At lunch, along with their other food, every man at the table had an orange sitting next to their plate. Kyungsoo placed two large empty bowls on the table and instructed the men to put their peelings from the oranges into the bowls. Once the meal was over and the dishes were cleared, Kyungsoo helped Baekhyun spread the peelings out carefully on the clean countertop, and then covered the skins with a thin towel to discourage flies and bugs from settling on them. Some of the men lingered, asking questions about the reason for the interesting arrangement. The orphan once again had a captive audience as he shyly explained his idea for the scented pouches. The men all gave encouraging words and positive feedback for the idea, and Baekhyun was soon beaming from ear to ear. 

Junmyeon had been watching the whole scene with great satisfaction. Finally he came over to Baekhyun. “The rest of what we got for you at the market is up on your bed. I thought you might like to inspect everything on the soft surface.” 

Baekhyun still had the bright smile on his face and he nodded. “I’ll go check it out now!” He ran out of the room, only tripping slightly in his new shoes once as he reached the hallway. 

Junmyeon and Kyungsoo chuckled at the stumble, but then the cook nudged the older and indicated with his head towards the boss. The tall man was standing across the room with his back to the fireplace, his gaze facing the hallway where the orphan had just been. The older man chuckled as the cook muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “whipped.”

Meanwhile, Baekhyun made it up the stairs and down the hallway to his room after only tripping once more. A thought occurred to him as he reached his bed, so he ignored the paper-wrapped parcel on the blanket for a minute in favor of slipping out of his new shoes and placing them carefully beside his sewing tin, just under the edge of the bed. 

His feet now bare again, the orphan turned his attention back to the parcel. This was larger and flatter than the way the shoes had been wrapped. Unwrapping it revealed a thin, opaque material that at first glance appeared dingy and flimsy in nature. However, when he picked it up, Baekhyun discovered the cloth was strong, and it was woven with two different colored strands, giving the illusion of both gray and brown in color. The weave was loose, creating larger spaces between the threads. As Baekhyun unfolded the material to lay it out fully on the bed, he discovered there was more folded paper inside. It was long and narrow, tied with a thin string, and obviously had something inside of it. The orphan was surprised, but he went ahead and untied the string, unfolding the paper carefully. His surprise grew as he discovered it contained thin shiny ribbons. There were two long lengths of bright red ribbon and two long lengths of deep purple ribbon, all folded together, creating a beautiful explosion of color against the drab fabric. 

All of this was once again overwhelming to the little one. He sat down on the bed beside the cloth and ribbons, gazing at them for a few minutes as he tried to get himself together. Baekhyun took a deep breath as his mind raced. He had been told to expect the shoes. He had been told to expect the material. Although he hadn’t believed that he would actually receive either of them until they were in front of his face. Past experience had repeatedly taught him to never trust anyone’s promises until they fully proved themselves. 

But the ribbons. He hadn’t been told about the ribbons. And the memory of the boss’s question that night made a lot more sense now. The purple and red colors were more than obvious. And the boss had proved he was fully listening when he mentioned the red color again when they were asking questions to each other on the trip through the grove that morning. The ribbons were a surprise. They had to have been Junmyeon’s idea. They would be the perfect thing to add a touch of color to the pouches. Junmyeon probably asked the boss to find out Baekhyun’s favorite colors so that the orphan would be happy to use the ribbons. That had to be it.

And of course Baekhyun needed to make the boss his own pouch of air-freshening fruit skins. He could use the red ribbon as the closure. It would be perfect since the boss liked red too. But the tall man had mentioned brown as well… For now the red would have to do, and maybe Baekhyun could get a brown ribbon at a later time and make the boss another pouch. Yes, t