His Naughty Lessons

** Harper **

Wednesday's excursion had ended too soon, and it felt like a dream too sweet to be true. But the toll of scratchiness that Harper's voice had taken from all the screaming was solid proof that it was real indeed, and when she strode into her office the next morning, she was still overloaded with enough cheeriness that she hummed a romantic song the entire way to her cubicle.

"Look at our literal game changer!" Lindsey popped her head up from behind her computer, grinning widely as Harper turned into their shared space. "Good to see that you apparently feel just as jolly as Brandon. Congrats!"

Harper stopped mid-hum, her various daydreams of Eli interrupted by a blast of words that made no sense. "… Congrats? What for?" she asked at a loss. "And why is Brandon feeling jolly?"

Lindsey looked at Harper with a somewhat funny expression over her glasses. "You don't know yet?" She waved a hand in the general direction of Brandon's office. "I won't spoil the surprise for you then. Boss wants to talk to you in his office — about big news, I heard."

Oh, that was quick. Harper wondered what the big news could be. It was too soon for the investors' decision to have come back already, so it had to be about her project specifically. She downed the remainder of her morning coffee to mentally prepare herself, then went to find her boss.

The office door was open, and Brandon was standing in front of a giant flow chart drawn on the whiteboard wall, studying it earnestly. Something quite out of the ordinary for him, Harper thought. She hesitated a little before knocking lightly on the door.

"Ah, there you are." Brandon gestured at the flow chart in lieu of hello. Lindsey was right — his expression did seem noticeably excited. "This is the most ambitious project timeline I've seen in many years! It'd really be nothing short of 'Miracles' if we manage to pull this off."

Harper glanced over the chart. Either it was extremely detailed, or the project in question was enormous, because the colored boxes all but filled the entire wall. "Is this … what you wanted to talk to me about?" she asked.

"Oh yes. Come on in. I have some very good and very grand news for you." Brandon put on a your-manager-is-super-pleased smile as Harper closed the door behind her and took a seat. "We've decided to start implementing your space RPG proposal. Or space tactical adventure, as you have renamed it. As part of the plan to accelerate the development schedule, you are also getting a big promotion. It will guarantee all the resources you need to push things through the concept phase by the end of August."

Harper blinked. Her brain hit a momentary pause after processing the very first sentence. "We're going straight to implementation?" she asked, uncertain if she'd heard it wrong. "But … The typical process still requires marketing studies, user surveys … and a few other relevant types of research, I thought?"

Brandon waved a dismissive hand. "Malcolm Smith thought highly of your project. That man's opinion is as good as gospel and speaks more than any research we need. We'll go straight into full concept design" — he tapped a finger on the first large box in the flow chart — "starting right now until the end of August."

A few different thoughts filled Harper's head next, all at the same time. First, that she had seriously underestimated the significance of Eli's help — who the heck was this Malcolm Smith, if a mere word from him was good enough to not only change her boss's mind, but also replace months of marketing studies? Second, that her dream had really come true — she had really earned a future for this project, the one she had wanted to make for years. And third …

That Brandon had said "end of August".

"End of August?" Harper gasped. "It is almost July already. Two months for a full concept design, at a scale this level …"

"Which is why you are getting a promotion." Brandon was exceptionally patient today, reiterating every piece of information that had slipped past Harper earlier. Perhaps the jolly mood helped him understand how difficult it was for her to keep track of things when every word came as a shock. "We've allotted the budget for you to hire two interns and one junior designer. They will report to you directly. Others on your current team might also be able to share some workload, depending on the partnership bidding's final outcome."

Harper said "Oh". Then nodded. Then nodded some more. It took some effort to make sense of the whirlwind of news. "Right. The bidding result is the key, obviously. Investors will eventually need to approve of these changes."

Brandon fixed her with a somewhat amused look. "They will ask for more, you mean," he said with a broadening smile. "Remember the VR discussion at the meeting? Our current budget won't allow that, but if — fingers crossed — Sterling Trust does decide to partner with us, we might end up getting some wiggle room. Let's not get ahead of ourselves yet, but just keep in mind that it is a possibility for us to expand the team even further."

The expression on Harper's face must've been utterly incredulous, though Brandon ignored it, turning back to the flow chart on the wall. "For now, we'll focus on your proposal the way it is. This is the timeline that the marketing and software project managers suggested. I'll email you a copy to review, then we should sit down to get it finalized. But the gist of it on your side is to finish the concept and quest outlines by August, then the detailed story and scenes by February, and lastly the full narrative by April."

It was an extremely ambitious timeline indeed, less than a year for a brand new game of this complexity. But Harper always liked a challenge, and she knew from the way Brandon looked at her that he already saw her eyes light up in excitement. "I'll be right on it." She got up from her seat. "I'll also call another meeting to gather some technical feedback on my current proposal. That will probably help me get a better understanding of the time constraints."

"Great idea. And do share the doubly good news with your teammates. Your work was outstanding and deserves some celebration."

Harper smiled and said thanks. As she stepped out of the office, however, she didn't go straight back to her cubicle. Her hand went straight to her pocket instead, and she picked out her phone.

Teammates could wait. For big news like this, Eli would have to be the first one to know.