Lucy's persistent cajoling wore me down. In the end, I agreed to it.

"This time, why don't you guys transfer the money to me beforehand? If there's extra at the end, I'll return the money to you guys," I suggested.

Lucy's lips twitched. She was still smiling, but her words were a little biting.

"I thought you considered us your friends, Jess. I guess we were the only ones who thought that," Lucy said.

I furrowed my brows. In the past, the grocery bill only ever came up to a few hundred dollars per meal. But this time, it would be a few thousand, at least. I'd have to be a fool to front the money without giving it any thought.

All I could say was, "I've been financially tight lately. I don't think I'll have enough to cover the groceries."

With a look of realization, Lucy said apologetically, "Sorry about that, Jess. I misunderstood you. I'll definitely come by earlier this Sunday to help you!"

That night, Lucy began messaging away in the group chat we had with our colleagues. She asked everyone if they had any food preferences before also asking everyone to pay up in advance.

As I scrolled through the lively chat, the discomfort I felt eased a little.

…

Lucy showed up late on Sunday. She claimed to have been held up, and I didn't think much about it.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food very much. When the meal was over, I wanted to transfer the extra money back to them, but they all said it was fine. They even gave me an extra 500 dollars each.

Smiling widely, Lucy said it was just a token of appreciation from everyone.

I felt quite touched by that.

Later that night, after cleaning up the kitchen, I finally managed to sit down and get some rest. Just then, Lucy added my personal number to a group chat that was named "Matured Investment Withdrawal".

When I first started working, I had foolishly used my personal number as my work number as well. After Maisie had roasted me for that, I got myself a new number and used that as my work number instead. My colleagues also made the switch and used the work number to get in touch with me.

Therefore, I didn't understand why my personal number had been added to a group chat about some kind of matured investment withdrawal.

I didn't have any sort of financial investments.

I figured Lucy might've forgotten about this number of mine and added me by mistake. Just as I was about to privately message her about it, she sent a document to the group.

It detailed every single time my colleagues had gathered at my place for a meal, the cost of the ingredients each time, and the records of the transfers they made.

If I hadn't seen this document, I wouldn't have realized that, in the last three years, my colleagues had eaten over 40 meals at my place.

Some of these had been for festive celebrations, and others were for celebrating one of my colleagues' promotions. They would always thoroughly enjoy the food and ask to get together again next time.

I couldn't help but marvel at how close and friendly we'd been as colleagues.

But soon after that, Lucy sent a voice message to the group chat.

"According to our laws, it's illegal to conduct a catering business without a license. If the value of the provided service exceeds 10,000 dollars, the fine is basically 20 times that amount. We can use this standard to demand compensation from Jessica."

The smugness and malice in her voice made my mind go completely blank.

More and more voice messages from her kept popping up.

"Not only can we get back all the money we gave her for the groceries in the past, but every one of us can get tens of thousands of dollars extra.

"We would've gotten peanuts if we'd left that money, which is only about a thousand dollars each, in a bank account. We're going to make a killing from giving it to Jessica instead. You guys should really thank me, you know. You wouldn't be making so much money if I hadn't suggested this back then."

Lucy even taught everyone how to pressure me into giving them the money. She sent a whole bunch of rules and regulations for the food industry.

"Make sure you familiarize yourself with all of these rules, guys. You'd better not mess up at the last minute, yeah? We even gave her extra in the end just to make sure the total reached 10,000 dollars."

I flipped through the document again and looked at the total amount they'd given me for groceries over the last three years.

The total came up to exactly 10,001 dollars. It was such a precisely calculated number. The sight of it stung me, like a thorn sticking in my heart, making it bleed.

"You guys don't have to worry about anything. What she's done is punishable in the eyes of the law. Forget about paying basically 20 times that amount in a fine. If the Health Department caught wind of this, even her home would get sealed off for investigations. There's no way she can refuse to give us the money."

Other people started sending messages in the group chat. These were all my colleagues, who'd always been so nice and friendly to me.

"If not for the sake of achieving this, I wouldn't even agree to split the grocery bill with her. I still can't believe she asks for 20 dollars each meal. A meal outside would only cost 15 dollars!"

"That's why you're the accountant, Lucy. You're such a genius when it comes to helping us make money."

"You're nothing like Jessica, who's such a schemer. Look at how much money she asked for that last meal! Obviously, her goal was to scam us. She's going to get what's coming for her soon enough!"

I never imagined that those seemingly kind colleagues would act this way behind my back.

It was even more outrageous to think that they'd been scheming against me right from the very beginning. The elaborate plot had gone off for three years, in fact.

The people in the group chat started comparing with each other, seeing who had attended these dinner gatherings the most. Some even started calculating the amount of compensation they were going to demand.

My limbs turned numb. I was heartbroken to see them happily celebrating their ill-gotten gains.

They were the ones who suggested having a meal at my house in the first place. They were the ones who proposed splitting the grocery bill between us.

I'd never cut corners when I cooked for them. I would always choose the freshest ingredients while doing my best to keep the costs down.

If they'd eaten the same meal I prepared at a restaurant, it might cost up to 100 dollars per person, but I only took about 20 dollars each.

I didn't even include a fee to cover the time and effort I'd put into cooking those meals for them.

Even when they started getting more demanding, making all kinds of requests, I did my best to fulfill them.

Diane Bates also sent a message. Not only had she attended every single one of the dinner gatherings, but she often hitched a ride in my car as well.

"Lucy, are you sure she can afford to pay us 20 times the amount in compensation? That's 200,000 dollars in total."

Lucy quickly sent a voice message, declaring with absolute certainty, "Don't worry, everyone. I've prepared very thoroughly for this."

She posted screenshots of every money transfer they'd made for each meal.

"All we need to do is insist that she made a profit—that these were all fees she charged us for selling food. Besides, I even had you all make a note in the reference section each time you made the transfers. She has no way to deny this. Even if she takes us to court, we're the ones in the right."

Only then did I recall that every time they transferred their share of the grocery expenses to me, they really did put the words "catering fee" in the reference section.

I'd assumed they were just doing it to be thoughtful, so that I wouldn't mix up the money with other transactions.

Who would've thought that this was also part of their scheme?

Once the chat had quietened down a bit, someone spoke up hesitantly. "Lucy, don't you think we're going a bit too far if we do this?

"Why don't we just ask her for double or triple the amount instead? 20 times the amount is too much. After all, we all got along quite well throughout the years."

Lucy immediately launched into a tirade. "Who do you think I'm doing this for? Isn't it for all of us? You were all very receptive to the idea when I first brought it up. Where were you then, huh? Why are you pretending to be the nice guy now? If anyone even dares to mess this up for us, don't blame me for not going easy on you!"

No one else dared to voice any objections.

Just like that, I was forced to confront the reality of having been tricked for the last three years. It seemed like a mockery of how stupid I was.

As I tapped out of the group chat, I thought about messaging Lucy to confront her about this. But in the end, I gave up that idea.

I couldn't help scrolling through the photos we'd taken during the dinner gatherings over the years. Everyone around the table seemed to be smiling so happily.

To me, cooking was a relaxing activity. It was something I relished doing very much. I felt a great sense of satisfaction when I saw other people enjoying my food.

In the past, I only ever cooked for Maisie. She said she wanted to enjoy my cooking for the rest of her life, so I started learning how to make more and more types of food.

A few years ago, I switched to the administrative job I'd just resigned from. The work atmosphere was pretty good, and my colleagues seemed nice.

Once, I brought a braised pork dish I'd made for lunch, and Lucy tried a bite. She immediately showered me with praise before suggesting that we could have our dinner gatherings at my place, with the grocery bill split evenly between us.

At first, I didn't want to do it. It felt like too much work.

But my colleagues kept coming up to me with pitiful expressions, saying that they'd never had such tasty food before. They complained that eating out was too expensive, and the food didn't even taste good.

In the end, I gave in and agreed to do it.

Initially, I just followed my own plan. I bought about 100 dollars' worth of ingredients and prepared a hearty meal. Everyone enjoyed the food and asked to do it again.

Later on, as the dinner gatherings became more frequent, I went from finding it a hassle to genuinely enjoying it myself.

Before every meal, I'd ask everyone what they wanted to eat. I'd try my best to cater to their palates. Over time, I formed closer relationships with them as well.

But now, I was confronted with the truth that those compliments from them were just empty flattery.

I looked through the recipes I'd carefully organized in my notes. I'd planned on sending these recipes to my colleagues.

My heart prickled painfully.

…

Early the next morning, Lucy came knocking on my door.

She got straight to the point, stating bluntly, "Jess, I've come on behalf of my colleagues to demand compensation from you."

Lucy didn't even bother to hide the malice in her eyes as she threw me the records she'd printed in advance. The stack of papers was filled with tables, transfer records, photos, and even a compilation of the laws and regulations.

"Let's cut to the chase, Jess. Here's the evidence that you've been running an unlicensed catering business. You don't have a food business permit or a business license, yet you've been charging us for your cooking. This is a violation of the law, so you need to compensate us."

There was no trace of her usual cutesy demeanor. All I saw on her face was the look of a calculating and manipulative schemer.

"According to the regulations, your house would be sealed off for investigations, and you'd also have to pay a fine that's basically 20 times the amount you made in revenue, which comes out to about 200,000 dollars.

"But since we're all colleagues, we won't report you to the authorities. You just have to give us the same amount you would've paid in fines, which is 20 times the amount we gave you.

"I'm sure you don't want this incident to affect your life, right, Jess? It'll even make it hard for you to find another job."

Lucy showed me the document listing the number of dinner gatherings each of my colleagues had attended and the cost for each meal.

There was no mention of the fact that they were the ones who always suggested eating at my place and wanted to split the grocery bill with me.

I believed I'd been more than generous to them. For each meal, I had to work my butt off for three to four hours, just to buy the groceries, prepare the ingredients, and cook the food for them.

The amount they had given me was only enough to cover the grocery bill. There had been times when it wasn't even enough for them, but I never asked them for more.

Labor alone was half of the operating costs at a restaurant, but I had never asked them to pay for my time and effort.

Yet, not only were they not grateful for that, but they were even trying to extort money from me.

Meanwhile, Lucy smirked at me, looking like she had nothing to be afraid of.

"Don't get upset, Jess. After all, we were colleagues, weren't we? You can't expect everyone to just suffer a loss without getting any in return, right?"

Brandishing the documents at me, she threatened haughtily, "If you hand over the money now, Jess, I'll delete all of the evidence. We can part on good terms. But if I refuse, then I guess we'll just have to meet in court."

Just then, my phone buzzed. A message had been sent to the group chat—the one where they spoke of me as though I was their fixed deposit investment.

Someone was asking Lucy if I'd transferred the money yet. She was waiting for the money to buy a handbag.

It was Diane Bates, a single mother, who sent the message. Her desk was next to mine. When her son wanted to eat fried chicken, she tried to save money by asking me to make it instead.