Into the warzone

Harsha’s heart pounded as she walked toward the meeting room, clutching her laptop so tightly her knuckles were turning white.

"Seriously? What kind of psychopath gives an intern this much responsibility on their first day?"  Her thoughts spiraled as she weaved through the hallway. What’s going to happen in this meeting? Why the sudden urgency? And why the hell am I supposed to be there?
Lost in her head, she didn’t notice the person in front of her until—

Smack!
"Ouch! Watch where you’re going!"
Papers scattered through the air, floating down like oversized confetti. Harsha stumbled back, nearly dropping her laptop.
"Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention!" she blurted, crouching down to gather the fallen papers.
"Harsha?"
Harsha’s eyes shot up and met the sharp gaze of Jasmine, the same woman who had trained her during onboarding. Jasmine’s expression softened when she recognized her.
"Oh, it’s you." Jasmine crouched down to help her. "What’s got you so distracted?"

Harsha sighed, shoving a handful of papers into Jasmine’s hands. "The meeting."
Jasmine’s brows lifted. "You mean the project managers’ meeting? Why would you care about that?"
"Karan asked me to attend."
Jasmine froze, her mouth slightly open. "What?! He wants you—an intern—to sit in on a project manager’s meeting?"
"Apparently." Harsha’s mouth twisted. "I think he’s trying to kill me."
Jasmine shook her head, clearly stunned. "Wow. He hasn’t changed, has he?"
"What do you mean?" Harsha asked, curious.

Jasmine gave a knowing smile. "Demanding. Perfectionist. Throws people into the deep end to see if they sink or swim."
Harsha groaned. "Sounds more like a cruel and heartless boss who enjoys tormenting his subordinates."

As Jasmine heard these remarks, she couldn't control herself from laughing. "Relax. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Just sit there, take notes, and try not to flinch when he tears the project heads apart."
"Yeah, that’s… totally reassuring," Harsha muttered, standing up.
Jasmine smiled. "Trust me, the hardest part is not looking horrified when things go south."
Harsha laughed despite herself. "I’ll try my best."
They straightened the remaining papers and started walking toward the meeting room together.

Inside the War Zone

They were five minutes early, but the atmosphere in the meeting room was already charged with tension.
Developers and designers sat stiffly around the table, some furiously scrolling through notes on their laptops, others clutching energy drinks like lifelines. Across the room, one guy was drumming his fingers on the table so fast it sounded like gunfire. Another was biting his thumbnail down to the quick.

Whispers floated through the room:
"The new patch still has memory leaks."
"The design team’s clashing with marketing again."
"If Karan kills this project, we’re screwed."

Harsha’s eyes darted around nervously. Her heart hammered in her chest.
“Look at them,” she whispered to Jasmine. “They look like kids waiting to be called to the principal’s office.”
Jasmine snorted. “More like developers waiting for their build to crash five minutes before a deadline.”

Harsha almost laughed—almost.
They slipped into two empty seats at the far end of the long glass table. Harsha’s hands hovered over her laptop, fingers already damp with sweat.
"How bad is this going to be?" she whispered.
Jasmine gave her a knowing look. "Bad."

Just then, the door swung open.
The murmurs stopped instantly. The tension in the air sharpened, crackling like a live wire.

Karan strode in, his sharp gaze sweeping the room like a laser. He wore a tailored navy suit, a stark contrast to the faded hoodies and graphic tees most employees wore. His expression was cold, unreadable. He adjusted his cuffs as he walked toward the head of the table, the sound of his polished shoes echoing in the silence.
Without saying a word, he pulled out a chair at the head of the table and sat down, sliding his tablet in front of him. His gaze swept across the room—calculating, assessing.

"Let’s begin."
His tone was quiet, but it carried an edge that made Harsha sit up straighter.
"Status reports," Karan said. His sharp gaze landed on one of the senior project leads, a guy in a faded t-shirt with a frayed lanyard.
"Uh, yeah, so…" The guy adjusted his glasses nervously. "We’ve hit a few… challenges with the multiplayer engine. The latest patch caused a desync issue during PvP and—"
"How long until it’s fixed?" Karan’s tone was flat.
"Uh… two weeks?"
"Make it one," Karan said. "Next."
The next person stumbled through an update about animation glitches in the character models. Karan cut him off after three sentences.
"Get it done."
A marketing lead tried to explain why the promotional material wasn’t ready yet.
"We’re waiting for the creative team to—"
"Waiting?" Karan’s gaze sharpened. "It’s a trailer. Coordinate with them and make it happen as soon as possible, without any excuses, that is." As he was talking his Suddenly called out a name

Then Karan’s gaze flicked toward the far side of the table.

"Mr. Vikram," Karan said, voice slicing through the room like a blade. "I heard you’ve been working on Project Valentine’s Day—without company authorization. Care to explain?"

Vikram’s eyes widened. He sat up straighter. "I… well…" He hesitated. "I was going through some old GDDs, and I came across it. It was… uh… your passion project, right?"

The room went deathly quiet.
Karan’s expression didn’t change. "And you thought working on an unauthorized project was a good idea?"
Vikram swallowed. "I—I’m sorry. I’ll stop working on it immediately."
Karan’s gaze hardened. "No. Give me a progress report tomorrow. We’ll decide then whether to move forward or kill it."
Vikram’s mouth fell open. "Seriously?"
"Yes." Karan’s eyes narrowed. "And if you waste my time… you won’t like the outcome."
Vikram nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. Of course."
Harsha’s eyes widened as Vikram sat back, looking like he’d just survived a boss fight with one HP left.
Holy shit, Harsha thought. Karan’s brutal.
Harsha’s fingers hovered above her keyboard, frantically trying to capture notes while watching the carnage unfold. Developers and designers sank lower in their seats, looking like they wanted to disappear into the floor.
Halfway through the meeting, Karan’s gaze slid toward Harsha. She froze, fingers tightening on her laptop.

"Ms. Harsha," Karan said.
Her heart nearly stopped. "Y-yes?"
"Summarize the next steps," Karan said.
Next steps?! Was she supposed to have been writing those down?!
"Uh…" Harsha frantically scrolled through her notes, trying to piece together what had been said. " Harsha swallowed hard. "Patch the desync issue within a week… uh, complete the character model fixes and… um…"

She glanced at Jasmine desperately.

"And launch the promo trailer by Thursday." Jasmine whispered under her breath.

Harsha straightened. "Right. And launch the promo trailer by Thursday`."

Karan’s expression remained impassive. His gaze lingered on her for a fraction too long.
Then—
"Good."
Harsha’s mouth fell open.
Good?
"If there is nothing more to discuss. I'll consider this meeting to be concluded," Karan said, standing. He slid his tablet under his arm and walked out without another word.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, the room erupted into a collective sigh of relief.
"Did he just… say I did a good job?" Harsha asked, wide-eyed.
Jasmine grinned. "He didn’t tear you apart. That’s basically a standing ovation in this place."
Harsha leaned back in her chair, her heart still hammering.

What the hell just happened?