The ping of the elevator signaled their arrival, and the doors parted to reveal the lower levels of McCallister.
"You are the dream team," the woman said, stepping out and leading them into the hallway.
"The highest achievers, the creative minds, the best of the bona fides," she continued, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor as they followed her. "You are not competitors. You are not rivals. You work as a unit. You are a unit. So you behave like a unit."
She pushed through the door to the inventory room without missing a beat.
"You don't step on each other's toes, you don't get on each other's nerves, you memorize each others drink orders, and finish each others sentences," she said, signing a form and shoving it across the counter.
"Living the dream," Sarah muttered, her voice low but dripping with sarcasm. "Thought she was Shein Dr. Bailey."
Kendrick gave her a side glance, but Sarah smirked, unbothered.
The group grabbed their IDs from the countertop, the laminated cards gleaming under the fluorescent lights.
"These IDs," the woman continued, "are your everything. You use them for every meal you eat, every floor you access, and every spot you take. And I'd better not find used condoms in my department stairways."
She handed each of them laptop bags and gestured toward the door.
Another elevator ride brought them to the upper floors, their view shifting as the frosted glass walls behind the receptionist desk loomed ahead.
The woman tapped her ID, unlocking the door with a beep, and pushed it open. "Your new home. Your second home," she announced.
Inside was a sprawling layout of cubicles, their uniformity broken only by the open windows flooding the space with light.
The glass door opened, and Mariah flicked on the lights.
"This is your sanctuary," she declared, her voice firm and unwavering. "Your stove for productivity. Let your juices flow—no idea is too crazy."
She strode into the meeting room, grabbing a stack of documents from the table near the projector. Raising them in the air like a prize, she continued, "This is your northern star."
Peter hurried to distribute the documents, his movements careful and deliberate. When he reached Telly, his hands hesitated slightly, his gaze dropping as he passed the papers over.
"You live by it," Mariah said as Kendrick and Sarah began scanning the pages.
"You breathe by it," she added, her tone sharp as Peter peered at the intricate diagrams.
"And you code by it," she finished, planting herself at the edge of the table.
Telly, already on the last page, glanced up at her with a calm, knowing look.
Mariah's eyes swept over the group. "You have until lunch to observe, study, and master these standards. Any questions?"
Silence filled the room, punctuated only by the faint hum of the air conditioning.
"Good luck, and welcome to McCallister," she said finally, her lips curving into a tight, professional smile.
A knock at the glass door pulled their attention. A man leaned in slightly, his voice breaking the moment. "Mariah, the boss needs you."
Mariah nodded, excusing herself with a swift turn. The door clicked shut behind her, leaving the group alone with their first task.
Kendrick watched as Mariah disappeared around the corner with the man, her sharp heels fading into silence.
The quiet that followed was almost unbearable, the air heavy with unspoken thoughts as the interns exchanged glances.
Telly moved first, lowering himself into a seat without a word. The others hesitated before following, settling into the chairs around the table.
Sarah shot a look at Kendrick, who responded with a shrug before glancing at Peter. The three of them turned toward Telly, who was already absorbed in his laptop, fingers flying across the keys like a machine.
A unison ping snapped their attention to their phones. They all checked their screens at the same time, their brows furrowing as they realized they'd been added to a group chat.
A speech bubble popped up in the corner, the three dots dancing as someone typed.
Telly.
"If you need anything, just say it here... otherwise, don't bother me," the message read.
The three of them exchanged baffled glances before their attention shifted back to their phones. Another speech bubble appeared beneath the first.
Telly's typing pace was relentless, the sound of keys clacking like rapid gunfire filling the room.
Moments later, another message appeared.
"I'll share my findings and everything. I'm not stingy. Just don't talk to me."
The three stared at their phones, then back at Telly, whose focus remained glued to his screen, completely unfazed.
Kendrick's lips thinned, and his fingers hovered over his phone screen before typing.
A speech bubble appeared in the group chat: Okay.
Another quickly followed: Let's get to it.
The three of them exchanged brief nods and pulled their laptops from their bags, the faint hum of fans filling the room as their screens flickered to life.
The light from their monitors cast a glow on their faces, and soon the meeting room was alive with the rhythmic clatter of keyboards, the rustle of papers, and the occasional scratch of pens against notebooks.
Peter's eyes darted back and forth between the diagram on his screen and the notes he was carefully scribbling in his notebook, his brows furrowed in concentration.
Kendrick and Sarah worked in sync, pasting screenshots and detailed explanations into the group chat. With each message sent, the chat thread grew, a digital map of their collective efforts.
Though the room buzzed with productivity, the undercurrent of tension remained unspoken, each intern silently trying to prove their worth.
A unison ping broke the productive rhythm, and the three of them glanced at each other before checking their screens.
Kendrick clicked on the notification in the top-right corner of his laptop.
"Now that the foundation's settled and everyone understands everything… it's time for the big question," a message from Telly read.
Another speech bubble appeared beneath it, the dots dancing as Telly typed.
"What will our first project be?"
Moments later, another message followed.
"We need to have a mini app inside the existing system. It doesn't necessarily need to be an app—it could be a plugin, a feature, etc. Just something that doesn't require adjustments to the existing ecosystem," Telly's lengthy paragraph read.
The three of them exchanged looks again. Peter shrugged, and Sarah twirled her fingers next to her head in a no clue gesture. Kendrick's gaze drifted back to his screen, his lips pressing into a thin line.
"Well, I don't know if this is a solution," Kendrick typed, his fingers hesitant over the keys, "but I really think it would make life a lot easier."
A single dot appeared in the chat as Telly replied: "."
Kendrick's lips tightened as he inhaled, then exhaled slowly.
"Since we're working for Subsidiary One, I'm thinking of a marketplace for a POS system," he typed and hit send.
Telly responded almost immediately with an ear emoji.
Kendrick smiled faintly, encouraged, and started typing again. "So users or businesses can choose a product from the marketplace and sell it in their store."
Telly liked the message, followed by Sarah and Peter.
"They wouldn't have to create anything new themselves, and we could update everything through the API. That way, they won't need to lift a finger or ask their employees to handle updates," Kendrick continued.
This time, Telly sent a smiling sun emoji. Kendrick glanced up at him, catching the faint smile on Telly's face.