Moving to New York
Henry didn't think long about whether or not to renew his lease on Old Gary's apartment building before deciding to terminate it.
This is quite different from his role as Audrey Hepburn's assistant. Audrey Hepburn needed a working assistant, a driver to get her around. So Henry did have regular working hours.
However, this Ms. Hepburn lived in Switzerland, and her job was to promote United Nations Children's Fund, which meant she traveled all over the world. So Henry spent most of the year without a fixed abode.
Keeping my rental apartment in Los Angeles is giving myself a place to go back to.
However, becoming Catherine Hepburn's personal assistant is practically equivalent to being a home caregiver. Moreover, with her work location fixed on the East Coast, whether it's necessary to retain her West Coast residence is debatable.
Another consideration is that old Gary's apartment building in Los Angeles is considered a pretty good property. The rent is reasonable, and the environment is reliable. The only challenge is to win over old Gary's approval. That charming old gentleman is very picky about the quality of his tenants.
Even though I never pay the rent late each month, I'm still occupying valuable resources and depriving others of opportunities. It's best to avoid this kind of "hogging the spot without using it" behavior.
Secondly, will the things I left in Los Angeles attract unwanted attention again? How long will people remember the lesson from Sony?
Could it be that some people think that once the bomb is defused, everything is fine, and therefore dare to test their limits of tolerance again?
If he escaped unscathed the first time, would he be so lucky the second and third time? Wouldn't the police and FBI find a way to crack the code and put the bomb maker in jail?
What If...? someone takes advantage of my extended absence and starts causing trouble in my Los Angeles apartment, will the equipment I leave behind spontaneously combust or not? Am I prepared to endanger Gary and the other innocent tenants?
These are all concerns that Henry must consider.
Even if his job in New York falls through again, Henry doesn't necessarily have to go back to Los Angeles; he can always find another place to start a new life. United States isn't just two cities.
There's another reason that's best left unsaid: old Gary's apartment building holds too many traces of memories. In every corner, it's as if you can see the girl's figure.
It's just a rented house, not a property I bought. What's the big deal about moving? Why insist on staying with that old man? His property has clear heirs, and even if Henry wanted to get his hands on it, he wouldn't have a chance.
So after securing a job on the East Coast, Henry said goodbye to the apartment he had rented for nearly ten years and terminated his lease with old Gary.
Of course, the house was cleaned and returned to the tenant as it was. Some of the existing furniture was replaced, while others were worn out from long-term use, and Henry compensated for those as well. These were all agreed upon in the original lease agreement.
The new job and communication with Catherine Hepburn's family did not encounter the resistance I had imagined. There was no situation where her family thought I was there with ulterior motives to seize Catherine's property, so they turned against me and tried every means to obstruct me.
Perhaps it was his experience as Audrey Hepburn's last assistant that put Catherine Hepburn's family at ease.
Henry did not accept the gifts in Hepburn Hepburn's will. He only took an autographed photograph and recommendations for his books to publishers; that was all. He did not take a single penny of the valuable property.
On the other hand, Henry Brown's nearly four years as CEO of Stark Studios meant his annual salary was already in the tens of millions. Even if half of that was taxed, plus the huge compensation from Sony, his net worth was still at least in the tens of millions.
What would someone like that want from a faded, old, and unattractive female celebrity? Her body is practically as stale as dried radish?
Catherine Hepburn's family did indeed need someone to take care of the elderly woman, so Henry's onboarding and move-in went quite smoothly.
The only minor incident occurred when Kitty, the Tabby Cat, "met" everyone. Most people, including Maria Stark Tom, were quite startled.
Whether it was genuine boldness or she had one foot in the grave and was therefore fearless, Catherine Hepburn dared to pet the cat's head upon meeting her! She even gave Kitty a warm hug.
The Tiger dared not move. Krypton biped was watching it intently from behind, and something seemed amiss; it was about to send the tiger to the moon with a single kick.
In short, the pet Tabby Cat has also moved into a luxury apartment in Turtle Bay. It's much bigger than old Gary's apartment building.
Maria Stark Tom's work and salary remained the same, but with Henry helping her with her workload, her life became much easier, and she had more time to go home.
The reason she stayed was, of course, because there were some care duties that were inconvenient for a young man like Henry to handle.
There needs to be a nurse of the same gender for things to work well.
Audrey Hepburn's situation was similar; she had Robert Wolders as her life partner, and they also employed female helpers. In the later period, she also had the assistance of Jean Grey, the "Phoenix."
Henry was only responsible for the routine chores, not for the full care of Audrey Hepburn.
With BB, the core robot, relocated to Catherine's mansion, Henry and Maria Stark Tom's work became much easier with the little guy helping with cleaning and taking care of Kitty.
To prevent Kitty from biting everything, tiger repellent was also necessary. Henry, with Catherine's consent, also installed a steel cat tree for Kitty in the living room.
Henry had placed the audio equipment, computer terminal, and other equipment in his own room, and had arranged everything properly.
Although old Gary's apartment building was vacated, the Sheep Cave Valley Laboratory and the Undersea Laboratory and servers off the coast of California were not so easy to relocate. Therefore, those two secret bases continued to be used, and there were no plans to relocate them.
Aside from the East Coast, I don't know where else I can move to. Those places can also serve as my base on the West Coast, so there's no need to deliberately relocate to the East Coast.
Anyway, once I entered the secret base, with flight and Super Speed at full throttle, crossing from the East Coast would only take a blink of an eye.
Where it is set is not important.
My new life in New York started incredibly smoothly, with almost no trouble.
The word "almost" is used here because Kitty's move-in has caused some dissatisfaction among the other residents of this luxury building.
It's true that keeping pets isn't prohibited, but Tiger seems to exceed most people's tolerance level.
However, people who can afford to live in places like this aren't the kind of extremists who insist on others doing things their way. They wouldn't force Kitty not to move in.
Their voices were simply a call to draw a clear line, to make it clear that this "Tiger" would not infringe upon their normal lives, rather than remaining silent and being mistaken for tacit agreement, thus allowing their rights to be violated step by step.
Henry, of course, had no objection. The fact that they had drawn a line meant they couldn't cross it themselves. After all, he also worried about what would happen if someone actually treated Kitty like a pet cat and came to pet her every day.
The butcher delivery guy in Los Angeles is a prime example of someone who was reckless and didn't know what was good for him.
Kitty can protect the family members living under the same roof, but there's no need for her to be friendly to all outsiders.
Henry's mindset gradually changed, and he allowed Kitty to actively hunt other animals in Alaska. This apex predator gradually regained the ferocity of a wild beast.