She Ate My Lunch for Free Every Day—Until Six Tins of Luxury Caviar Arrived Chapter 06

When Vivian realized Derek would not listen, she asked for the general manager directly.

The general manager asked why I had put my name on the bin.

I opened our client–property policy to the section on chain of custody.

“If something goes wrong, the company needs to know who handled it. Signing my name was part of my responsibility.”

Renee compared the label with my photos and confirmed that I had used the designated blank field without covering the product name, inventory numbers, or warning.

I did not deny that I had been angry.

“I was done tolerating her behavior. But I locked the bin, added tamper seals, and told her explicitly not to touch it. I am not required to erase my own name from the office just to stop her from stealing.”

Kelsey kept her head down.

“You knew I would take it when I saw your name.”

“Why?”

She looked up.

I held her gaze and asked again.

“Why does seeing my name make you think you can take something?”

Her lips moved without producing a sound.

The conference room went silent. Even Derek did not interrupt on her behalf.

After a long pause, she answered quietly.

“Because you always let it go before.”

She said it so casually that every excuse I had made for her vanished at once. She had not been too hungry

to think. She had not forgotten my name.

She knew my name.

She also knew exactly what to say to make me tuck the empty container back into my desk drawer and say

nothing.

“Derek said that’s just how you are. He told me not to argue with you because you’d get over it.” Her words

came faster. “I didn’t know this time was actually serious. All of you can afford such nice things. What’s

wrong with letting me try some?”

Carol set down her pen.

“The fruit you took from me was something my mother saved for me after she came home from the hospital. Did you ask whether I could afford to lose it?”

Emma, our intern, raised her voice too.

“I bought that cheese with my meal credit.”

Kelsey drew in her shoulders and began to cry again.

“Now you’re all ganging up on me. I’m already suffering, and you’re dragging up things from months ago.”

This time, no one handed her a tissue.

That evening, Vivian took the documented tins with her and left a custody receipt. Replacement products had

to be found for the shoot, and her team missed dinner dealing with the mess.

I stayed at the office to update the production workflow.

Derek tapped the corner of my desk and asked me to step into the hallway.

No one else was there. His voice was much softer this time.

“No one wanted things to get this far. You know Vivian. Put in a good word for us.”

“What would you like me to say?”

“Tell her Kelsey was sampling flavors for the campaign. It was a promotional shoot. Opening samples is

normal.”

I looked at him without answering.

He held out a cup of hot coffee.

“Help me reframe what happened. Then I’ll negotiate the amount with her. If the company investigates this,

I’m in trouble too.”

I did not take the coffee.

“When she ate my lunch, you told me not to embarrass the department. Now that she ate a client’s product,

you want me to falsify the facts for her.”

“I’m asking you to be flexible.”

“Should the client be flexible when they receive food stirred with a spoon someone licked?”

His hand tightened around the paper cup, leaving a deep crease.

“Do you have to humiliate everyone involved?”

The door opened behind us.

Linda stood there. She had clearly heard the last part. She looked at me, then at Derek.

“Maya, you’ve worked long enough to know people need some grace. If Kelsey really has to pay more than $7,000, how is she supposed to live?”

I looked at her.

“Yesterday, when I asked Kelsey to repay my lunch, you said she was just immature. Now that the amount is serious, why aren’t you telling her to figure it out herself?”

Linda opened her mouth but had no answer.