New York, Brooklyn, Merlin Apartment Building.
The Merlin Apartment Building was a complex of small, single apartments, suitable for young people who came to the big city of New York harboring the American Dream and needed a temporary place to stay.
Vanessa Williams, wearing an apron and cleaning gloves, was on her knees scrubbing the floor, and soon, the small apartment, windows included, was spotless.
In reality, her home was in New York, or rather, her parents' home was in New York—a two-story villa with a music practice room and a gym converted from a basement. Compared to this old forty-square-meter apartment, located near a subway station where one could clearly feel every train passing through the underground tunnels, it was like the difference between heaven and hell.
But now, she had no desire whatsoever to go back and live with her parents, even though they had never blamed her for avoiding bankruptcy by paying nearly a million dollars in compensation for her.
