Song Chen put down the tablet and sipped his tea. "Grandfather?"
Song Jun tilted his head to the side, swinging his short legs. "Brother Chen, you know Grandpa has wanderlust, nevermind dad, how am I supposed to know where he is?" The boy's cute round face scrunched up in a grimace. He looked up at the man across from him. His Brother Chen still had that expressionless look on his face, he couldn't tell if he was pleased or not.
Song Chen tapped a few times on his tablet before standing up and gesturing for Song Jun to follow him. Song Jun was confused but learned from a young age not to say anything and waited for his brother to freely talk on his own. Unlike the rest of his family, Song Jun never nagged at his older brother to show him more affection or got angry at him for not expressing himself properly. It was one of the reasons there was a strained relationship between his brother and mother, who constantly tried to force him to open up. Song Jun learned to wait for Brother Chen to be comfortable enough to talk on his own if he wanted. It wasn't Brother Chen's fault that he was like this now.
Song Jun shook his head away from his dark thoughts and continued to follow his older brother out to the back of the house. They came to stop at the shed. The shed was his brother's work place whenever he came over to stay at the Song household. It was a given that he had his own place and mostly preferred to stay there but their mother would invite him over every few weeks or so. No one in the Song family was allowed to enter Song Chen's shed, which was why Song Jun was surprised that he would consider letting him in.
He remembered once when one their younger cousins tried to sneak in the shed. Brother Chen was really angry at that time, even though he didn't say anything, the kid began to cry at the frightening pressure he felt emitting from Brother Chen. After that, no one bothered to go near the shed. Song Chen and Song Jun entered the shed. It was nicely built from the inside, with exquisite European styled furnishing. Song Jun had his mouth open, gawking around at the wide space. Brother Chen walked down a narrow hallway to his left and paused next to a door.
Song Jun hurried over and glanced at Brother Chen's outstretched palm which held a key. He looked up to figure out what was going on but helplessly sighed when he saw Brother Chen's straight lanced face. He took a guess and said, "Is this key...mine? For this room?" It was bizarre to even think of it, Brother Chen wouldn't let dad and grandpa here.
Song Chen merely nodded and Song Jun stood there blankly for a few minutes before revealing the biggest smile. "Thank you, Brother Chen!" An inexplicable feeling of joy and happiness filled him. 'Hehe, Brother Chen picked me! He let ME in first!' Song Jun went ahead and unlocked the door, holding his breath until he saw the inside of the room, which blew him away. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Song Jun slowly blinked and turned his head over to see Song Chen observing him. His small face began to flush and his cheeks bunched up in an adorable tsundere pout. "No fair, brother, I didn't know you would do this... "
He tugged at Song Chen's shirt and hugged his leg, a happy glow to his face. This was the happiest he'd ever been in years! He felt a pat on his head and Song Jun mouthed a cute thank you with red eyes, running across the room with a bounce to his step.
The mannequin models stood at a corner and a sewing machine was sitting at a large table to the back of the room. Hundreds of threads of all shades could be seen in a shelf behind the machine, neatly placed in a rainbow sequence. On the table also lay artbooks with high quality stationary and sewing materials. Song Jun lightly touched everything, running his hands through the rolls of fabric which were packed away to the side. The room was every designer's dream! His only dream was to create and keep creating. Song Jun wanted to immediately begin drawing, a flood of inspirations urging him to sketch his ideas on paper.
The little boy was lost in wonder and adrenaline, plopping down on the bean bag with an artbook and pencils in hand. Song Chen watched on from the door way, a not-so- obvious softness on his face.