Chapter 202: Shared Interests
** Harper **
Harper had a moment of panic when Tyler threw that question out of nowhere. Was this why he had called both of them on the phone one after another that day? Had he been suspecting things this whole time ever since he learned they were in Hawaii together?
To break the news to him was one thing. To defend herself and Eli against whatever presumptions he had already made about them, however ... was another and potentially a lot more complicated.
Her mind was whirling to come up with a smart excuse to dodge the question when Chelsea’s voice came through the earbud, "Hey, don’t jump to conclusions and freak out yet. His tone doesn’t sound right for suspecting what you think he’s suspecting. And I kind of doubt his head is even going there at all, since he looks like the thickheaded overprotective type of brother who keeps forgetting that his sister is already an adult."
Erm ... Thanks, Chelsea. Not entirely sure if that observation was supposed to be reassuring, though.
"Anyway, maybe he’s worried that you guys aren’t getting along," Chelsea continued. "Try pretend that’s what you think he means."
Harper was skeptical. Surely Tyler couldn’t be so far off that he was assuming the complete opposite scenario to what was actually happening. But instinctively, she trusted her relationship guru’s judgment, so she gave it a shot. "Oh come on," she faked an enlightened smile and said, "you’re not thinking that Eli was bullying me at work by sending me to all the meetings he didn’t like?"
Tyler gave Eli a look. "Nah, we have at least that much faith in our old friend, right Eli?" He smiled trustingly, though the barely hidden downturn of the corner of his mouth betrayed a different thought. "I was just— well, curious about how much shared interest you guys still have nowadays. Since you know, it’s been a while since you last talked before this sudden reunion through work."
Oh, shit. He actually remembered that she had soft-banned Eli from her life during college. Maybe Chelsea’s interpretation was indeed correct, and Tyler was assuming that Eli had taken the opportunity to get back at the person giving him a cold shoulder for years ...
"That’s it then," Chelsea gloated in the earpiece. "Though by the way, I’m sure you guys still have shared interests just fine. No need for too many anyway, one is enough as long as it keeps you both easily occupied for hours."
"..." Harper barely resisted the urge to turn back and deliver a deadly glare to her friend.
Fortunately, Eli came timely to rescue the conversation. "It’s hard not to share interest in Harper’s project, actually." He pulled out his phone from his pocket. "This is the phase one demo for it. Take a look. Everyone on the executive board was swept away by it. I was curious enough to have scheduled myself in as many of her meetings as I could when we were at the summit, but you know how investment groups work — in the end, I had to spend most of the day burning my ears off with budget proposals and market analyses. Couldn’t indulge in cool technical presentations as much as I liked to."