One Man Band System

Later that afternoon, after leaving Emma’s house and while out on the road, Eric was deep in thought. He glanced over at Emma sitting right next to him, who was happily chatting with Monica, Priya, Chloe, Heidi, and Laura in the back.

"Wait... hold on... if we’re living together... there’s no way we can all stay in one room and sleep in the same bed. Besides, the bed won’t even fit everyone... how am I going to handle this... they didn’t even give me a chance to explain the setup back there... this is giving me a massive headache," Eric thought to himself.

The entire way back, Eric’s mind kept racing as he figured out how they were all supposed to live together on the fourth floor, which was specifically set up for a single guy and definitely couldn’t be remodeled in time. But then it suddenly clicked, he owned a penthouse at an apartment complex called Tropical Summer.

Without a second thought, he pulled over to the side of the road and whipped out his smartphone to look up the apartment’s location.

"Hey... why are we stopping, Eric?" Emma asked.

Eric completely ignored her, keeping his eyes glued to his phone screen. Looking at the map, he realized the apartment complex was perfectly centered right in the middle of a triangle connecting the college he planned to attend next year, the girls’ school, and the business district where his grandfather’s building was located.

"Hmm... that actually works out perfectly. Alright then," Eric muttered to himself.

Without wasting any time, he punched the address into the car’s GPS, and the route immediately loaded up. "Please turn right," a digital female voice announced from the navigation system. Eric flicked on his right turn signal and smoothly made the turn.

Naturally, the girls watching from the back got totally confused because the direction Eric was driving was nowhere near his grandfather’s building.

"Hey... where are we going?" Emma asked.

"Home," Eric replied casually.

"Huh... home? Aren’t we going the wrong way?" Chloe asked, turning around to peer out the rear window at the road behind them.

"Nope... just trust me and don’t protest, okay," Eric answered easily.

Eric then remembered that the title transfer for the property wasn’t fully finished yet, but since he already had the keys and the access card in hand, he figured he could just deal with the management office paperwork later.

After a twenty-minute drive through some pretty heavy traffic, Eric finally pulled the car into a luxury apartment complex that was so incredibly high-end it left the girls completely speechless.

"Hey... my mom owns an apartment here too. Are we going to her place?" Emma asked.

"Nope... to my place. I told you about it before," Eric answered.

"Oh... seriously? I thought you were just playing along with my mom back then so things wouldn’t be awkward when she told you to use her apartment," Emma replied.

"Just wait and see. Oh, by the way, grab that envelope out of the glove compartment for me, will you?" Eric said, pointing toward the dash in front of Emma.

Emma opened the glove box and spotted an envelope watermarked with the Tropical Summer logo. She pulled it out and found a set of keys, an access card, the purchase receipt for the unit, and a folded-up confirmation letter for processing the paperwork. Totally bewildered, Emma turned to look at Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura, who were all staring back at her looking just as confused.

They pulled into Tower A’s basement parking garage and Eric found a spot right near the lobby entrance. Once everyone piled out of the car, Eric confidently walked up to the lobby doors. He showed his access card and the receipt to the security guard on duty. After looking them over, the guard smiled warmly.

"Go right on in, sir," the guard said, opening the door for them.

"Great, thank you," Eric replied.

Eric walked inside, followed closely by the six deeply confused girls. But the second they stepped through the doorway—

"Hold on a moment, sir!"

The guard called out after them. Eric, Emma, Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura all stopped in their tracks and turned around to see the middle-aged guard walking quickly toward them.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Eric asked, confused.

"Uh... are you... Eric Reed? And... are they... The Empress?" the guard asked, his face turning bright red.

"Oh... yeah, that’s us. What’s up?" Eric asked, completely caught off guard.

Suddenly, the guard whipped out his smartphone and unlocked the screen, looking at Eric with pure hope in his eyes.

"Um... would it be okay if I got a photo with you guys to send to my daughter? She’s a massive fan of yours," the guard asked shyly.

"Oh," Eric uttered, instantly glancing over at the girls next to him. Emma gave Eric’s shoulder a reassuring pat and stepped forward.

"Sure thing, sir. I’m their manager, so let me take the photo for you. Go right ahead," Emma said, taking the smartphone from the guard’s hands.

Seeing that, Eric immediately threw an arm around the guard’s shoulder, and both of them flashed a thumbs-up, while Monica, Priya, Chloe, Heidi, and Laura squatted down gracefully in front of them.

"Click." The photo was taken. Emma checked the shot, looked totally satisfied with it, and handed the smartphone back to the guard, who just kept thanking everyone over and over again.

After saying goodbye, they walked over to the second elevator to head up to unit number two. It looked brand new and incredibly luxurious with its decorative carvings, and it was spacious enough to easily fit about ten people.

Eric tapped his access card and immediately pressed the button for the 25th floor on the right panel. The doors slid shut, and as they headed up, Emma, Monica, Chloe, Heidi, Priya, and Laura kept their eyes glued to Eric.

"What?" Eric asked, turning to look at the girls.

"Do you seriously own an apartment here? This place is insanely expensive," Chloe said, clearly knowing the price tag.

"This is a CJR Real Estate and Construction project, isn’t it?" Eric said with a smirk, glancing over at Chloe.

"It is... our target market is the upper class and even higher... not the upper-middle class. That’s why there are so few units across all three towers here, because we only built two penthouse units per floor," Chloe explained.

"Yep... I know," Eric replied casually.

"A single unit can run up to $1,200,000.00 completely furnished with luxury decor," Chloe added, still looking skeptical.

"Yeah, that’s right. Come on... let’s drop the price talk, okay?" Eric said, stuffing the envelope back into his pocket so Chloe wouldn’t press to see the receipt after throwing out those numbers.

"I’m just really curious... normally I know our customers who buy into this building, like Emma’s mom, Miranda... because so few people actually buy them," Chloe said, keeping her eyes locked on Eric since she wasn’t satisfied yet. The other girls stayed quiet, just as curious as she was.

"Sigh."

Seeing how stubborn and skeptical Chloe was being, Eric finally let out a sigh. He stepped closer, threw an arm around her shoulder, and leaned in right next to her ear.

"Are you familiar with the name E-R Holdings?" Eric whispered.

The moment she heard that name, Chloe’s face went completely slack with shock and blank. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She whipped her head around to look at Eric, her face inches from his, her mouth trembling as she tried to speak, but absolutely no sound came out.

Seeing her frozen in place, Eric smiled, let go of her shoulder, and stepped back to lean against the elevator wall, waiting for them to reach their floor. Meanwhile, Monica, Emma, Heidi, Priya, and Laura pulled the frozen Chloe back, crowding together a little away from Eric.

"Hey... why do you look like you just saw a ghost? What did Eric even whisper to you?" Priya asked.

"Yeah... why did you suddenly shut down?" Heidi added.

"Spill it, what did Eric say to you?" Emma pressed.

"Hey... Chloe... snap out of it," Monica chimed in.

"Oh man... what did he hit her with... or is she just love-struck?" Laura asked, completely confused.

"Ding."

The elevator arrived at the 25th floor and the doors slid open. Eric turned to look at the girls, who were still trying to revive Chloe. She was still staring at him with a blank, awestruck look full of newfound respect, completely paralyzed.

"Let’s go," Eric said.

Eric walked out first, while the girls pushed Chloe along so they could all exit together. "Whoaaah," they gasped in unison, instantly blown away the second they stepped inside the unit. They found themselves looking at a massive, 2,700-square-foot space, complete with two fully furnished master bedrooms, a fully furnished guest room, a private study, and a sprawling living room under soft, recessed lighting.

The kitchen was decked out with brand-new appliances and granite countertops, a large curved sectional sofa sat right in the center of the living space, a massive television was mounted to the wall, and the two bathrooms came fully loaded with bathtubs and jacuzzis.

"Now, we can all actually fit in a place like this, so living together won’t be an issue at all," Eric said, putting his hands on his hips with a satisfied smile, completely oblivious to the fact that the girls behind him were staring blankly, especially Chloe, who was still frozen solid.