His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 292: The Right One for Him

** Harper **

Harper studied the man in front of her dubiously. He was surely in a good mood, to still be up for more mind games after that hell of a gala.

"Eli never wanted that position at your company," she said. That much was a statement of the obvious fact. "But if you get the public on your side with an unfortunate health story, maybe you’ll be able to pressure him into accepting it. Or at least so you think."

Eli’s father gave her a smile of approval. "So I think?" he questioned her addendum, sounding intrigued.

"He doesn’t give in to anyone as easily as it might seem. If he ends up eventually bending to your wish, it is only because a part of him does see value in what you’re offering, and your manipulation simply gives him an excuse to convince himself that it’s ok to do it."

A look of surprise crossed Ronald Sterling’s eyes.

"Eli has a great talent for business." The old man let out a wistful sigh. "Sterling Trust is the perfect place for him to do what he’s good at, and he knows it. But because of ... personal reasons, he doesn’t want anything to do with my company. A terrible decision that will cause irreparable damage to his own career."

"Can you blame him for that choice?" Harper asked.

It wasn’t like her to talk this way, especially not when the other person was an elder and a supposed patient needing gentle care. But she didn’t like the righteous tone she heard, as if the loving father was lamenting over an ungrateful son who didn’t understand his sacrifice.

"... I see, so he has told you the story." Eli’s father, surprisingly, did not look offended by her attitude. "Do you agree with him then, and think that I’m overly calculating as well? That I simply want to push him into a place I want him to be without caring for his opinions at all?"

Harper was quiet for a moment, unsure how to respond to that complex question.

"He is my son. Nothing will ever change that, and I never cared about him any less than I do my daughter." Another sigh, this one heavier and more complicated than before. "But he is stubborn, in ways that would only hurt his own chances. Sometimes, like you said, he simply needs a little push to go in the direction that he should be going in the first place. Getting him back to Davenshire, making him the leader of the company, even the failed arrangement with Voyage Bank and Miss Jones — I can say without the slightest guilt that it was all for his own good. As a father, there is no way that I wouldn’t care about my only son’s future."

"You care about his future, not his feelings." Harper shook her head. The fatherly speech actually helped her understand something. "Eli might be gaining career experience at this job, but he hasn’t been happy with all the power games between you and your people. And your arrangement with Voyage Bank? How could you possibly think someone like Vanessa Jones could be good for him?"

This time, Eli’s father raised an eyebrow. "Why, are you saying you are the one that’s good for him instead?"

The unexpected challenge made Harper pause once more, and she suddenly remembered that she was currently talking to ... her boyfriend’s only parent, which made that a trick question in many different ways.

Ever since she and Eli started dating, the two of them hadn’t really talked about anything serious relationship-wise. Being with him had simply felt right, and she didn’t want to scare him with conversations about the future or a lifetime commitment anyway, so the thought of long term compatibility had never even crossed her mind. But now that the least expected person was bringing up the question ...

"Not in a way that meets your standards, I’m afraid." Harper chose honesty. "But in the only way that matters to both him and myself, yes."

She might have felt a bit shocked by her own courage to admit the fact, though the truth was, she had never been so sure of another thought in her life. Despite the short amount of time that the two of them had been a couple, she could feel the answer in every moment they spent together, and she never doubted it the slightest bit.

A brief silence descended in the room. Eli’s father looked thoughtful.

"I will be honest with you, child. You were never the first one I would choose to match with my son ... but I did see this coming."

Ronald Sterling shifted his gaze, staring at nothing in particular on the wall across from them. "You and your brother had always been special to Eli. He didn’t have it easy the first few years he moved to the east coast with me, and I could tell that he was seeing your family as his own, perhaps as a way to distance himself from his real home. When I first heard that the two of you had found each other again after he moved back to the city, I just couldn’t help but wonder if it was time for that ’family’ to turn into something more. And that was when I accelerated the plan with Voyage Bank, in the hopes that I could stop this from happening before it is too late."

Harper stared at him, stunned.

"As you can see, however, it is already too late. Eli had made his choice, one that he doesn’t appear to plan on changing. So consider this my peace offering — because as much as both of you believe otherwise, I do care about what he truly wants." Ronald Sterling gave her another smile. "Just promise me that in the future, you will always keep him at the first and foremost place in your life. My son deserves the best, and I expect you to be able to give that to him."