= SARAH POV =

“Seriously, Manuel69? Do you think she is playing me? I mean, she says the prank was really bad; maybe I overstepped the boundaries?” I said, replying to chat as I took a sip of iced coffee that I had ordered during my stream. Chris had put her credit card on one of my favourite food delivery apps, so at least I didn’t have to worry about buying food while I was trying to get a job.

“Well, if it meant having a pretty girl in my house 24 hours a day, I would pay for all of your needs every single day for the rest of your life!” Manuel69 replied.

I blushed and laughed. “Oh stop, you are such a sweetheart.” I giggled and then gasped as a pledge of ¥16,000 from Manuel69 came in through the pledge option.

“Woah, Manuel! That is a lot. Are you sure? I can refund you. That is a lot of money,” I cooed, feeling bad. I was used to ¥500 or ¥1,000 at the very most, but ¥16,000 was a lot of money to just pledge in one shot!

“That’s towards your goal of ¥528,000. Keep streaming, and I’m sure you’ll be able to hit that and make that landlady of yours regret forcing you into such unlivable conditions,” Manuel69 replied.

“Yeah! Here is another to tide you over for a while,” Sukimi123 messaged in the chat. Right then, another Bing sounded, and another pledge of ¥16,000 came in!

“Guys and girls, stop! You are being way too good to me. Thank you so much. You guys literally just saved me a little bit this month,” I said, my eyes brimming with tears. “This means, at the very least, I’m able to pay my phone bill. Thank you!” I sighed and clasped my hands gratefully. 

Just then, a text message from Chris flashed on the screen, and I checked it to see Chris saying that she was heading home, that she had just had a talk with the owner of my previous apartment, and that we had to have a serious talk.

“Oh no, sweet peas, I totally have to go. My landlady just texted me that she is on the way home, and she wants to have another ‘serious’ talk. If I’m not back tomorrow, just know that I love you guys, and I wish you the best. See you all next stream!” I said and beamed at all the well wishes and love sent my way in the chat. I swear if not for this small audience of mine cheering me on, I would really have lost hope in my life years ago.

I went offline and checked my earnings account. FunYear took 50% off everything I earned through ads, so I saw that I had earned about ¥5 000 in total from the streaming app, which was about right on an average day. However, my fans sent me pledges, too, which went directly to my online wallet, and those amounted to ¥35,500! That was enough to pay off my phone bill plus the late charges! My phone bill was ¥10,000 a month, so there was more than enough to pay for the two months I missed and any late charges.

Just as I closed the browsers showing my private information about my stream, I heard the front door unlock, and I walked out to meet Chris.

Chris walked straight up to me and handed me an angry red notice.

“Two months? You didn’t pay your phone bill for two months?” she asked, her voice sharp and controlled, but her eyes burning with frustration. Her posture was rigid, and the paper trembled slightly in her grip.

I swallowed hard, guilt twisting in my stomach. “I-I was going to pay it,” I said quickly, trying to soothe the storm brewing behind her eyes.

Chris didn’t budge. She stepped closer, her presence suddenly overwhelming. “That’s not the point, Sarah. You didn’t tell me. Do you know how bad this could have gotten? What if your phone had been cut off completely? What if something happened and you couldn’t call for help?” Her voice dropped, but it carried a weight that made me shrink back.

“I know, I’m sorry,” I whispered, staring at my feet.

Chris reached out, lifting my chin so I had no choice but to meet her gaze. Her fingers were gentle, but her eyes were firm. “I’m not mad because of the bill, Sarah. I’m mad because you didn’t trust me enough to tell me that you are struggling.”

Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes, but I held them back. “I didn’t want you to worry. I thought I could fix it myself.”

Chris’s expression softened just a fraction, but her grip on my chin lingered. “You don’t have to do everything alone. Not anymore. Got it?”

I nodded, but the tension in the room didn’t ease. Instead, it seemed to thicken, leaving me breathless as Chris finally let go and stepped back.

“We’ll talk more about this later,” she said, her voice low as she turned and headed toward the kitchen “I brought home dinner let’s eat”

I exhaled slowly, feeling both relief and a strange yearning as I watched her go.