The Billionaire's Brother

Their own place

Perspective: Nila K

Mr Shih has offered them a discount of $100 for the rent so it was only $600 a month for the space to share with Cindy. It was very reasonably priced considering the proximity of the place to the city centre and the convenience of having everything within walking distance. Mr Shih told them the rental contract will take about a week to prepare but he has graciously allowed them to move in immediately. 

“After all, the room is empty so you can move in immediately and you can stay there for free for the rest of this month, I can’t take rent from you before you sign the contract anyway,” he said.

They had thanked the kind man profusely although Nila had offered to pay a portion of the rent for this month. They are in the middle of March. There are two more weeks for the month. He had waved them off. 

“Just humour an old man…I like doing good deeds every once in a while,” he had said. 

He handed them the key to the room, an access card and the passcode to enter the front door downstairs. The accommodations has a double security system. It has a CCTV monitoring system downstairs at the front entrance to a co-working space on the ground floor. The door to the co-working space is automatically locked and only those who had subscribed to the co-working space has an access card to enter it. The entrance to the living quarters upstairs is accessed from a side entrance next to the co-working space with yet another automatically locked door, accessible with a card and a passcode. Only residents with the access card and passcode can enter it.The residents also has access to the co-working space from a side entrance that leads to the staircase.  The staircase leads upstairs to the living quarters that stretched along a long corridor. There were a total eight fully-furnished rooms upstairs, several are single occupancy, a couple are larger ones for small families and the rest are double occupancy, like the ones Nila and Cindy had taken. All of the rooms are still vacant as the refurbishment just recently completed. 

The women quickly make their way back to the hotel, which is also within walking distance from their accommodations. The one good thing about the heritage city of George Town was the proximity of most places. Almost everything was easily within walking distance. 

The moment they got back to the hotel, Nila and Cindy checked with the front desk reception if they knew who had left the rose and note. No one saw who had left it there. They couldn’t find a plausible reason to get the hotel to show them the CCTV recording of who had left it there. The hotel would not allow it unless the police had requested for it. 

Cindy has finally agreed with Nila not to get the police involved for now. They will try to handle it themselves. They have kept a watchful eye now whenever they are outside. So far, they have not seen any suspicious person lurking around or following them. Maybe the stalker isn’t always there.

They packed up their stuffs and checked out of the hotel almost immediately. 

“Cindy…are you absolutely sure about this?”Nila asked her friend after they made themselves comfortable in their modern accommodations, cranking up the brand new air conditioner. Relaxing in the sitting area under the cool air blasting from the air conditioner. The room even has a slight brand new smell to it. All of the furnishings were brand new. 

There was only one double bed in it but they will sleep on it together for now. They will go in search of a bed for Cindy later. They only needed to adjust the bed to make room for another bed. The rest of the furnishings were sufficient for their use. A sitting area with a coffee table and two plush armchair. A vanity table. A mirror. A kitchenette with a cabinet, a medium-sized refrigerator and a sink for them to wash their dishes. They will need to buy a portable stove, plates, some utensils, pots, pans and an oven and it would be perfect. Cindy must have her cooking utensils even if they have limited space to prepare complicated recipes. 

“Don’t worry about it. I have called my boss…turns out I have quite a lot of leave days owed so I tendered my resignation today and I don’t have to serve the one month’s notice, my leave days are sufficient to cover it and best of all, they still have to pay me about two weeks extra for the leave days owed,” Cindy told her.

“What about your parents?”

Cindy waved it off. 

“I will just tell them I found a better job…nothing like appeasing my parents than telling them I am getting higher pay,” she said off-handedly. 

“You are leaving everything behind…you were just saying you daren’t do that!” Nila exclaimed.

Cindy sat up and looked at her friend seriously. 

“Look, you are my best friend since school, I can’t leave you here alone, not with a crazy stalker loose,” she said.

“Besides, this is a city of art and heritage and food, what’s not to love about it? I am sure I can fit in perfectly,” she added. 

“I don’t have any commitments back home anyways…so, why not, right? We have always talked about going on an adventure away from home, this will be our adventure,”

Cindy was right. It can be an adventure. Sure, it started out as an escape from her stalker but this city is so different. It has this strong artistic vibes around it. Maybe this is the place where all her artistic dreams will come true. As for the stalker…with Cindy by her side, she is sure they can face up to him. If he so much as make an attempt to attack her, they will fight him and get him arrested. Somehow. 

She hugged Cindy. 

“Thank you so much for always having my back, for driving me all the way here and for staying on with me!” she said.

“Of course, there’s one tiny problem…I will have to drive back and return the car to Charles or else he will kill me. It was hard enough trying to explain why I needed it for a week,” Cindy said.

“Will you be fine when I go back home? I’ll take a flight back here with the rest of my clothes and toiletries,” 

Nila looked around the room. She felt safe here. There were so many layers of security, she is sure she will be fine. Besides, Mr Shih did say there are going to be a few other tenants moving into the other rooms soon so she won’t exactly be alone either. She will have ‘neighbours’. 

“This place is so secure, I will be fine and it’s not like anyone can come right up to my door, even for deliveries, I have to pick up from the co-working space and there are people there, so I am sure it’s all good,” she told Cindy.

Cindy agreed with her. The co-working space downstairs is an added perk of the place for them. They can use it anytime as a tenant and it comes with free wifi too, which they can even access from their room upstairs.

“This place is really such a good deal, you really lucked out, Nila,” Cindy said. 

And it was all thanks to Jaden Forest for recommending her the job and Mr Shih. Maybe she should thank him the next time she sees him, Nila thought.  

“So, when will you start your job?” Cindy asked.

“Actually, I wanted to start immediately so Mr Shih said I can go in any day…I thought you were leaving today so I told him I will start tomorrow, I hope you don’t mind,” she said.

“Nahh…it’s fine. I was thinking of driving back tomorrow to return the car before Charles throw a fit,” Cindy said. 

“I will try to fly back the soonest, just give me a couple days to settle my parents and pack up my stuffs,” she added.

“Don’t worry about it Cind. I am sure I can manage alone,” she assured her friend, partially assuring herself. 

Surely, it is safe. It is not like the stalker can easily walk in and access her room.