Aunt Deletes My Files to Ruin My Job, but It Costs Her Daughter's Instead

**Prelude**

The Christmas family gathering was in full swing when Aunt Karen decided to make her move. I was minding my own business, scrolling through some work docs on my laptop, when she couldn't resist:

"Stop acting like you're so busy. We all know you only make $3,000 a month. My daughter Rachel’s a real high-earner, she’s such a big deal, she couldn’t even make it home for Christmas!"

I didn’t bother to look up. But Aunt Karen wasn’t done yet. She nudged her brat of a son, Peter, and told him to delete all my files while I was in the bathroom.

When I came back, I nearly had a heart attack. "That proposal was due in ten minutes! If I don’t submit it, I’m done for!"

Aunt Karen just shrugged, all nonchalant. "He's just a kid. He doesn’t know any better. Besides, your job can’t be that important. So what if you get fired? Maybe then you’ll finally settle down and get married, and your parents won’t have to worry so much."

I had to bite back a laugh.

If only she knew the proposal was actually Rachel’s, her precious daughter’s, that would decide whether Rachel kept her job or not.

And guess what? I was the one making that call.

**Prelude ends**

On the second day of Christmas break, our family of three headed over to my grandmother's house for the annual holiday gathering.

I’d barely gotten settled when my cousin Rachel sent me a text:

"Brynn, I just emailed you my proposal. Please, I’m begging you, review it ASAP! My whole career is riding on this!"

Rachel’s an advertising designer, and her company’s in deep trouble. They’re using this collaboration with my company as a chance to have employees compete, whoever’s proposal gets picked keeps their job.

Before Christmas, all of Rachel’s coworkers had already turned in their proposals. She was the only one still scrambling. She’d been pulling all-nighters for over a month, trying to make hers perfect, only getting two hours of sleep a night.

But my business partner had already found a proposal he liked and wasn’t planning on looking at any more. After a lot of pleading, he agreed to give Rachel one last shot, but he made it clear: the proposal had to be in by 8 PM tonight, no exceptions.

I’d reminded Rachel over and over to send it as soon as possible, but now, it was already 7:45 PM.

In our group chat, my two other partners were getting impatient. They’d already said if it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t be wasting their Christmas working overtime.

I quickly forwarded Rachel’s proposal to the group chat. At least then, I could say I did my part for her.

Just when I thought I was in the clear, I saw the red exclamation mark.

No internet connection. Sending failed.

I looked up to see my 10-year-old cousin, Peter, holding the unplugged network cable, grinning like he’d just pulled off a prank.

I sighed, trying to keep my cool. "Peter, don’t mess around. Please plug the cable back in."

Before I could finish, Aunt Karen’s voice sliced through the air. "Brynn! How dare you yell at a child?"

The whole room went silent. All eyes were on me.

I was completely caught off guard. I forced a smile. "I wasn’t yelling, Aunt Karen. I just asked him to plug the cable back in."

Aunt Karen, casually wiping crumbs off her hands, gave me a look that could melt glass. "Working on Christmas Day? You must be so busy! Even your Uncle John, who runs a supermarket, isn’t working this hard. Who are you trying to impress?"

I checked the time, only 12 minutes left. I didn’t have the energy to argue, so I decided to use my phone to send the email instead.

But Aunt Karen snatched it out of my hand before I could unlock it.

"Your elder is speaking to you! How dare you look at your phone? I hate how you millennials are always glued to your screens! It's a family gathering, and you can't even be bothered to talk to your relatives! You're just pretending to be busy to avoid us! Who do you think you're fooling? We all know you only make $3,000 a month, you wage slave!"

And just like that, she turned off my phone in front of everyone.