Chapter 110: Privileged Treatment
** Harper **
There is a famous line frequently used in novels: "If looks could kill, he would’ve been dead a thousand times already."
That was precisely the line coming to Harper’s mind when she caught the fleeting glare Eli darted at Wallace. It was gone in an instant, probably unnoticed by everyone else, but she could swear the disdain in that look was so undisguised that it almost made her shudder.
What had Wallace done to warrant such hostility after mere minutes of sharing a ride?
Maybe Eli was still in a bad mood. Harper had actually been shocked when she heard him offer the limo, and she took it as a good sign that he must have recovered enough from Saturday’s emotional blow to be willing to come near her again. Her hope at steering the trip back into its original direction was slowly rekindled. But seeing the look on his face now ... Did Wallace accidentally say something that triggered the forbidden topic once more? Was it the talk about coffee?
"Coffee preference is a personal thing," Eli was saying. He sounded casual, but knowing the timber of his voice to heart, Harper didn’t miss the hint of coldness seeping through. "I’m sure everyone is different. Myself, for instance, will gladly enjoy anything from the lightest to the darkest as long as it wakes me up. Harper is the same way, if I remember correctly."
Harper gave him a puzzled glance. That was a strange comment coming from him. The last time they had met in a business setting, he was more or less pretending that they were mere acquaintances who happened to bump into each other in the hallway. But this time, he didn’t seem hesitant at all to admit how well he knew her ...
"Oh," Wallace said next to her, somehow looking a bit crestfallen as he absorbed the information.
It took a moment for Harper to process the situation. Was Eli sharing their coffee preferences to ... make Wallace realize that it was a waste of effort to impress the wrong person with his coffee connoisseurship?