Chapter 3

Then Chris messaged: [Jay, is there some kind of misunderstanding between you and Brandon?]

I tapped to open the files.

Brandon had actually gone into the interns' private group chat to play the victim.

He claimed he was just being nice by getting me lunch, but I was so stingy I wouldn't even buy him a single cup of coffee. He accused me of using my seniority to push him around and using a cup of coffee to humiliate him.

He even posted two screenshots of payment receipts for the meals.

One was from yesterday, a takeout order for eleven dollars. The other was from this morning, a meal bowl for twelve dollars.

Hiding in the bathroom, Brandon sent a voice memo with a trembling, tearful voice:

"I know interns are supposed to fall in line, but are we not human beings? Does seniority give him the right to walk all over us like this?

"Today it's me getting exploited, but tomorrow it's going to be one of you. None of us are safe!"

His tone was pure manipulation. Every word was crafted to frame me as a workplace bully.

Chris had tried to speak up for me in the chat. "I don't think Jay is really like that..."

"That's just an act!" Brandon shot back. "If he's so great, why didn't he treat us to dinner after getting that bonus? I checked. Team Three went out last week, and their manager treated everyone to a whole seafood buffet."

Silence fell over the chat.

Chris sent me a direct message: [Jay, do you want to jump in and clear things up with everyone?]

I didn't answer.

He followed up: [Honestly, none of us are making a huge deal out of the free meal, but every other team does it… Brandon kind of has a point.]

A point? A bitter, cold laugh escaped my throat.

My chest felt hollow.

I had personally mentored all five of these interns.

Ryan, the earliest hire, had joined back in March. Midway through, he took two whole months off to focus on his senior thesis defense.

The HR manager, Vivian Ashford, came to me directly, pointing out that internship spots were tight and hundreds of applicants were fighting for them. She advised me to let him go.

Knowing how brutal the job market was for fresh grads, I took Miss Ashford out to lunch and begged her to make an exception. That was the only reason Ryan still had his spot.

Then there was Chris. He started with zero technical experience. At first, he couldn't keep up with the pace and ended up staying past eleven almost every single night. A few times, the pressure got so intense he broke down crying at his desk late at night.

The moment I noticed, I restructured his workload. I walked him through everything step by step, teaching him from scratch. For the last two weeks straight, he hadn't worked a single minute of overtime.

Aside from not taking them out for a celebration dinner with my bonus, I had never done a single wrong thing by these interns.

After all of that?

For the price of a free meal, they sided with Brandon.

I lowered my eyes, my fingers hovering over the keyboard to type, when Chris sent another screenshot.

One of the other interns had spoken up in the group chat: [At the end of the day, Jay is still our lead. Brandon, if you cross him like this, what if he blocks your return offer?]

The rest of the group seemed to snap back to reality, chiming in one after another:

[Yeah, we still need our return offers.]

[Brandon, don't stir up trouble. It's so hard to land a job right now. If this ruins our chances, are you going to take responsibility?]

[It took so much effort just to get this position.]

[My parents had to pull serious strings just to get me this interview.]

Brandon dropped a fearless, laughing emoji into the chat.

[What are you guys scared of? I asked HR a few days ago. Return offer decisions belong strictly to upper management, not team leads.]

[Jay is just a low-level team leader. If he weren't managing us, who would even care about him?]

[No way, the more I think about this, the madder I get.]

[I'm blowing this whole thing up. I'm taking this to everyone so they can see how unfairly I'm being treated.]

[When I do, you guys better back me up.]

The screenshot ended there.

Chris typed out a new message: [Jay, I know things are tough for you too, but everyone's emotions are running high because of Brandon.]

[Why don't you just swallow your pride, apologize to Brandon, and treat everyone to lunch? It won't cost that much anyway.]

[If this turns into a huge scene, it's going to look really bad on you.]

I stared at those two messages, a heavy, sinking feeling pulling at my gut.

Just as I was about to type back, Mr. Beckett finally hung up the phone call.

He turned to look at me. "Jay, the company is restructuring next month, and our department is spinning out your team into its own unit.

“Start thinking about the intern evaluations. Who you want to keep for full-time offers is entirely up to you. I won't interfere."