His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 268: Off to Battle

** Harper **

If Harper could make any wishes come true, it would be for the magic of this weekend to last a little longer. She couldn’t have enough of that enchanting moment in the park, or those delicate kisses that felt almost too dreamy to be real. Or the rest of the night that followed after they returned home, which steered the innocent pureness of that chaste date into an utterly opposite direction that left her mind hazy with bliss.

But just like every other weekend, good times always pass by faster than one would wish. Almost too swiftly, Monday was already waving ahead, and before she knew it, she had to return to the battlefield that was the office, leaving all those sweet dreams behind.

That was alright. There was always the next weekend, once she dealt with this monumental deadline.

Harper glanced around the office as she got off the elevator, smiling battle-ready morning greetings to her coworkers. At least she was getting all the help she could on that — a good part of the development team had been helping her with the project these days, including a handful who weren’t officially under her lead, and she appreciated all the hands she could have on deck. Hopefully, the deadline would come and go smoothly, and then she’d be free to indulge herself in however many more weekends there were to come.

She paused when she rounded the corner to her cubicle, noting that Lindsey wasn’t there yet. Strange, and quite unusual for the famous earlybird of the office.

"Good morning, boss!" Emory chirped from her seat. "Happy Monday — oh I like your new hairstyle."

It was definitely an interesting change, to have a young girl in the office paying so much more attention to fashion than Lindsey ever would, and Harper found it fascinating every time someone addressed her as "boss".

"Morning and thanks, Emory. I was—" She caught herself just before mentioning that the new hairstyle was another one of Eli’s latest experiments for her gala look. Possibly too much information there for the present company. "—I was trying something different, now that summer is almost over."

"Ah, I know right? The weather is certainly feeling like fall already, even though it’s only late August." Emory nodded toward Lindsey’s empty chair. "Brandon came over a few minutes ago and said Lindsey called out sick today because of a cold. Must be the sudden temperature drop." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Uh oh. Really? Lindsey called out sick? That was bad news ...

"He also mentioned that Lindsey offered to work from home." Miles, the newer intern sitting next to Emory who started a week ago, added. "Apparently she feels bad for not helping when the deadline is putting tons of extra work on everyone else."

"Oh gosh, no. Sick people should take their time getting a good rest and not worry about working from home." Harper sat down and powered up her computer. "Lindsey’s latest documents should all be on the server. We’ll just have to pick it up from there and finish it for her."

In her head, Harper quickly went over everything that was recently on her coworker’s plate. The girl had been obsessed with the galactic civil war side quests, and thankfully, she had shared most of her ideas with her team leader on a regular basis. Harper was eighty percent sure that she’d be able to wrap up the main structure of that storyline herself without too much effort. As for the interns ...

"Emory, you did a school project on diplomatic missions in kingdom-building games, correct? Think you have any good inspirations to use in a space civil war setting?"

The intern’s face all but glowed. "Yes! Absolutely! I have so many ideas and I’ve been itching to put them to good use!"

"Great. And Miles, you had some suggestions on battle strategies that you couldn’t fit into the science campaigns you’re working on. Want to incorporate them into a different part of the game?"

The boy pushed up his glasses and nodded. "Of course. I was really hoping to find a home for those cool side plots somewhere, I can already think of a handful of options that’ll work perfectly with some brushing up."

"Alright, then let’s split up the work!" Harper pulled up the files on her computer, gesturing for the interns to come over for more detailed discussions. "Though I do hope Lindsey will be back soon. As in, hopefully she’ll feel better fast, and hopefully she’ll be here to wrap up the video trailer for her big battle scene. That’s what she was most proud of, and marketing has been pushing hard on the art department to spotlight that snippet in the final cut."

"The final cut?" The two interns looked at each other, and Emory asked curiously. "For what?"

"Wait, did Brandon not tell you guys?" Harper didn’t realize that her own boss had failed to keep the interns updated on such important news. "It’s the first sneak peak advertisement for this project, coming right up next weekend. A teaser trailer is going for the big billboard by the harbor!"

A sense of pride surged inside her as Harper announced the news. The harbor billboard was one of the most major landmarks in Davenshire, and she had been beyond thrilled to hear that her project would be introduced to the entire city through such a prominent channel. Hard work as it might be, this design phase would be a true milestone for the whole company, and she couldn’t wait to see it reach its fruition.

"The harbor billboard ... as in, the ginormous one that projects the ball drop and the fireworks for new years?"

The look on Emory’s face seemed a bit thoughtful as she popped the question, though Harper didn’t have too much spare time to pay it extra heed. "Yes. Lindsey almost spilled her tea when she heard the announcement." She chuckled, turning back to her computer — it was time to get back to work and make that big day happen. "So let’s do what we can and hope that she’ll be back with us soon for the last part. We should all be here together to see it go live."