Chapter 277: An Old Acquaintance’s Surprise
** Eli **
At the end of the day, they did ruin the bathwater completely, and Eli had to put a lot of effort into hiding his laughter at the straight face Harper tried to make when they came out to meet the staff again, complimenting that the bath was superbly "revitalizing".
Having gotten all the stress and steam out of the way, the rest of their time at the spa was finally relaxing as intended. Harper insisted on skipping a full body massage — for reasons that were only obvious and entirely too visible to Eli — so they got a foot massage together instead, all the while she darted him meaningful looks that promised retaliation on what he had done. Then she went for an extended facial, and as it turned out, there was a surprising amount of satisfaction to be found in spending an hour and a half looking at nothing except her lovely face.
The self care journey ended with an impromptu dinner at a neighborhood BBQ joint, perfect for the end of summer. When the two of them returned home at last, fully recharged in every way, Eli’s only regret was that the day couldn’t be twice as long as it was.
He could live with it though. As long as the short break kept Harper freshened up and energetic for the final touches on her designs next week, it wouldn’t be long before they could take as much time as they wanted to celebrate her success.
That was the thought on his mind when he returned to his own weekly routine on Monday, arriving at his office with a contented smile plastered firmly to his face.
"Boss, is that an excited look I see for the gala coming up this weekend?"
He had barely settled down behind the desk when Justin poked his head in through the jarred door, greeting his boss with a somewhat insincerely uplifting tone.
Eli was slowly starting to get used to such a scene over the past couple of weeks. Apparently, his assistant had been feeling quite a bit sour for missing out on the golden event. Somewhat understandably — it was an unhidden rule in the industry that big shots with wide connections, such as an heir of a large regional investment company, would have various ways to secure an additional invitation or two for their personal favorite staff. Justin had obviously been trying to court that favor since Hawaii ... Though unfortunately, unbeknownst to him, the precious bonus he was vying for had already gone to Chelsea instead.