Chapter 1 1

Big city.

So, this is how It's like. Crowded, spacious and bustling of course.

Cars, buses, four-wheeled or two-wheeled online taxis, orderly and neatly pass through busy highways.

Franchise shops, cafes, and all kinds of small and large businesses that line along the roadside are ones of the markers that this city is a center of business and industry.

Apart from that, here is one of the big cities with the best schools.

Some well-known private and public universities are in this city.

Many people who migrate here are those who want to continue their studies or people who want to try their luck for the better life.

Maddie was the one with the first goal.

The 18-year-old girl had graduated from senior high school and wanted to continue her study.

She's been studying as hard as she can, gave her best effort.

It paid off. She got a scholarship at one of the state universities with good rankings.

This university is also one of her dreams, because its accreditation reaches an 'A' grade.

She hoped that by doing this, she could make her parents proud.

Now, she just had to find a place to stay.

Renting a boarding house was the right decision, to think the money she had was not much.

She must be thrifty.

The money left by her parents should be enough, at least until she finishes school.

She walked along the city center looking for information about each empty boarding house, the ones that was definitely nearby the college building.

This was the second day.

Nothing.

She walked sluggishly.

Sometimes expectations don't match with reality.

She had already planned a one or two night stay at a cheap suburban inn, specifically to find a boarding house for her to stay in during college.

If she couldn't find it today, then she would have to look again tomorrow and so on...

That would waste a lot of time...

And and a lot of money.

Maddie steadied her steps towards the next building that she found in an advertisement on one of the social media.

When she met with the landlady of this boarding house, she got the same answer.

"Sorry, our room is full...."

Even though she was a little disappointed inside, Maddie didn't want to give up. She must do her best effort every day.

"Oh.. I see... Sorry ma'am, do you know any other boarding house agents? I've been looking for these two days but they're always full. Who knows, you know besides the ads that I got..." She smiled softly.

The landlady thought for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"Yeah... come to think of it, my friend is an estate agent, you can visit her and probably she has anything you need. I'll give you her number and office address in a moment."

She immediately took a pen and paper and wrote down something from her cell phone.

She was confused. Is real estate agent not too much?

"Madam, I'm looking for ordinary boarding houses... and you offered seems like an estate agent, I don't have much money to rent a house..."

She said while looking at the madam who was concentrating on writing.

"That's right sweetie, but my friend is the best real estate agent in town, you can see the rental houses with the best offers, besides that, she also has many acquaintances of boarding landlords like me. She can contact them directly without you having to bother looking for one - one by one... Trust me" she finally said.

Oh that's right...

It's not that Maddie couldn't call the number that's been advertised.

It's just that when she came, she felt that the place was not suitable for her.

Some are too far, some are close but the neighborhood is filthy .

There was also this place when she came, already a drunken man greeted her.

What's more, the strangest thing was, the advertisement stated that there were still empty rooms, and when she arrived, they were always full.

Tsk....

Alright she'll give this one a try.

The lady handed over a piece of paper to her and she saw that there was a cell phone number and an address on it.

"Here, just call her, her name is Trisha. You can come there right away or make an appointment in advance if you want to visit another time."

"Okay thank you." she answered politely.

After leaving there, she immediately headed for the address she already held.

Okay, after looking at the google map, this place is ten minutes away from here if she ordered an online taxi.

Not too expensive.

Besides, she also had to save her energy, one more week there will be a campus introductory orientation. She would be very busy.

Before heading to the housing agent's office, Maddie took a short walk in the center of the crowd just nearby her college building neighborhood.

She took advantage of this opportunity to get to know the environment in which she would live while studying here.

This place was crowded, congested, but neat and clean.

What she like the most was along the sidewalk there were lots of shady trees lined up to shade the pedestrians.

This big city was amazing.

The air was also mild.

Her mood got better.

Not far from here, was the college and school buildings.

Vast land filled with buildings ranging from early school to state lectures

The place where she will gain more and more knowledge.

She had visited it yesterday and felt gladsome about it.

Her parents must be proud of her....

Maddie stopped when she saw a small restaurant on her left.

Good, she's pretty hungry and doesn't need to cross the road.

She entered the restaurant with that "Since 1992" sign on it.

After eating her fill there, she returned to continue her journey.

----------------------

"How about it? Is there anything you're interested in?"

The bespectacled woman, with short curly hair, and beautiful brown skin stared at her with bright blue eyes that amazed Maddie with her beauty.

This beautiful woman is the real estate agent intended by the lady of the previous boarding house owner

She interpreted the woman who introduced herself as Trisha to be around 40 years old.

Trisha flipped through the housing advertisement paper she had again.

Maddie took a deep breath.

That's... what she thought ...

This was a place where you plan to rent or buy a house, she doesn't have that much money for this...

"Sorry, but... I'm actually just looking for a boarding house. My budget isn't enough to rent any.."

She said with a smile, hoping that Trisha could help her.

"Aah... Yes-yes... Are you a freshmen college this year? Do you want to find a boarding house near the campus?" She said while fixing her glasses and looking around for something on her desk full of piles of papers and notebooks.

"That's right. If you can help, I would be very grateful..." She said as she looked at the woman hopefully.

Trisha smiled while waving her hand at Maddie, hinting that of course she would help her.

"Not a problem young lady. I'll look up the list here, in a moment..."

Maddie nodded hopefully, and continued looking through the contents of the flyer she was holding to kill time.

The house here is really expensive, thought Maddie.

"Near the college building on Strawberry street, huh?" Trisha asked, which Maddie immediately said yes to.

Of course it's expensive. This is a big city, owning a house here is a promising investment.

Even the ones on the outskirts of town won't be cheap.

"Okay, let me see here... This... No, it was full yesterday... This... this is for men only..."

Maddie heard Trisha's chatter while looking at the models of houses being rented or sold.

Until she turned the last page.

The paper looks older than the others.

But what caught her attention was...

"Um.. Trisha?"

"Yes?" She answered while fixing her glasses and kept looking at the list she traced with her index finger.

"Is.. the price of renting this house is this cheap?" Maddie showed her the last brochure.

"Which one? Oh that? Yes, the rent for that house is really that cheap, that old house hasn't been lived in for a long time."

Oh...

"It's only natural that it's cheap, because you might have to replace some leaky roofs or peeling walls, and all sorts of other damage. Well... It's an old house. If you're interested, I can take you there. It's not far from here, the house it's on the Grape Street...."

Oh...

Well...

Wait a minute. Grape street?!

During her two days here, she learned one thing, That the street names in this city have their respective groups.

The group is determined from the main road that becomes the estuary of its branches...

If the road leading to the college building is Strawberry Street, then Grape Street is...

"How long does it take from the location of this house to the college building?" Maddie's eyes twinkled with hope.

"Hmm.. 10 minutes? More or less... You can even take a leisurely walk if you want to exercise..."

Trisha stopped paying attention to the list on her desk, and stared at Maddie behind her thick glasses.

She noticed it too.

"You want to see it now?"