She’s Poking the Tiger, and I’m Enjoying the Show Chapter 08

She’s Poking the Tiger, and I’m Enjoying the Show Chapter 08

When the park’s safety director played that section of the footage in the conference room, everyone

fell silent.

Ethan twisted his fingers together, his voice unsteady.

“Maybe she panicked and lost track of which door was closer.”

The safety director gave him a cold look.

“She got out through the door on the left side of the vehicle. Our staff repeatedly warned everyone not to open another door. The passenger on the right kept her door locked and did not violate any safety rules.”

Daniel kept his head lowered.

“I can confirm that. Emma kept telling us not to open the doors, and she called the park

immediately.”

Ryan finally stopped playing dumb.

“Yeah… I heard Emma, too.”

Maya spoke through her tears.

“I was terrified, but I saw Aria yanking on Emma’s door.”

Ethan’s face fell.

At noon, the company sent a vice president and a lawyer from its legal department to the park.

. The vice president pulled me aside and spoke in a carefully polite tone.

“Emma, the company understands that this was traumatic. We’ll arrange counseling and make sure you don’t lose any pay for the time you need off.”

I watched him without responding.

After a brief pause, he finally got to the real reason he was there.

“The situation online is getting out of control. Aria is seriously injured, and her family is understandably upset. For now, the company would prefer that no one inflame the situation, especially by making definitive claims about another employee’s intentions.”

I gave a cold laugh.

“What claims?”

The vice president looked uncomfortable.

“Whether Aria deliberately ran to your side is difficult to prove. Publicly, we can simply say she

Panicked.”

“I’m not going along with a company-approved story.”

“I’ll stick to the facts. Aria livestreamed the entire incident, and Frecorded it from inside the van.”

“If the company pressures me to hide evidence, change my statement, or take the blame for what happened, I’ll contact an employment attorney. I’ll also turn the recording of this conversation

over to the police and the press.”

The vice president was silent for a long time.

Finally, he managed to force out a reply.

“Take some time to recover. No one is going to force you to do anything.”

That evening, the park released a public statement.

It didn’t name me.

It identified Aria Bennett as a guest on a private company outing and stated that she had violated posted safety rules by exiting her vehicle, feeding the tiger, and provoking it.

The statement said that her injuries had resulted from her own actions and confirmed that park

staff had followed emergency protocols.

Several key surveillance clips were released with the faces blurred.

Public opinion swung the other way almost immediately.
The people in Aria’s fan group chat who had attacked me began deleting their comments.

The company group chat changed its tune just as quickly.

[I always thought Aria took things too far.]

[Livestreaming in a place like that? She must have a death wish.]

[Thank God Emma didn’t open the door. Aria could’ve gotten everyone in the van killed.]

I read the messages without feeling anything.

The day before, those same people had demanded that I explain myself, cooperate with the company, and stop making the situation worse.

They hadn’t grown a conscience overnight.

They had simply seen which way the crowd was turning.

The platform permanently banned Aria’s account for displaying dangerous behavior, encouraging others to imitate it, and violating its public-safety rules.

The company soon sent out an internal disciplinary email.

As the organizer of the outing, Ethan had failed to enforce basic safety procedures. He was

suspended from supervisory duties pending an investigation.

Daniel had been assigned to drive the minivan, but he had failed to verify that every door was locked before entering the carnivore enclosure.

He received a formal reprimand and had part of his performance bonus withheld.

Aria was fired.

The language in the email was cold.

[Her actions constituted a serious violation of the Employee Code of Conduct and caused

substantial reputational and financial harm to the company.]

It made it sound as though Aria had only damaged the company’s image.

But I knew what she had really tried to take.

My life.

The park later sought reimbursement from Aria’s family for the additional rescue costs and damage to its containment barriers.