Red Ribbon Of Fate

Prologue

The picture above is of Riya, which I drew from my own imagination.
...............................................................

I waited anxiously with bated breath.

For THE RESULTS.
The set of digits that would determine My career choice,
My college
My future
My life
My fate..

I sighed. I was running out of patience.

Just then my phone rang and my best friend's smiling face flashed across the screen. I swiped the screen to the right and picked her call.

"The results are out" was the first thing she said when I picked up. She squealed excitedly and I guessed she must have done extremely well from the happiness in her voice.

"Oh my gosh, I will go check it right away!" I exclaimed enthusiastically and hung up.

I was nervous, anxious and all the other synonyms one can find for that feeling. I wasn't sure if I had done well. But it was the time to find out. I ran to my room to log onto the CBSE website. I typed in my registration number and date of birth and waited while the page loaded.

All sorts of thoughts ran through my head. Would I have done well enough to get into my dream college? Would I be able to pursue what I desired?

It took a while but finally the page opened. I immediately squeezed my eyes shut before I could see my percentage.

"Mom," I called, wanting her to be the one to check my results first before me.

I heard her footsteps enter my room when she asked "What is it, Riya?"

I just pointed in the direction of the screen without opening my eyes. She walked closer to it, peering at the screen. My breath hitched at my throat when silence surrounded us for a few minutes. And then..

"I didn't expect this from you," she said, nonchalantly.

I didn't know what to decipher from the tone of her voice but I was scared. I slowly opened my eyes to look and gasped after calculating my overall percentage, making me the happiest person on earth. I had scored a whopping 97%. I beamed involuntarily and turned to look at my mom whose lips were stretched into a wide smile.

"This calls for a celebration," she said, smiling."Call your dad and inform him at once."

When I called my dad, he picked up immediately. Before he could utter a single word, I screamed into the phone.

"Daddy my results are out and I got 97℅," I said, elated.

"Congratulations sweetheart, I knew you could do it. That's awesome," he said, trying to be a cool dad, making me laugh. "So now you can get into Madras Dental College like you wanted, to pursue dentistry."

The statement caused me to grin over the phone. Though I was a Bangalorean by birth and I could easily get into Government Dental College here if I tried, I really wanted to experience the hostel life and Chennai seemed like a good option, being my native.

"Yay!" I squealed.

My dad chuckled. "So I will try to be home by 5 today," he said. "We need to celebrate."

"Okay dad," I said. "See you soon!"

Just when I placed the receiver down, my elder brother hugged me from behind.

"Riyuuuuu! Way to make the family proud. My little sis is growing up!" he screeched making me laugh out loud.

I turned around and he immediately wrapped his arms around me giving me his usual warm bear hugs.