His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 269: Team Overtime

** Harper **

The extra workload for a whole other person turned out to be ... unsurprisingly, a lot.

Monday was a blur of searching for documents, digging up old meeting minutes, and running around with files flying everywhere. It was crucial to keep all the substitute work that everyone put in aligned with Lindsey’s original plan, and Harper didn’t realize how demanding the task was until she was buried neck deep in bullet points.

Tuesday was worse. Between wrapping up Lindsey’s leftovers, instructing the interns, syncing up with marketing, walking through trailer designs with art production, and trying to finish her own work, Harper wished that she was an octopus. Wouldn’t things be so much more efficient if she had four times the number of arms? Preferably four times the number of heads and legs as well.

Wednesday ... Well, she barely knew what was going on Wednesday anymore, aside from endless items on her todo list that made her feel like the end of this chaos was creeping farther away from them, instead of closer.

"Hey, you guys are pulling another all-nighter here or something?"

The voice of a software developer stopping by her cubicle made Harper look up from her desk. She had forgotten what time it was until she turned to look at the clock on the wall — 6:30pm, well past the usual hour for going home.

"Ha, it’s not actually that bad — I did leave at seven yesterday." Harper tried to return an optimistic smile. "Though not sure if I’ll be as lucky today. I need to hand these files to the art department first thing tomorrow, so they can get started working on the soundtrack for the trailer. And I’m not anywhere close to done yet."

"Sometimes I’m not sure if I should envy the scope of your project or feel bad for the crazy amount of effort you put in." The software guy gave her a condoling pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, project leader."

He flung his backpack over his shoulder and sauntered off.

"Ugh, that was totally rubbing it in!" Emory rolled her eyes at the closed elevator door. "I hope he’ll find his answer when we get to the final code release, which will be his turn to work his ass off and pull all-nighters."

"He’s not entirely wrong about the payout though, is he?" Miles ventured. "I mean, if I ever had to put this much time into any school project, I would’ve thought it’s insane. But here, it’s different. Even if the work is exhausting, it feels so exciting just to think about how worth it the outcome would be. A literal game-changer no one has seen before ... and imagine it being shown on the harbor billboard!"

Harper smiled at that conversation. She liked her two interns. free𝑤ebnovel.com

"You guys should go home though." She stretched her arms and rolled her tired shoulders. "Seriously, you didn’t sign up for overtime, and you’re barely getting paid. Just keep that morale going and come back supercharged tomorrow, that’s more than enough."

"But I want to make sure my part is perfect when it goes to the billboard," Emory argued. "And I’d rather be here with everyone else than be home to play my video games alone."

"It’s not like anyone’s waiting for either of us at home anyway," Miles seconded.

Well, that comment unfortunately struck a wrong chord ... and Harper’s workaholic energy fell a little at the thought of the man patiently waiting for her back in their apartment. Thus was the dilemma of having to work and wanting a personal life at the same time.

"Only if you really want to stay ... But then we should at least order dinner?" She decided to change the subject to something more comforting for the mind. "I could certainly use a bit of extra energy if we’re staying for another couple of hours. What do you guys feel like?"

All of a sudden, a dozen heads popped up from above the cubicle dividers. Every one of her late-working coworkers from the other teams looked longingly in her direction.

"Can we share an order, Harper? Just put it on Brandon’s tab."

"I’m starving. I want some triple cheese pizza!"

"Anything that’s not healthy works for me."

"Are drinks ok?"

Harper: "..."

She totally just made more work for herself by offering dinner, didn’t she? "Um, let me see what’s the quickest delivery we can get from here." She pulled up her takeout app. "I should be able to get something for everyone and have it reimbursed later—"

Emory and Miles were inching up behind her, glancing expectantly at her phone, when the elevator dinged loudly.

Everyone looked up. And before they saw the people coming out of the door, they smelled grilled meat and pizzas.

"Food delivery for Miss Harper McKenzie?" The first person getting off the elevator, who was rolling a cart full of pizza boxes, looked around the room, and he pushed the food into Harper’s cubicle when she raised her hand. "Here’s your catering order for pizzas, BBQ sandwiches, grilled chicken platters, and lemonades. Would you please sign?"

The whole office abruptly fell quiet, and everyone looked at Harper with an admiring glitter in their eyes as if she had just revived their lives.

Harper, on the other hand, stared at the signature pad handed over to her. How come this scene felt so familiar? She honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there was a six-foot-tall teddy bear following the food order—

"Flower delivery for Miss Harper McKenzie?" The second person from the elevator, who had just made his way out after the large cart was cleared, came up behind the first guy. In his arms, there was a huge bouquet of roses, daisies, and lilies, all in raging bloom and immediately replacing the smell of food around them with the heady scent of floral fragrance.

"Would you please sign?" The florist staff held out a second signature pad, passing it to Harper.

And then the office erupted in a tsunami of "wow"s and "aww"s.