The unexpected

''Are you the girl who rented my house?''

         ''I can't believe it! I seriously can't believe it!'' I said to myself as I was standing in front of the university I never thought I'll get selected to study in. I was always the obedient one in my family, listened to my parents and always scored good grades in every subject.

          I didn't wanted to take up engineering just like every one of my friends and told my parents that I wanted to take up art. Since there wasn't much scope in arts from where I come from, I told them that I wanted to join a foreign university.

         At first, my parents were hesitant to but then later I was able to persuade them to let me go. I never doubted their decisions as they would always let me do what I wanted to and I loved them for that. All they want for me is to get a degree, get a job and get married to nice guy which is pretty much the story of every girl in India. 

       I had already applied for the scholarship in the art university before I told them about it and since my grades were good and I worked really hard for it, I was sure that I'll get selected. It was after I got the acceptance letter, that I told my parents about it, otherwise I knew that they wouldn't be able to afford the fee but would still go to great lengths to get it done. They will just do everything and anything to fulfill my wishes but I don't want to trouble them anymore. I just want to stand on my own feet and want them to relax and live their life a little.

         It was for the first time that I travelled alone so far, since I never really travelled that much and even if I did, I was always accompanied by my parents. I was the only child and that was the reason they were always so overprotective of me. I remembered when my mom came to drop me at the airport and It couldn't be any less embarassing.

             "Oh my little girl is growing up so fast!" said my mom, overexaggerating every word.

            "Mom I'm not five anymore. I can take care of myself" I said, struggling to get out of her bone crushing hug.

          "Yeah yeah whatever! For me you are always gonna be a little girl" said my mom, before planting a soft kiss on my cheek which I gladly returned. "Take care of yourself and call me everyday and by everyday I mean atleast 3-4 times a day. If you don't, I'll think that something happened to you. Then I'll do what a concerned mother always does, I'll take the very first flight to come and check up on you myself."

             "Yeah sure, please do that," I said, mockingly since my mom had a fear of hieght.

             After embarassing me for few more minutes in front of other passengers and their families who must have come to drop them off, by telling them a few stories of my childhood, my mom let me go. Everyone was smiling around her, as she waved me goodbye and I went in for the security check quickly trying to hide my very very red face. 

        My family was middle class so I pretty much had a very simple life. Everything that was happening now was completely new for me. It was the start of my new life, where I'll be doing everything on my own and I just couldn't stop smiling.

           I didn't enter the university at the moment, since it was night time already and the gates were locked. So, I took a right and headed straight for my house that I rented. I had rented it online and the fare was kinda high so I was gonna leave it as soon as I can to find a cheaper place to live. The place was close to the university, so it wasn't difficult to reach.

           I looked at the structure, it was a one storied building and looked a bit old but was pretty well maintained. I knocked at the door and it was opened by an old lady, probably in her fifties. She starred at me for few seconds before her eyes lit up.