Junyoung checked the time on his watch for the third time since him and his sister had entered the store. It had been twenty minutes and she had been going around being indecisive about everything she laid her eyes on.
When he had agreed to go Christmas shopping with his sister, it was because he knew her to be a fairly rational shopper.
The way she was behaving was so different from her usual self and although it was sort of annoying, it amused him. He blew his bangs off his face.
That Lu Han guy must be very special.

“Jun, come here,” Sunjung waved him over, an almost childlike expression on her face.
Sighing, Junyoung dragged himself slowly to where his sister stood.
“This is cute, isn’t it?

For a moment or two, he stared incredulously at his sister. He then switched to giving the same look to the hat that she held.
“Please tell me that it isn’t for your boyfriend. He isn’t as young as he looks, is he? You cannot be dating a high school kid.”

Sunjung gave Junyoung an irritated look before going back to examining the hat in her hands.
It was absolutely adorable.
A koala hat.
She found herself giggling at how adorable Lu Han would look wearing it.
She knew how he abhorred being called cute and child-like but there was no denying it, he was adorable.
Sunjung found herself completely capable of handling the tantrum Lu Han would throw after receiving such a gift.

“He’s older than me,” she told her brother, “And don’t worry, I’ve already bought him a really nice pen as a gift. This is just to, well, annoy him.”

Junyoung shook his head in disbelief, “I do not understand romantic relationships.”

Sunjung let out a small laugh.
“It’s because you can’t—”

Her stomach fell as soon as she said those words. She looked up at her brother, ready to apologise but he seemed completely unfazed by her words.

He gave her a smile that was almost wistful, “It’s okay, Noona. I can’t find someone for myself because I like men and openly gay men are hard to find. Look at me, I can’t even tell my all band mates. I don’t mind it at all. Don’t be like our father and pretend like that’s not who I am,” a bitter laugh escaped the young man’s thin lips, “...it’s funny how he was so disgusted by who I am that he couldn’t even speak about it. He pretended to have a problem with my career choice to let his anger out.”

Sunjung wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find the words. She wanted to say so much but she couldn’t convert her thoughts into sentences.
She wanted to apologise for not being there when he needed her. If only she had been there when he told their parents, maybe she could have spoken to their father and maybe he would have listened.
If only she hadn’t been missing during such a crucial part of his life, maybe their family would be more like one.
...if only she hadn’t been confined to a therapist’s couch for the greater part of her brother’s most difficult days.

Junyoung chewed on his bottom lip, sensing that his words had made his sister more uncomfortable than at ease.
He awkwardly patted her shoulder. He had never been good with comforting people. He himself had gotten used to fighting through negative emotions; he didn’t know how to help others with it.
“So, a koala hat is really going to suit your boyfriend hyung.”
He was really glad to see Sunjung’s lips slowly curve into a smile.

“His name is Lu Han, you idiot.”

“Whatever,” he snorted, “Just buy it. I want to go to the bookstore.”

“Since when do you read books?”

Junyoung just rolled his eyes his sister’s response.

Junyoung had disappeared behind the shelves as soon as they had entered the only bookstore in the mall. It was almost like a library, with ceiling to floor shelves that held all kinds of books: fiction, non-fiction, school and college textbooks, extremely large encyclopaedias and dictionaries, and even a few educational DVDs.

Just out of curiosity, Sunjung made her way towards the non-fiction section. There, she spotted a rack that was almost empty. It contained a few copies of the same book.
The cover was simple: navy blue background to a single large animated-looking slice of lemon.
‘Slice of Life,’ it read in big loopy letters.
The cover also sported the impression of a signature: ‘Lay’.
She had heard that the book was going quite well, selling 4000 copies including eBooks in the fi