His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 290: Aftermath

** Harper **

The gala, which had already turned out way too chaotic for Harper’s expectations, dissolved into even more chaos. In the next few moments of mayhem that followed, everything became a disorganized blur, and she could only register a handful of scenes that happened all at the same time:

A middle-aged woman, probably the old Sterling CEO’s wife, rushed onto the podium, screaming and crying for the event staff to call an ambulance. A group of emergency responders pushed through the crowd with a stretcher, and then the area was blocked off completely by security.

The president of Voyage Bank — Vanessa’s father — looked pissed, as if profoundly offended that anyone dared to faint at such an inopportune timing. The president of Sanderson Funds, on the other hand, cocked his head and regarded the scene with a skeptical expression.

Tyler, who should probably feel guilty for unintentionally causing the accident, rubbed his nose and ventured an uncertain glance at Eli. The latter walked over and gave him a brotherly pat on the shoulder. The two were saying something in a low voice when Chelsea all but crashed into Harper, yelling "oh my god where have you been I can’t believe you weren’t there by Eli’s side when the announcement came out you’re a big deal in the finance world now owner of the Sterling CEO pretty please don’t forget to invite me to the new leadership celebration party." And that was how Harper finally knew what announcement it was that she missed.

Vanessa, who obviously did not enjoy her evening at all, shrieked again and came at Harper with her hand raised, clearly intending to return Emory’s slap onto the better enemy. Harper was just debating what to do with the wine in her hand that made it inconvenient to move around amidst the chaos, so she emptied that wine with a dramatic splash onto Vanessa’s face.

When finally, Eli retreated backstage and headed to the valet with his girlfriend in tow, the chaos still had no sign of calming down in the hall behind them.

"Is your father going to be alright?" Harper asked as they stepped out of the elevator. There were just about one thousand questions on her mind that she wanted to ask Eli right now, but this one seemed the most important. "That must be too many sudden surprises all at once. I hope he doesn’t have a history of heart attacks."

Eli shrugged, not seeming particularly concerned. "Not that I know of. And even if he does, he’s outlived my mother by too many years already."

Ouch.

Harper wasn’t sure if he truly meant as harshly as he sounded. "Um ... Are you sure that we shouldn’t go to the hospital?" she ventured. "It’s probably good to know if there is anything serious. Tyler would feel bad if we don’t even bother to check on the consequences of the bomb he dropped."

At that, Eli slowed down his footsteps. "Tyler is the hero of the night who saved the future of two companies. Probably three. If anyone needs to feel bad, it should be the Voyage president and my father himself for putting up this whole show to begin with."

Harper chewed her lips. "But they won’t be the ones in the headlines tomorrow for succeeding an important CEO position or promising a dealbreaker collaboration between industry leaders." She tried again. "It won’t look good ... if you don’t even show up at the hospital for your father after such a big announcement."

"... Are you trying to convince me to fix up my relationship with my father, Harper? Because I’m not sure if that’s ever a possibility that could happen."

Well, her cover blew fast.

"No. Not really," Harper admitted honestly, squeezing his hand. "I just don’t want to see you so caught up on hating someone that you won’t even want to see them in a life or death situation."

The old man might have been unfaithful and manipulative, but he was still Eli’s father. Surely there were still some fond memories between them worth caring about, and she didn’t want to see Eli lose all of them forever.

Eli didn’t reply. Though when the car arrived and they got in, he said to the driver, "To the ER at General Hospital."

Harper looked out the window, hiding a smile.

~ ~

When they arrived at the ER, the first person they saw was Emory, who was sitting in the waiting area outside the exam rooms. The girl looked quite a bit surprised when she saw who the new visitors were.

"He’s fine, apparently just too much stress." She patted on the chairs next to her, gesturing for the two to sit down. "They only let one visitor in at a time. My mom is there right now."

Harper glanced up instinctively at Eli. He pursed his lips for a moment, and he was just opening his mouth to speak when one of the exam room doors opened. The woman they had seen earlier running up the podium stepped out, quietly closing the door behind her.

Then she paused when she saw the two people next to Emory.

"Ah... Thank you for coming to visit— your father." The woman gave Eli a small smile. "And Miss McKenzie, too. It is nice to finally meet you in person, Ronald and I were just talking about you a moment ago."

Harper blinked.

The person standing in front of them looked quite different from what Harper had expected. Quiet, calm, without the shrewd air one would expect from a business tycoon’s wife. Though at the same time, she seemed well experienced at dealing with people, which could clearly be seen from the way she avoided referring to "her husband" or even introducing herself to Eli.

But ... could they really have been talking about such an irrelevant topic as Eli’s girlfriend while being treated at the ER?

"Um, nice to meet you as well ... and I’m glad he’s feeling better." Harper returned a slightly awkward smile, and she felt Eli’s arm around her waist holding her tighter, as if ready to rescue her from the undesirable situation.

If Emory’s mother noticed the odd tension in the room, she didn’t show it. Instead, she nodded toward the patient room she had just come out of. "If you aren’t in a rush to leave, Miss McKenzie, I believe that Ronald would love to talk to you. We weren’t expecting you to come ... but he does have some things that he wishes to tell you."

... Harper blinked again, and she felt Eli’s arm tighten some more.