was this going to take the office rumors now?

Fortunately, if Wallace had noticed or deducted anything scandalizing from the texts, he didn’t mention it. Instead, he only returned her a friendly smile. "You’re welcome. Entirely understandable, by the way, to forget such trivial things when so much excitement is going around." He placed the phone in her hand. "Congratulations again. You know I’ve always loved your project and wished it could get a big spotlight like this."

Harper uttered another thanks just as Naomi tilted her head, some sort of conspiring look crossing her face. "Well well, so why don’t you guys go grab lunch together and celebrate?" she chuckled. "Wallace has been dying to learn more about your plans for the project, Harper. Now that you’ll be officially working together for quite a while, it’s a good time to tell him everything about it."

An equally conspiring look settled in Wallace’s expression.

Hmm? Harper wasn’t sure if there was some special meaning in that look, but grabbing lunch with a new group was good for teambuilding, something that she wouldn’t turn down. "That sounds like a great idea," she agreed, turning back toward Naomi and Lindsey. "Are you coming with—"

But the two of them had already vanished, leaving an empty hallway where only she and Wallace were standing.

... Wait, did she miss something else that was going on here?

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.