Kai hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. He hoped everything with Winnie was okay, but he was sure she would message him later. They had been talking on the phone every few days and texting each other at least once a day. He didn’t know if he and Winnie could ever be more than friends, but just having her as a friend was enough--at least for now. He needed to focus on work and his mother right now anyway.
Kai headed up to his office with the heaviness still in his gut, but hope in his heart. Finally, everything was going his way for once. He had a good job, his mother was taken care of, and he had a good friend in Winnie. He could have nearly whistled he was so happy as he took the elevator up to the Rad Phoenix office.
But as the doors to the elevator opened, he wished the floor would have opened and swallowed him. Several men in suits were waiting for him, and they did not look friendly. He mashed on the elevator buttons to close the door, but two of the men put their hands on the door to hold it open while two other men grabbed him by the arms and dragged him into the HR office.
“What’s going on?” he demanded. “I didn’t do anything!”
In the HR office, several of the upper-level managers and Kitty were there waiting for him. Kitty looked worried, her brow furrowed. Everyone else looked mad.
“You can’t treat me like this!” Kai said as the men unhanded him.
“We can treat you much worse,” one of the older men, the company president Kai thought, said. “You’re lucky we haven’t called the police.”
“Called the police for what?” Kai asked, still doing his best to feign innocence.
“You stole the code for our newest game,” the man said. “And sold it to Whirlwind. They are already advertising their ‘new’ game, which will be released a month before ours.”
“Years of research and development,” another man, probably a vice president, said. “Millions of dollars in investments. All gone!”
“I’m sorry for whatever is going on,” Kai said. “But it has nothing to do with me.”
“Don’t try to deny it,” the head of IT said. “We were able to trace the code download. It was after hours, when only a few people were on the floor. Including you.”
Kai shook his head in denial, but really it was in his own stupidity. Of course the company would be monitoring the code in order to protect their product.
“I was just here killing time, playing games,” he said. “You said yourself other people were on the floor.”
“But none of them have been seen going to Whirlwind's office,” the president said. “You were seen on a CCTV video visiting their offices just last week.”
Kai did his best to not show any emotion, but his heart was racing. He was caught. He was stupid. He’d messed up. And now he was going to pay the price.
“Why, Kai?” Kitty asked, shaking her head. “This hurts all of us. If our version of the game doesn’t perform the way the projections promised, most of us are going to lose our jobs.”
Kai sighed. “I...I don’t know. I’m sorry. I can’t...It wasn’t…” He couldn’t admit to what he had done without putting himself at risk, but continuing his denial was insulting to all of them.
The president slid a piece of paper across the table toward Kai. “Sign this,” he said. “It says that as long as you pay the fine as stipulated in your contract and accept your termination, we won’t press charges.”
Kai looked at the paper and his eyes fell on the amount of the fine. One million yuan. Nearly one hundred and fifty thousand American dollars. Way more than Whirlwind had paid him. More money than he would earn in a decade at his current wages. And now he wouldn’t even have that. He was out of a job. Out of money. What about his mother? He felt sick. He thought he was going to pass out.
“Sign it!” the president yelled.
“I...I don’t have the money…” Kai mumbled.
“Then you better find it,” the president said, holding up a pen, “after you sign.”
Kai took the pen from the president with a shaking hand and signed the paper.
The president picked up the paper and shoved it at one of the other managers. “Now, get out of my sight,” he said to Kai.
Kai backed his way out of the room and rushed down the aisles toward the elevators.
“Kai!” Kitty called, chasing after him. He slowed and turned to her.
“Kitty,” he said, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t do it for me. It was for my mom. For her treatments.”
Kitty’s mouth gaped open and closed a few times as she seemed to suddenly remember the conversations they’d had over insurance. Then she nodded. “Of course. Please, come to my office. I’ve been put in charge of collecting the money from you.”
“I’m sorry to have gotten you involved in this,” Kai said as he followed her and they shut the door behind them. “I...I was desperate.”
“I know,” Kitty said, going to her desk. “I wish I had remembered about your mom sooner. I’m so sorry about that. But I was just so shocked, and then angry. You must realize that even a million yuan could be a fraction of what the company will lose. Not to mention the jobs that will be cut. You are lucky you aren’t going to jail.”
“I know,” Kai said. “But what am I going to do now? I have no job. How am I going to pay for Mom’s treatments?”
Kitty shook her head. “I wish I could do more,” she said. “But all I can do is help you work out a payment plan.”
“A payment plan?” Kai asked.
“You won’t have to pay all the money at once, but you will have to get it paid off within a year,” Kitty explained. “But if you are even one day late or one yuan short on the payments, you will be arrested. It’s the best I can do, but it might buy you some time to figure something out.”
“Could you suddenly figure out how to find a million yuan?” Kai snapped, and instantly felt guilty. This was his problem. He knew the risks and he did it anyway. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“I am too,” Kitty said. “The first payment is due within twenty-four hours.” She handed him a small booklet with twelve payment vouchers with the due dates and amounts written on each one. Kai took it with a long sigh. The first payment would take most of what he had gotten from Whirlwind.
“Thanks,” he mumbled as he walked out of the office. He could feel the eyes of his former workmates burning on him as he headed to the elevator. He had betrayed all of them. As he walked to his car, his phone rang. It was Winnie. Normally, he would be excited to answer, but he wasn’t sure he could feign acting like everything was fine right now. But he couldn’t resist hearing her voice, so he answered on the third ring as he climbed into his car.
“Kai?” she asked, her voice small.
“Hey,” he said. “So what happened with your mom?”
“My sister is having some sort of complications with her pregnancy,” Winnie said. “I’m not sure what is wrong, but they are all flying to Shanghai, to the maternity hospital right now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, then it dawned on him that they were coming to Shanghai, where they thought Winnie lived. “Wait. What about you?”
“I’m coming too,” she said. “But my flight won’t arrive until early tomorrow morning. I was wondering if you could help cover for me.”
“Sure,” he said, his mood brightening, surprisingly. “I’m not sure what I can do, but I’ll do whatever you need.”
“Thank you so much,” Winnie said, and he could hear her exhale in relief. She must have been so worried, both about her sister and getting caught in her rouse. He felt his problems fading to the background for the moment. “I’m going to rent an AirBnB so it looks like I have an apartment there in Shanghai. They are going to stay there. If I send you the info, can you go get the keys?”
“No need,” Kai said. “I’ve been renting my apartment out as an AirBnB anyway. I don’t have any guests right now. They can stay with me. I’ll tell them it’s your place.”
“Oh my gosh,” Winnie said. “Thank you so much!”
“No problem,” Kai said, feeling glad he was able to help someone right now, even if he couldn’t help himself.
“Okay, can you go meet them at the hospital, make excuses for me?” she asked. “Remember, they think I’m a nurse. Tell them I was already scheduled to assist a surgery and I couldn’t get out of it, but I’ll come to the hospital as soon as I’m free. But that’s why they won’t be able to reach me on the phone.”
“Sure,” Kai said. “That makes sense.”
“Okay,” Winnie said. “I’m at the airport. I’ll board soon. But thank you a million times.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Kai said with a chuckle, repeating what she had told him every time she helped with his mom.
“Well, I’ll owe you dinner at least,” she said.
“I...I’d like that,” Kai said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said.
“Text me your flight info,” Kai said. “I’ll pick you up when you arrive.”
“Okay,” she said and hung up.
Kai was thankful for the distraction. It helped him feel useful and kept his mind off his own problems for the moment. Maybe, if he could stop worrying for a few minutes and just think, he could find a way out of this mess.