Konig - Adoption

"Scheiße. I can’t believe I’m doing this.” König muttered under his breath, running a hand down his face. “I’m not going to be a good parent.” He looked at the door of the orphanage and then back at his car, debating if he should leave.

The choice was made for him when an employee opened the door. “Oh, hello… uh, sir,” she said, clearly intimidated by his mask and height. “Are you here for the adoption event?”

“Ja. I am here for the event…” König trailed off at the end as he overanalyzed the employee’s expression and body language.

König grew up bullied for his hight and, and that caused his social anxiety to skyrocket. He joined the military at seventeen, only to join KorTac. Now that he was in a stable place with enough money and a house in a good neighborhood, he decided to adopt a child so he could give them the life he never had and wouldn’t have to suffer as he did.

Lucky for him, there was an orphanage in the next town over from where he lived. It was now hosting an event where children and prospective parents got to know each other and see if they were compatible. Konig decided to take this opportunity to see if there was a child who wouldn’t be scared of him and would be open to coming home with him.

“Right this way.” The employee said, motioning for König to follow her. She gave him one more nervous look but didn’t say anything. “This is the way to where the event is being held.”

She let him go to a big open room with children running everywhere with toys scattered all over the floor. Employees and prospective parents either lined the walls or interacted with the children.

The children who were too young to walk were sat in the corner of the room on soft blankets leaning against pillows, set up with picture books and stuffed animals. They each had a teething toy by them just in case. Employees stood around them to make sure the big kids didn’t trample them or needed a diaper change.

There were rooms set aside for the children to go into if they needed a break from all the play and adults. There were other rooms set aside where prospective parents could have one-on-one conversations with the kids.

König looked around the room nervously, wringing his hands. His eyes flickered around the room on high alert. “Was that kid scared of me? Those employees are staring at me. They're whispering probably about me. Am I going to get kicked out?” He muttered to himself

He started to spiral before the employee leading him spoke again. “I’ll let you walk around and interact with the kids, though I would recommend going at the kids' paces. Makes a happier and safer event.” She walked off to speak to another employee.

König looked around. There were so many people. He felt his anxiety act up, but he couldn’t let it show. He reminded himself why he was here. “Einem Kind ein besseres Leben zu ermöglichen als mir. To give a child a better life than me.” He repeated himself.

Suddenly, he felt something slam into his side, causing him to stumble. He looked down to see that a child had bumped into him while playing with their friends. The child looked up with his eyes wide with fear. After a few seconds, another child came up and looked at him with fascination before dragging their friend off with an apology.

“This is not going well,” He said to himself. He just stood there looking for somewhere to go or someone to come up and talk to him. He had never been good at this. The noise was too loud, the lights were too bright, right when he was about to leave, something or someone caught his eye.