Everyone stands in silence for a while, nervously awaiting the entrance of the person who will decide their families’ fates, until the doors to the house they are all standing before bangs open, and out walks an extremely disapprovingly looking man. His eyes trail over all of the straightly standing boys before pointing directly at Baekhyun, his finger motioning for the boy to step forward. Baekhyun gulps, but never the less steps forward, very careful not to step on his train like he usually would. “Come, child.” The man dismissively walks back through the front doors, and Baekhyun silently follows, his heart racing at a mile a minute. His eyes have to adjust at first after he enters into the front room, but once he does he immediately panics. There is a porcelain teapot set out on a low table, and two cups sitting empty beside it.  There is also a needle and a small stack of cloth sitting near a floor pillow, which Baekhyun can only guess is for sewing. He cringes just thinking about how many bandages he had to tie to his palms in the past.

“State your name.” The man says dismissively, already sitting comfortably on his floor pillow lazily. “M-my name…?” “Yes child, I don’t have all day!” but before Baekhyun can answer, the man mumbles “Slight stutter…” and scribbles on his paper before him. “Byun Baekhyun!” “Of Jung-Chi’s decent?” The matchmaker asks, eyes widened with surprise. “Yes, sir, He is my father.” Baekhyun hopes this will bring him a better chance of winning over the matchmaker. “I see, has a significant military history amongst family.” The man writes down something again, Baekhyun figures it’s more notes. “Also exceptionally beautiful, small face and pale skin,” The matchmaker stand and begins walking around him, even poking at his stomach judgingly once. “Thin, but figure seems fit enough to bare children.” Baekhyun flushes at the comment, and the matchmaker sends him a disapproving glare. The man sits back down and gestures for Baekhyun to sit down as well. He struggles with properly fixing his train to look presentable, but eventually he manages to sit properly and face an annoyed looking matchmaker.

“Pour the tea.” “Ah, yes…” Baekhyun reaches out for the pot and pulls away quickly at the heat of the teapot, but once he remembers just who he is pouring for, he tries to bare the pain as he leans over the table to pour out the tea. “You’re hands are too thin, you’ll never properly pour tea with such weak fingers.” The matchmaker dismissively says before he starts to write again, and Baekhyun wants to cry just thinking about what could be on that paper. “Take the cloth and sew together a small handkerchief, nothing fancy, just something usable.” Baekhyun nods, being sure to keep his head down as he starts to thread the needle in and out of the cloth, trying to put his embroidery lessons to good use. But the end result is cringe worthy with the unevenness of the stitching and the awkward flower pat