by hyrule

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When recently broke, unemployed, and homeless Vika is given the opportunity to stay rent-free at her best friend's fiance's home, with the only condition being to take care of some pedigree cat, things are finally starting to look up. Even if Cleo, the cat, is a pretty poor conversational partner. And always seems to be judging Vika from a five-meter distance. Constantly. To an unfair degree, honestly. Either way, she's finally starting to get a handle of things.

Enter Noel. Doting owner of Cleopatra, and reserving all the same feline judgement, who immediately tries to pay her off like some kind of a prostitute.

Noel is something that Vika's pretty sure she'll never be able to handle.

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There's a beat of silence when his frown deepens, as if he could somehow look even more unimpressed with my existence. "I don't care about what he said, you need to be out. Now."

"I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm not-"

"How much?"

I pause, taken aback. "Wait- what? How much what?"

He huffs, as if I'm the one that's trying his patience, and reaches for a wallet in his back pocket. I watch with wide, curious eyes as he flips it open, thumbing through it. "Five grand? Is that enough?"

I tilt my head to the side. "Sorry- are you offering me five grand to leave?" I can't remember the last time my bank account even hit four digits.

He hesitates, cocking a pretentious brow in my direction. "Is that how to talk to you people?"

"You people?"

"Ten grand, then? Will that get you to leave?" He pins me down with a dry look, pulling out a blank cheque and waving it in front of me.

There's a quick moment where I want to gape, indignant and tell him to politely fuck off, but I don't. The numbers are still adding up in my mind and suddenly little dollar signs with wings are chirping before my eyes. I can't remember the last time I had more than a grand to my name, let alone ten. My mind wanders to the student debt still looming over me, and my next-to-homeless living situation, and my recent unemployment, and any real dignity I had probably escaped the moment I made out with a taxi cab driver anyway.

Nat would understand. I'll buy her a nice purse and she'll be fine.

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