"Oh? I can't imagine not with how you have it set up now." Eve looked around the small single-room apartment and felt it was actually quite cozy.
"Eve, you have no idea! At that time.." Lilly began telling Eve about when she first arrived at this place.
She had just turned fifteen and was freed from the hell of the orphanage. Luckily for her, she was smart and was a whizz with the computer, or else she would have had to have gone into military service for the government. Since she was young, she never understood the reason why humans hated robots so much. Although she learned a lot about the history of humankind, she still felt some of the things they told were off. It was when she was twelve years old that she decided to see if she could access the old satellites that hovered in space. It was then that she found the satellite that was used to store website data.
As she read through the true history of mankind and the so-called traitor of mankind, the more she saw Evelynn Noe as a pioneer and those who criticized her as evil villains. From there, she began to learn everything she could about how to write A.I.. while she only had old incomplete website data to go by, she got a general understanding of how A.I. worked.
When she turned fifteen and became an adult, she was already making money writing programs for companies. Although because of her age, she was being taken advantage of and being paid much lower than others, it was still enough for her to get her own place. But sadly, due to her age and her origins, people were not really willing to rent to her.
She could not even count on her fingers and toes the number of people who shut their door in her face with a blunt no when she asked about a rental. It was only this old woman who caved after she prostrated herself in front of the old woman with her head pressed against the ground. At that time the old woman snorted and said: "You best not have any of those sex parties. Otherwise, I will kick you out!"
Lilly quickly agreed as she has no interest in humans really anyway, and followed the old woman. Lilly's eyes grew excited when the old woman brought her to her favorite street. It was a place where all the robotics shops were. A place she visited all the time, and the building she was brought to was a place she had been wondering about for a while. When she first went to the old woman she only knew that the old woman was renting a place and nothing more. But she had no idea it would be on this street at this exact location.
"Listen up. This place has not been cleaned out for many years since the last person who lived here. The upstairs is a warehouse, and there is a basement room that was used for some kind of storage. But the basement is a full single room apartment. You clean it, you can live here. I only charge you fifty credits a month since the place would be just sitting here otherwise. If I hear about any sex parties though..." The old woman ran her finger across her neck before tossing the keys to Lilly. She then held her phone out and pushed it to Lilly. "Hurry up and transfer the first month's rent!"
"Ahh, yes! Here, I will pay for six years up front. If that is fine..." Lilly had saved and saved, and to only have to pay fifty credits a month was a god send. So she had no issues paying a bunch of money up front.
"Six years!?" The old woman looked at Lilly in surprise and then smiled. "Do twenty five a month. And pay twelve years by that time I will die, and I will leave the place to you." The old woman took her phone back before Lilly could transfer money and said:" I will write up a different contract. It will be for a twelve years lease to buy. You will pay in full now, but if you ever decide to move before then, I will repay you the remainder of the rent and keep the property. Otherwise, in twelve years, it will be yours. Get to cleaning. I will be here tomorrow with the new contract. Just no sex parties!"
That day Lilly had broke down in tears. She never thought she would meet such a nice old lady. She had not even taken a look at the place, but she did not fear cleaning a place out. She had always been a hard worker. She bowed her head with tears in her eyes and said: "Thank you for your kindness!"
The old woman smiled and patted Lilly's head: "Just stay as you are and do your best girl. This is a hard world. But remember..."
"I know! No sex parties..." Lilly raised her tear filled eyes and smiled.
---
"On that day, I met my landlord, who has always been kind to me even after all these years. Because of her, my fifteen year old self had a new lease on life. She may be old, but she is still alive and kicking, and every time she stops by, she is always telling me the same thing. No Sex Parties! But when I first opened the warehouse door and saw what I was in for, I can swear I almost asked for my money back right then and there."
---
Lilly was so excited she clutched the keys in her right hand, and with her left, she wiped her tears away and went to open the warehouse door. She put the key into the lock, turned it, and then began opening the shutter door. The first thing she was met with was a bunch of rats rushing out after being startled by the light. But this was not what bothered her the most. It was the stench coming from within that made her stomach turn and want to run away. But when she thought about how hard it was to even find a place and how this place would be officially hers in twelve years for so little money she gritted her teeth and lifted the shutter all the way up. But what filled her eyes made her literally turn and puke.