A young man who was eighteen years old was reading a letter that he received from the mail in front of his house. He had fairly black hair with a chiseled face that could be a budding charisma that was waiting to mature and polished. Though he was not as tall as his peers, his presence was often noticed among his 'friends'.

His hands were as shaken as his resolve. His eyes moved along with the sentence that he read. From the right and then to the left. He kept reading the sentence yet it didn't change. He tightened his upper lips as he folded the paper.

Pushing back his chair, he stood up and watched the scenery behind the windows and looked at the flocking bird in the sky. He let out a sigh as he pinched the space between his eyes. He looked down at the paper before reading it again

'We are sorry to tell you but you are not qualified to enroll in this university.'

He let out another sigh as he slammed the paper on his table. He fell on his chair as he watched around his walls. There were many motivation posters hang on them before he furrowed at one of them that said 'Know your mistakes, then grow.'

He reached out his phone in his pocket and opened the wrinkled paper and dial the number that was written on the bottom. The call was immediately picked up before the receiver said,

"Hello, this is Clad University, how may I help you?"

He could tell by the voice that it was a friendly woman, "Hello, yes I want to ask about the reason why my enrollment was denied by the university,"

"Ah.."

There was a slight pause before he could hear a faint voice, 'Not this kind of shit again.'

"Hello?"

He pretended not to hear what the woman whispered before she replied, "Ah yes sorry, what is your name again?"

"It's Ruan, Ruan Tey,"

"Ruan Tey, okay wait a minute, while I check on the data."

Ruan was put on hold for a good five minutes before the woman replied, "Hello Mr. Ruan, yes, we are sorry to tell you that if we were to share that data, it would break some privacy terms."

Ruan gritted his teeth, "Yeah well, the privacy is regarding me and I'm allowed to know?"

The woman replied, "Yeah, no, we are sorry but that is the rule of the institute."

"Bullshit!" shouted Ruan through the phone.

"How am I supposed to learn from my mistakes if you didn't tell me what am I lacking in the first place."

The woman hung up without saying anything further. Ruan was disappointed by the service but then again he couldn't just force her to break the rule the institute stated. He knew he was rude and his emotion flared up but he could do nothing. This had been the worst day of his life and it was still noon when he felt the heat from inside his room.

*beep*beep

His phone lit up before he smiled at the sender's name, "Yo! You come to work today or nah?"

He picked up his phone and replied, "Yeah!! Today is the special day boy!"

*beep

"Hell yeah boy!"

Ruan smiled before he locked his phone and put it inside his pocket.

*knock *knock

Ruin raised his eyebrows before he turned around and saw the door opened by a middle-aged lady in her forties. There was some resemblance in their eyes and she was smiling against him with no hesitation.

"Mom, I will be leaving in two hours, what's up?" asked Ruan.

The mother said, "I just want to tell you that we are going to grandfather's house this weekend."

"Huh? Are we? What's the occasion?" asked Ruan innocently.

It had been a long time since he visited his grandparents. He couldn't remember it well but it was quite a big house in the countryside, though, they didn't have much money despite the size of their living.

"It's your grandfather's birthday... I think."

(Eh? You think?!) thought Ruan as he helplessly watched his mother contemplating. He shook his head and grabbed his bag before giving her mother an envelope by forcing it in her hand as he kissed her left cheek, "Bye!"

Before the mother could react the door was already closed and in the living room, he saw another figure who was sitting in his wheelchair and enjoying his brunch of a sandwich. He tried to reach for the mayo before Ruan picked it up for him.

"Dad, how long are you going to pretend to be sick?" asked Ruan jokingly.

"Huh?!"

(Oi, why are you having cold sweat now?) thought Ruan as he noticed how his dad's face turned away with a forced smile. (That's really suspicious!).

Ruan looked at his dad before he shrugged his shoulder then left the house. The shimmering light blinded his eyes for a second before he covered it with his hand. The heat was not merciful to the people without a shade. He let out a sigh and lamented a bit about how it would be to have a nice car to work.

He shook his head and dragged his body down the road. Coupled with his jacket and the burning asphalt he was sweating in no time. However, luckily, the convenience store was not that far away from his house.

(What a shit life, all I do for the past six months was working in the convenience store then give the money back to my parents and save some for mine) thought Ruan as he walked closer to the place where he loved to hate.

(Every day is the same, I work, got home, eat and sleep, so I can do it all over again, God, life is shit) thought Ruan as he stood in front of the convenience store. The automated door opened as he heard a 'good afternoon' from one of his coworkers.

"Yo!," greeted Ruan with a grin that stretched to both sides.

His coworker was already wearing the uniform provided for the employees by the company. He had a slim figure with a slicked hair and a nice fade to the side. Though he looked like a delinquent with his casual black earring on his ear... he uh... uh....actually a delinquent.