His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 239: Threat or Promise?

** Harper **

They spent the next couple of hours working on that living room together, running back and forth and hopping up and down. The whole project must’ve ended up taking way longer than Eli expected, especially considering how easily Harper got distracted all the time by the various games that tickled her memories, or the unfairly adorable plushies that always rendered her defenseless.

"Awww, look at this cute thing with huge bubbly eyes!" she marveled as she pulled out a tofu shaped cat plush, still wrapped up with baby blue tissue paper in its shipping box. Those innocent, round golden eyes that took up half the space on its face made it look so irresistibly huggable. "How did you know this is exactly the type of kitty I like?" She immediately wrapped her arms around the plushie, giving it a cuddly squeeze.

Eli looked back from the entertainment center, which he had moved left and right at least ten times in an attempt to find the best position against the wall. "That one? Because I’ve seen you keep staring at it." He smiled at her silly excitement. "Do you not remember? At the amusement park last time, your eyes were pretty much glued to this thing when we were in the gift shop. I know you tried to hide it so that I wouldn’t judge you for acting like a little kid, but you did a bad job and it was so obvious."

Ugh. Did she really?

"... Maybe that was my plan to get you to buy it for me all along." Harper made a face, trying to cover up the fact that he was completely right — as much as she tried to pretend otherwise, she was totally a little kid when it came to cute and fuzzy things like this.

"What about this one then?" She nodded at a white fox with a big fluffy tail perched on the other side of the sofa. It was adorable too, but with a unique design she had never seen before. She highly doubted it was possible that he had caught her drooling over the same stuffed animal in a store.

"It’s the second part of the series to that limited edition bunny you had back home." The smile on Eli’s face turned a bit uncertain this time. "I mean, I know you’ve had the bunny for over a decade, so if you aren’t into this style anymore, feel free to get rid of it ... But just saying, I thought the image of a fox fits you much better than a bunny these days."

... How had he managed to remember all these trivial details about her for all this time?

Harper felt that familiar flutter in her heart again, and she started studying all his newly purchased decorations in a fresh light. "And this?" she asked, pointing to a canvas pillow with two lovebirds printed in pastel colors. Surely the image there couldn’t have some extra meanings as well, other than being the common symbol of love?

Eli gave her a meaningful smirk at that. Then he strode over to the couch and flipped the pillow over to the other side.

It was a customized photo print of their in-ride snapshot on the rollercoaster, with her mouth wide open in mid scream!

"... I think it looks better on the other side." Harper wished she could wipe that embarrassing photo off the face of the planet, and she hastily reached for the pillow, returning it to the side with the lovebirds.

"Oh come on, that’s lame." Eli grabbed the hot potato and turned it around once more. This time, before Harper could reach over and flip it back, he caught her arm and pulled her to his side, blocking her from the pillow. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

"Also, I need to complain." He pressed her into the couch with a feigned grumpy face. "You’re giving this pillow more attention than you’re currently giving your boyfriend. That was not the goal of adding these decorations to the room at all."

"..."

Harper gave up, knowing that her boyfriend wasn’t exactly joking. He was seriously the type that could get jealous over a mere pillow!

Meekly surrendering under his clutch, she sighed at the silly memory that had now become a permanent part of their living space. "Fine, RIP to my social image and let this be my memorial forever," she lamented. "I’ll just have to take some equally embarrassing pictures of you too and let you join me in that grave."

Eli cocked his head. "Hmm. Is that a threat or a promise?"

... This arrogant bastard! He thinks she can’t possibly find a way to get such a picture out of him?

Harper’s brain whirred, tossing up ideas from popular weekend activities like paintballs to the more crazy stuff like skydiving. The latter of which she’d probably never dare try in her entire life. She doubted any of those ideas would earn her a better photo pose than Eli though ... until finally, the perfect thought came to her mind.

"I’ll take you out on a date this weekend," she offered. "I’ll pick the spot. You’ve always been the one to surprise me, so it’s my turn to find something to impress you with this time around ... and get that picture taken."

The intrigued yet suspicious light in his eyes was exactly the type of response she wanted to see.

~ ~

"Yep, that second store around the corner right there!"

Two days later, Harper directed the old little Honda through the busy Saturday traffic, until they arrived at a storefront tucked into an unnamed sidestreet. The suspicion on Eli’s face grew exponentially as they parked, and he poked his head out of the car, staring at the strange shop sign that looked like a graffiti wall with anime characters and maid cosplayers clustered all over.

"Where the heck are we?" he mumbled. "Akihabara?"

Harper laughed, and she didn’t give him more time to gawk dubiously. Snatching his hand, she pulled him straight into the neon-lit entrance.