** Eli **
Eli couldn't help but feel amused as he texted Harper the theater's address five minutes later.
She had hung up all too quickly after that "Okay", and he could tell why. He heard the subtle change in her pitch — a telltale sign that she was shy. She might not have even realized it herself that ever since she was a kid, her voice always thinned whenever she defended herself from being naughty, or whenever someone teased her with false gossips. He could almost see her palming her face with that voice, regretting the "Okay" slipping from her tongue.
She hadn't changed that much after all, he thought with a smile.
It had really been too long. The last time when they saw each other was at his college graduation ceremony, and she was yet to turn eighteen that summer. In his eyes, she was still the young girl in the neighborhood who he nicknamed "little dove", for her sweet nature and the pure, innocent little bird that she always reminded him of. But now, four years later, when he stumbled upon a web novel that came out of her head, he could hardly believe that those wild words had come from the same little dove locked away in his memory.
In four years, she had grown from a girl into a bold woman, and he had missed out on that entire journey.
Eli didn't mean for that to happen though. Back when he first left for his new job on the other side of the country, he had every intention of staying in touch with her. She was just admitted into Davenshire University, the same place where he graduated, and it was her first time living in this city. Although he couldn't spare a vacation during his onboarding period to fly back and show her around, he had called her many times, trying to introduce her to the area and give her an insider's scoop on their campus. But she never answered his call. Whenever she returned a short text, it was always devoid of real content as well, as if she was reluctant to talk to him and was only replying out of politeness.
He never understood what happened to her then, though he was too occupied with work to think too much about it. Maybe she was just busy coping with college life. So their texts trickled off over time, and in the end, all they had exchanged since then came down to simple greetings on birthdays and new year's eves.
Then, four years later, she made a dramatic re-entry into his life with a web novel.
Eli's eyes drifted to the laptop next to him. The browser was still on the tab for her book, displaying the last scene he stopped at:
[ "I dreamed of you every night while you were away." She looked up at him with starry eyes. "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too," he caressed her cheek and said with all the tenderness in the world. With a hard thrust, he conquered her.
… ]
Eli smiled again as he re-read those passages for what must be the twentieth time. He still felt a bit of a disconnect whenever he tried to match that little dove with the author of this story, but at the same time, he could see the hints. The more he went over that chapter, the more he noticed words like "dreamy eyes" and "a gaze twinkling with starlight" and "a kiss so soft like the rustling of rose petals". Words that were too cute for adult fiction, but perfectly befitting the image of that eighteen-year-old girl in his mind.
Unfortunately for the story, however, this was part of her issue. Her scenes were sweet and lovely, filled with tender emotions, but that was not what most of her readers wanted from these chapters. They wanted heat. Instead of gentle cuddlings, they wanted wild entanglements that left the bed messy and sweaty. She was too green in that regard — her kisses were all close-mouthed; her dialogues weren't seductive; her descriptions of the deed itself … were nonexistent, and everything was over almost immediately after it started.
Obviously, he wouldn't tell her any of this bluntly. He hadn't lied about being a part-time editor for a while, and he knew from experience how easy it was to hurt a young writer's confidence with harsh criticism. He wanted to approach this subtly. For the past two weeks, he had been considering the best strategy, from sending her a sample story to analyze and mimic in her own words, to rewriting her chapter line by line and letting her learn by studying the markup. Those were all effective methods he had used for his previous clients. But …
Somehow, he couldn't convince himself to settle for any conventional approach. This was Harper, the girl who had been like a little sister to him. She deserved much more than just a regular client. Besides, her story had intrigued him, and he wanted to get a little closer to the real person behind those words. He wanted to see for himself what had really become of that girl in his memory after all the years he missed.
So he took advantage of his job position for once and came up with this highly customized plan.
His phone buzzed then, summoning his attention. [ Harper: The Balconies? Never heard of that theater before. Looking forward to it :) ]
Eli smiled. Of course she had never heard of it before. That theater was one of a kind, and she would soon be opening her eyes to a brand new experience.
He contemplated for a second and decided not to spoil the surprise. Concisely, he replied: [ Great. See you Saturday then, little dove. ]