His Naughty Lessons

** Eli **

Eli glanced back at the crowd that the brunette had disappeared into, searching his memories for any recollections of a similar face. He didn’t find any. And why would Harper expect him to know an intern candidate interviewing at her company in the first place?

"Well ... Her name is Emory Sterling," Harper explained.

Even then, it still took him an awkwardly long moment to figure out what that name suggested. "... You mean that’s my father’s daughter?"

Then he realized, belatedly, that "my father’s daughter" must be quite a strange way to refer to one’s half sister. Too bad it was the first and the most accurate phrasing that came to his mind.

"Yeah, I found out earlier this week when she came on site. Apparently she even used a fake name on her resume to try to hide her connection with our primary investor." Harper shook her head, then looked up at him with a cautious inquisitiveness. "You’ve really never met her before?"

"No, and I consider that a relief." Eli shifted his gaze back from the crowd. He didn’t have a particular reason to hate this half-sister, per se — or even her mother in that regard, because to be fair, neither of them had done anything intentionally to cause the farce that made his life crumble to dust — but that didn’t mean he was excited in any way to meet this extended part of his "family".

From the look on that girl’s face, she didn’t seem to know him either. Probably for the best for both of them.

"Are you considering hiring her?" he asked casually, more out of curiosity for Harper’s new job responsibility than this random sister’s internship prospect.

"Well ... I’ve actually been meaning to ask you about your opinion. I just haven’t found a good chance to do it all week, given how busy you’ve kept us occupied every night." Harper gave him a meaningful look at that. "Not saying today is a better time in that sense, but since we’re on the topic, do you have any objections to us hiring her? She did do quite well on the interview, and I like her a lot."

Interesting. Eli raised an eyebrow — "like" was actually quite a rare praise coming from someone with high standards like Harper.

"I’m not saying it from a biased point of view though," Harper explained hastily, apparently feeling the need to defend her stance on this person with a sensitive identity. "Five of my coworkers from different teams talked to her too, and their feedback was a unanimous A+. She’s pretty well-rounded in her skills, and her personality also fits in the company really well." She paused for a second, stealing a look at his expression before carefully adding, "It’s also kind of surprising how much she seems to have in common with me. I mean, just think about how likely we’d run into anyone else we know at an arcade! And she’s the first person to understand my first game from last summer so well, too."