Revised on 20/5

Prologue

Ding Dong!

The bell of the convenience store rung and the automatic door slid open. A beautiful young woman stepped into the store, her gaze focused on the grey smooth tiles on the floor, her shiny dark brown hair flowing behind her.

"Welcome!" The store worker chirped.

The young woman picked up a basket next to the counter and hurried to the magazine shelf. She threw into her basket a fashion magazine, a copy of Times, a comic magazine and a finance magazine. Then, she moved to the fridge and picked a few small bottles of drinks and headed towards another shelf. She dumped into her basket a bottle of cleansing oil, a packet of wet paper towels, a bottle of sunscreen lotion, a razor and a pack of tissue. Wine-colored eyes searched the shelf and finally found the little rectangular white box. Her eyes brightened up, and she quickly snatched it from the shelf and threw it into the corner of her basket.

The young woman took a deep breath and headed towards to cashier. She nervously put the basket onto the counter and waited to pay, her heart pounding fast.

"Do you need a plastic bag?" The store worker asked.

"Um…oh…okay."

Ding Dong!

The automatic door slid opened again. This time, a group of sweaty teenagers who had finished playing basketball went in. The boys moved quickly, each taking a bottle of water from the drinks shelf and lined up behind her, chit-chatting while waiting to pay. The store worker continued to scan the things the young woman bought, but forgot about the last item she shoved into the basket.

"That would be $17, thank you." The store worker started putting the items into a plastic bag.

The young woman grasped her purse nervously. Her heart was pounding and struggling. After a few seconds, she gathered up her courage and pushed the little white rectangular box forward.

"Oh, sorry." The worker picked up the box and scanned it, while giving a little glance at the young woman. Although the glance did not really mean anything, it still made her smooth cheeks turned rosy from shyness and embarrassment.

"I'm buying this for my brother…it's for my brother…" She tried to hide her embarrassment with a made-up excuse and lowered her head. Behind her, a tall boy saw what she bought and seeing her shy and embarrassed, he joked with her naughtily.

"Missy, did you buy the right thing?" The tall boy asked naughtily. "Shouldn't you be buying condoms instead of pregnancy test sticks if it's for your brother?"

BOM!

Her face went on fire with embarrassment. While the group of teenagers laughed, she quickly left a $20 dollar note on the counter, grabbed the little box of pregnancy test sticks and the full plastic bag and ran out of the store, not bothering to receive her change and receipt.