The rickety bus ride made Sehun even more nauseated than he already was. Sehun swallowed thickly, attempting to hold down his panic. His hands immediately went to the camera hung around his neck: his most prized possession. Feeling calmer, Sehun exhaled and focused on looking at his lap. Here he was, in a country he had never been in before, expected to make do with life as a newly orphaned University student.

Sighing, he looked out the window to take in the landscape. There was a lot of flora and fauna; much more than he was used to seeing in Seoul. The countryside was rich in nature; that much appealed to his artist's eye. At least the environment appealed to his pursuit as a nature photographer.

Sehun always had a close affinity for nature; despite living in the big city, he always had plants around his home. He would pluck small flowers from cracks along the road and introduce them to a friendlier home along his windowsill. His parents would buy him potted plants for his birthday, and he would display those prominently around their small apartment.

The Nikon camera slung around his neck was the most expensive piece of luxury Sehun would ever be able to call his. It took a decade and more years for his parents to save up for Sehun’s gift – eighteen years, to be exact.

After his parents passed away, they left him with nothing except for the ridiculously expensive Nikon camera he held dear to him every day and their dilapidated apartment millions of dollars in debt.

Sehun never blamed his parents for his less than admirable living conditions. Both of his parents worked multiple jobs, some of which required them to work graveyard shifts. They rarely came home; when they did, they were literally worked to the bone. Sehun took on jobs of his own as soon as he reached a legal age; the Ohs were known around the city as the hardest workers.

Given that they had an extremely unfortunately lacking supply of money, they lived in the most dangerous part of Seoul. However, Sehun always considered their apartment to be located in the safest part of the most dangerous area. They rarely faced any life-threatening incidents, and Sehun was safe when he spent the majority of his life home alone.

Most teenagers Sehun’s age would jump at the opportunity to spend so much time alone in their homes. The prospect of having unlimited privacy and access to do whatever they wanted to within the limits of their money would be appealing to any child from a normal home. Sehun didn’t consider himself from a normal home. His parents loved him fiercely, and he loved them back just as much, but he longed for the presence of another human being. Throughout his entire life, he longed for company. He longed for friends.

Friends. This was a topic of utmost concern for Oh Sehun. Living in Seoul, he was the most undesirable person there was: his family was poor, he wore the same clothes every day, his grades were nothing to be in awe of, and his personality was less than likeable. Sehun took after his father; he was a man of few words and even fewer expressions. Because of Sehun’s apparent lack of emotions, his classmates often went out of their way to avoid him.

Being ostracized tore Sehun apart. The chance to leave his hometown where everyone knew him was one of the reasons Sehun jumped at the opportunity to attend university in a foreign country.

Sehun’s parents always encouraged and supported his dream of becoming a nature photographer. The fact that they had worked so hard for their son to have a top-of-the-line camera was more than enough proof. They always talked to Sehun about going to university, even when he was young. His parents had come from families of even worse living conditions, and they never had the chance to attend college. Now that he had a goal in mind for his future, he took the words from his heart and made them into actions. Sehun scouted out every art school in South Korea. He applied for student loans and scholarships. He attended countless interviews and took tests which he thought he wasn’t capable of passing. Sehun even rented his first suit. Unfortunately, as he thought, he wasn’t accepted to any Korean universities.

Then, one day, life was in favor of Sehun. Walking home dejectedly after being rejected by yet another prospective university, he found a large envelope stuck in the mail slot of his apartment door. Dashing inside and opening it the moment the door closed, he saw that it was an offer from an arts school in China; Shaanxi University for the Arts. Apparently, one of the universities he interviewed at recommended him to this school.

Unbeknownst to Sehun, he was a wonderfully talented young artist. His photographs sent the interviewees hearts aflutter. The amount of emotion portrayed through his still photographs was shocking. Sehun possessed talent that they very rarely saw, even in the bustling city of Seoul. The only problem with him was his monetary standing. Few universities in this time and age considered taking a student in for free tuition, no matter how admirable they might be.

Shaanxi University for the Arts is one of the few exceptions. After watching Sehun’s interview video and seeing his portfolio, they fell in love with his prestige and offered to take him in as a four-year student free of tuition.

Sehun jumped at the opportunity. He would be living his parents’ dream as well as pursuing his own.

Back then, the prospect of living in a completely new environment didn’t really bother Sehun. In fact, he never even thought about it. Now, as he sat in the nauseating bus, he began to feel pricks of regret. Maybe, if he waited longer, more universities from more populated parts of China would have accepted him. True to his upraising, Sehun was still a city boy at heart.

The first signs of winter began to set in. Sehun shivered in his seat, wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck. Although it was threadbare and the material was scratchy, it brought some warmth to Sehun. It was too bad that he didn't have enough money to waste on amenities like warmer clothing. All of the money he had now would just be enough to find him a place to live in for the time being. Even though his university gave him free tuition, he still had to find his own place to live. Unable to do so while he was still packing up in Seoul, today would be the first and last day he had to find an affordable living space.

If he didn’t succeed, he would be living out on the streets.

He would be living out his parents’ worst nightmare, and the future they worked themselves to death to prevent their son from experiencing.

Sehun felt tears bubble up in his eyes and futilely wiped at them. Sighing, he let the grief of his parents’ passing and the worry of surviving in even worse conditions drown him into a pit of self-pity and woe.