Chapter 1.1

Every morning began with Guo Shufen greeting his makeup products a little 'good morning' and a fresh smile that could easily be mistaken to be the soft, spring breeze. He would brush his long fingers through his chocolate brown locks and yawn childishly, his other hand occupied by twisting the doorknob to leave his room.

"Shufen! Come check my face out," a woman's voice called as his vision bombarded with a more feminine face. The loudmouth of the eldest sister, Guo Bayu, posed awkwardly in front of her brother and winked. It took around a few seconds for Shufen to actually grab the courage to observe his sister's facial features. "Isn't my makeup top-notch today?"

"In your dreams," he retorted with a sigh. "Jiejie, listen to me, you look like you have a 39-degree fever with that shade of blush. Also, your lipstick doesn't match your outfit. It looks like you're going to your first clubbing session as a high-school girl."

"I-It can't be that bad!" She furrowed her eyebrows in concern for her own tastes in makeup before shaking her brother's shoulders aggressively. "I have a date today. Some guy from my workplace wants to have lunch! Quickly, quickly, what should I do?"

"Get help."

Before she was able to retort, the man slid down the stairs through the handrail and landing nicely on the soft carpet. Childishly waddling to the dining table and the kitchen, his eyes caught up on an unfamiliar digital camera within his father's arms along with his other three sisters showing each other their phones to discuss the latest airing drama series. Ignoring them and jumping towards his mother in the kitchen, he gave her a wide embrace and audibly loud smooches.

"Ma~! It looks like I'm the only one in the family who loves you. Look at Ba, he already just bought a new child despite having a tonne of digital cameras in glass cases in his room. Unlike him, I gave you my first pay to spend on luxuries."

"How pretentious, you're just like your father," the lady clicked her tongue and shook him off. "Just count how much you've spent on your makeup collection upstairs. Even the cardboard boxes you've received from online shipping aren't enough to fit your collection."

"Haah~? But Mffh–!"

Before he was able to say any further, he was only able to taste the youtiao suffocating in his mouth. With a few muffled noises, he was able to remove the stick from his lips and say: "how dare you stuff something so greasy in the morning" and waddled away to sit on his designated seat at the dining table.

That was when he recalled something.

Pulling out his phone, he sighed heavily when he had nothing new to check in his latest messages. The third eldest sister, Guo Yaling, noticed this and leaned over to the side where his brother was to view his phone.

"What are you doing? Are you sick of waiting for a hot man's message whom you've found from Yidui? Don't fret, Didi, not only is your face so feminine but your name is, too."

"Argh! That's not it. What hot man? I'm just frustrated."

"Why?"

"Yaling jiejie, you know I am a responsible man, right? If I want to purchase something, then I pay the right price. You see, three nights ago I caught my eyes on a very appealing sale as if I had won a ticket to the hot springs from a lucky draw. They were selling this limited edition lipstick for a reasonable price –– and I was probably the first to find it."

"And then?"

"So I contacted them, but it's a brand new day and I haven't seen any response...I am close to rioting!" Shufen, after huffing and puffing, snatched the chocolate milk carton from Yaling and gulped it all down, leaving nothing but emptiness and sorrow behind. Gently handing it back to his sister, he puffed his cheeks. "I'm never contacting that dealer ever again."

"Why don't you just work in the makeup industry? I'm sure you would have gotten any type of job from there with your pretty-boy face, good figure, puppy attitude and love for makeup," Yaling queried, silently sulking at her chocolate milk carton. She was sure to make her brother pay after gaining back his sanity, yet she reminded herself that she had stolen his milk cartons back when they were little almost all the time.

"Can't. If my hobby becomes my work, I'll start to hate it."

"If my son were to work at a makeup company, it better be a brand like CHANEL or Estee Lauder; otherwise, he better continue to work as a doctor," their mother called from the distance.

"I got it, Ma!" Shufen pouted, slumping over his seat. Looking at his phone for the n-th time, he almost shrieked once he felt his phone sound within his fingers. Glancing over at Yaling and exchanging apprehensive looks, the male viewed the newly received message from his Wechat.

As if on cue, flowers began to blossom around him comically.

"Wow, the glacier melted at such a drastic rate," Yaling muttered to herself as she rested her chin on her palm. "I swear global warming is becoming more serious with this guy around."

She silently watched as the youngest brother hopped out of his seat and made a dash towards the stairs, then running down with a rearranged hairstyle and the trending clothes she swore were from famous brands. Hearing his whistles as he shut the door and scurried away, she made sure to observe her other siblings in order to see whether they were actually from the same parents or not.