His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 251: Sibling Rivalry

** Harper **

Tiny suspicions on the family relationship aside, Harper’s general impression of Emory only became more positive as the day went by. The girl was a self starter, energetic and all too eager to dive right into the job. Harper had allotted almost half of the day to help the newcomer get oriented on all the project requirements and current status, but to her surprised relief, it took Emory only a negligible portion of that time to get fully prepped.

The smooth turnaround made Harper’s workload much lighter than anticipated, which was exactly what she needed with the conceptual design deadline coming up at the end of the month. It helped to lift so much pressure off of her shoulders that when she got off work, she even skipped her usual yawning stretch, replacing the habit with a spirited "I’m back!" when she got home and spotted Eli lounging on the couch.

"Hi love. You look like you had an amazing day." The man who could read her a little scarily well put down what he was holding in his hands — which she noticed, somewhat unexpectedly, to be a game controller — and patted the cushion next to him with an indulging smile. "Come over here and tell me about it."

Harper returned that smile with a big grin. She liked how naturally he would say "come over here" these days, with his arm stretched out and his gaze so soft and expecting, like it was simply the most normal thing to do for them to snuggle up that way every chance they got. Quickly kicking off her shoes, she darted to the couch and jumped into his embrace, smacking a loud kiss on his lips.

"Emory started her internship today," she reported merrily. "That girl is amazing! I expected her to take a couple of days to go through all the project documents I prepared for her, but guess what, it only took her a few hours. She understood it well too and even asked some really good questions. I think some of her opinions were actually very unique and should be added to the final design ..."

She trailed off when she noticed that the look on Eli’s face had apparently turned ... complicated.

"Um, would you prefer it if I don’t talk about Emory?" she ventured. "I mean, you asked me to tell you, so ..."

"Nah." Eli lifted her up from the couch, placing her in his lap instead, and wrapped his arms around her. "You’re just making me wish that I could apply for the internship position too and work for you," he said in a bit of a muffle with his nose buried in her hair.

"You ... what?" Harper’s train of thought was still focused on Emory, and she couldn’t quite catch up with the strange comment that came out of nowhere. "But why would you want to do that? Isn’t being an investor a hundred times better than being a minion who runs around the office following my orders?"

"Not if the minion is the one who gets to spend all day next to you and be praised for how good they are. And I like following your orders anyway."

Harper blinked at the tone that sounded like a little kid who was fighting back tears after losing his favorite toy to a big bully. Wait, that was totally Eli’s jealous voice ... Was he serious? Was this guy getting jealous for real over ... his half-sister who was simply working with his girlfriend as an intern?

"Hey, I praise my investor a lot for how good he is too! And investors are more important!" Harper blurted, nodding at the display monitor he had just paused in the middle of whatever game he was playing. "Think about it, no games can ever exist without them. Even big ones like this—"

She stopped herself, noticing belatedly that what was paused on the monitor wasn’t a big blockbuster game that she thought he might be trying out. It was ... Siberian Express?

For the second time tonight, Harper’s jaw dropped. What was he suddenly playing Siberian Express for? That game was short and silly and designed to be played only once, since the whole appeal of the mystery would be gone once the ending was revealed. Eli had already completed it before, so there was no reason why—

Oh.

But there was.

"D-Don’t tell me you’re trying to dig up the hidden inspiration I told you about." Harper looked back incredulously at the man behind her. "You’re really dead set on finding out what you missed? The thing I told you that Emory was the first to understand?" fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

The man had the sense to look sheepish. But that sheepishness lasted only a split second before it turned into a righteous determination. "If someone else can, so can I," he argued indignantly.

Harper couldn’t bite back a snort of laughter. "Nah, you can’t." As much as he might know her well, he wasn’t a fan of hard rock, and he probably had never even heard of the band whose style influenced her design. There was no way he could get the reference there.

"Is that a challenge?"

"No. It’s a statement. You just can’t."

"Watch me try."

"Nope, you definitely can’t."

The look on Eli’s face grew increasingly dark. Oh boy, Harper could almost see his jealousy level skyrocketing, and she suspected that if this guy were ever to end up meeting Emory ... That poor girl might just be facing some real danger.

This was certainly not the type of sibling rivalry she had expected to see!

"... Alright." Surprisingly, the jealous man seemed to have quickly changed his mind. "I’ll give up, if you prove you’re right by telling me what the answer is."

The crestfallen yet not-ready-to-admit-defeat look on his face was so adorable that Harper couldn’t resist chuckling. "I’m not telling you," she teased.

"Yes you are."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"Nop— Ahh!!!"

Her insistent rejection suddenly turned into a gasp when he flipped her over, throwing her off of his lap and onto the couch, looming over her threateningly with both arms blocking her sides. "Yes." He smirked. "Otherwise, I’ll have many ways to get the answer out of you, little demoness."