“Holy shit, I can’t believe you did that. Declan Winters is hot!” Pascal says, her eyes wide.
“Hey now,” Court says.
Pascal pats his shoulder. “Not as hot as
you, honey.”
“Maybe if you need glasses,” Edgar says dryly.
“He is kind of dreamy.” Evie sighs, while Nate makes a gagging motion behind her. “And he was amazing in Pushing His Buttons on Netflix. I watched it, like, a hundred times.”
“I haven’t seen it,” I say. “But maybe I should. You know, for boss research.”
“Oh, you’ll love it,” Ivy says.
“I think we watched it a hundred times, too.” Tony’s smile is mildly strained.
That poor man. But he’s willing to stab his own eyeballs if that would make Ivy happy, so I’m sure he’ll watch it for the hundred and first time if she asks.
“I want an autograph if you can swing it,” Ivy says.
“I’ll see what I can do. But enough about my new boss,” I say. “Now that I have a job and all, I need to tackle the next thing on my to-do list: figuring out where I’m going to live.”
“What do you mean?” Tony asks with a small frown. “I thought you were going to stay with us.”
“Yeah…” If this were a short visit, I would. But I’m here to prove something. “The thing is, the deal between me and Eugene is that I live on what I can make without mooching off my friends. Obviously, living here would totally be mooching.”
“But a new place means you’ll need at least two months’ rent,” Kim says. “One for the deposit and one for the first month. And that’s assuming the landlord is okay with your credit. I don’t know if you have any in this country.”
Oh. That’s more complicated than I thought…
“Not to mention, a decent place in a safe area is pricey,” Evie adds.
“And you really don’t want to be in a sketchy area,” Jo says, her expression serious. “Or a unit with poor maintenance. The landlords always claim they’ll fix everything when you move in, but that’s a lie. Once you sign the lease, they never do anything.”
“Really?” I’m starting to feel discouraged about all these potential pitfalls.
All my girlfriends nod. None of the men do…since they probably never had to get anything within my poor assistant’s budget. Well…maybe Wyatt. But then, he’s probably used to throwing around his billion bucks by now.
Hmm. I didn’t realize there would be all these problems. I never had to do much research when I decided to move out of my parents’ primary residence compound. I know the area well, and Ms. Kim and Mr. Choi did most of the background work to make sure wherever I chose to live would be acceptable.
But at the same time, I don’t want to cheat to beat Eugene. That wouldn’t be right.
“Why don’t we do this?” Ivy says slowly. “Your not having credit is probably going to be an issue, and you don’t have two months’ rent right now. So why don’t you live here and just pay us whatever rent you might’ve paid for an apartment? That way you have a nice place to live in a safe area.”
“Exactly.” Tony is the picture of earnest sincerity as he places a hand on Ivy’s arm. “And it’ll give us peace of mind. We don’t want anything happening to you while you’re in L.A.”
“Are you sure?” I ask. Ivy and Tony aren’t newlyweds, but they act like they’re still on their honeymoon. Don’t they want to have the whole place to themselves? No matter how large your home is, having a guest for a long time is an imposition.
“Come on, Yuna,” Ivy says. “You’d offer the same if the situation were reversed. I don’t even want to take any rent money, to be honest, but I know you won’t feel right otherwise because of the whole thing with your brother.”
“On the other hand,” Court says, “if you don’t want to be here for some reason—like, I don’t know, Tony’s body odor issues or something—you can come stay with us instead.” He grins. “We charge less rent. Ten percent with the friends-and-family discount.”
“Ten percent isn’t enough to make up for having to watch you parade around in her underwear,” Tony says with a mock growl. He leans toward me and lowers his voice slightly. “I suggest installing locks on your dresser drawers.”
The women’s shoulders start shaking. I bite my lip so I don’t start laughing myself.
“A pathetic offer,” Edgar says. “We’ll give you the first month free.”