My new apartment was small, it was smaller than I remembered when we first saw it, but it didn't matter to me, I was so happy to finally have “my own place". The apartment had warm sunlight that spilled in through the wide window in the living room and fell in golden stripes across the hardwood floor.

“This is it,” I whispered, standing in the middle of the room with a cardboard box in my arms.

My bestie Mala stepped in behind me, her sneakers squeaking against the polished ...