Chapter 268: Off to Battle
** Harper **
If Harper could make any wishes come true, it would be for the magic of this weekend to last a little longer. She couldn’t have enough of that enchanting moment in the park, or those delicate kisses that felt almost too dreamy to be real. Or the rest of the night that followed after they returned home, which steered the innocent pureness of that chaste date into an utterly opposite direction that left her mind hazy with bliss.
But just like every other weekend, good times always pass by faster than one would wish. Almost too swiftly, Monday was already waving ahead, and before she knew it, she had to return to the battlefield that was the office, leaving all those sweet dreams behind.
That was alright. There was always the next weekend, once she dealt with this monumental deadline.
Harper glanced around the office as she got off the elevator, smiling battle-ready morning greetings to her coworkers. At least she was getting all the help she could on that — a good part of the development team had been helping her with the project these days, including a handful who weren’t officially under her lead, and she appreciated all the hands she could have on deck. Hopefully, the deadline would come and go smoothly, and then she’d be free to indulge herself in however many more weekends there were to come.
She paused when she rounded the corner to her cubicle, noting that Lindsey wasn’t there yet. Strange, and quite unusual for the famous earlybird of the office.
"Good morning, boss!" Emory chirped from her seat. "Happy Monday — oh I like your new hairstyle."
It was definitely an interesting change, to have a young girl in the office paying so much more attention to fashion than Lindsey ever would, and Harper found it fascinating every time someone addressed her as "boss".
"Morning and thanks, Emory. I was—" She caught herself just before mentioning that the new hairstyle was another one of Eli’s latest experiments for her gala look. Possibly too much information there for the present company. "—I was trying something different, now that summer is almost over."
"Ah, I know right? The weather is certainly feeling like fall already, even though it’s only late August." Emory nodded toward Lindsey’s empty chair. "Brandon came over a few minutes ago and said Lindsey called out sick today because of a cold. Must be the sudden temperature drop."
Uh oh. Really? Lindsey called out sick? That was bad news ...