After being in the arcade for almost an hour, Matthew notices Zhang Hao's standing by a claw machine, trying to win a plushie. Jiwoong had gone to the restroom, so this was the perfect chance.

"Are you good with claw machines?" He asks Hanbin.

"Huh?" Hanbin looks away from Zhang Hao, and turns to Matthew.

"Go help him out." Matthew starts pushing him towards Zhang Hao and he gives Matthew a confused look as he ends up behind Zhang Hao.

"Hanbin?" Zhang Hao turns around and notices him standing in front of him. "Where's Matthew?"

"Oh, he's-" Hanbin turns around but doesn't see him anywhere. "He was just there." Zhang Hao just nods and turns back to the claw machine. Hanbin quickly stands next to him. "Do you need help?"

"Are you good at this? I've tried like five times, but I just can't get it."

"Which one do you want?" Hanbin asks him.

"Any is fine as long as you can get me one."

"No, really. Choose one. Which one do you want?"

Zhang Hao looks at each and every plushie before pointing at a red panda plushie. "We'll... since you seem so confident, I want that one. The red panda plushie."

"Alright." Hanbin inserts a token into the machine and after less than a minute, he's able to get the red panda plushie.

"Woahhh!" Zhang Hao gasps. "You really got it on your first try? Are you really this good or did you just get lucky?"

"Want me to try again? Which other one do you want?"

Zhang Hao looks at the plushies again before pointing at a hamster plushie. Hanbin ends up being able to get it less than a minute later.

"Wow! That's so cool! You really are that good!" Zhang Hao gasps again. "Since you helped me, I'll be nice and give you one of them."

"I'm too old for toys. You can keep them."

"Well, okay, old man." Zhang Hao teases him.

"You're older than me."

"But at least I don't act like I'm getting ready to retire." Zhang Hao hands him the hamster plushie. "There's no need to play with it. You can just leave it on your bed."

"But why did I get the hamster plushie?" Hanbin looks down at it.

"Because it looks like you."

"What? No it doesn't."

"Yes, it does. You actually look like a cat as well, but there were no cat plushies."

"What? How do I look like a cat? And how do I look like a hamster?"

"You just do." Zhang Hao pinches his cheeks and Hanbin laughs, showing his whisker smile. "No, stop!" Zhang Hao laughs and starts running away when he sees Hanbin start chasing him.

Matthew watches from afar and smiles. It seems like his plan is going well. He hopes Jiwoong doesn't get mad at him when he realizes what he's trying to do. He looks around and sees Jiwoong walking back from the restroom, so he quickly walks over to him.

"Where are Hanbin and Zhang Hao?" Jiwoong looks around, not seeing them anywhere.

"They were just here a minute ago." Matthew tells him. "They should be around here somewhere." He pretends he doesn't know where they are.

"Oh..." Jiwoong just nods and debates on whether or not to ask Matthew what he's been wanting to ask him all day.

"Do you have something on your mind?" Matthew asks him curiously, noticing Jiwoong's fidgeting with his hands.

"Not really." Jiwoong shakes his head, trying not to make it obvious. "I didn't know you had gotten close to Hanbin."

"Well, he's your and Taerae's friend."

"You never really showed interest in getting to know him."

"Yeah, well... it just happened." Matthew shrugs. He also wants to ask Jiwoong something, but he's not sure how to. "You must be happy that you finally got to go on your date with Zhang Hao."

Jiwoong just stays quiet and gives him a small smile. He's not sure what to say. If he says he is happy about it, Matthew will think he still has feelings for him, but if he makes it seem like he doesn't care, Matthew would end up thinking he's a player for going on a date with someone he doesn't have feelings for anymore.

"Do you like Zhang Hao a lot?" Matthew gets the courage to ask him.

"Are you curious about that?" Jiwoong looks down at him.

"I've always been pretty honest, so I'm not going to hide it. I'm sure you've noticed I've been trying to get Hanbin and Zhang Hao together all day. I know it's disrespectful towards you, I'm sorry... but I just don't want you to get hurt. Zhang Hao clearly doesn't feel that way about you."

Jiwoong already knew that and it's not something that hurts him anymore. Ever since he saw Matthew at the park the other day, he realized a lot of things. He realized that maybe he was just confused about his feelings for Zhang Hao. Yes he liked him back in middle school, which is why when he saw him again after years, he felt like those feelings had come back... but he had slowly been falling for Matthew all this time without realizing it.

Matthew and Taerae are best friends, so Matthew is closer to him than he is with Jiwoong. That had always bothered Jiwoong and it wasn't until recently that he realized he was jealous about that all this time.

"Is that why you brought Hanbin as your date?" Jiwoong asks him and Matthew just nods. "That means you don't have feelings for him, right?"

"I don't even know him like that." Matthew shakes his head.

"Wait..." Jiwoong starts. "So you brought Hanbin as your date so you could set him up with Zhang Hao because you didn't want me to get hurt? You wanted to get them together and make me realize Zhang Hao doesn't like me like that, so that I wouldn't get hurt?" He asks him, not being able to hide his smile. That means Matthew cares a lot about him... more than he already thought he did.

"Yeah... but now I'm starting to realize that I was wrong. You're on a date with him. I should've respected that and shouldn't have done that just so you'd realize it. I should've just told you."

"I want to help you." Jiwoong tells him, catching Matthew by surprise.

"Huh?" Matthew smiles. "You want to help me get them together?"

"Yeah." Jiwoong nods and smiles. "Let's do it."

-

"Oh, how cute!" Matthew smiles when he sees Zhang Hao and Hanbin's plushies. "I want to try getting one. Come on, Hao." He takes his arm and drags him towards the claw machine before he can say anything, leaving Hanbin and Jiwoong alone.

"Were you guys getting the plushies? Matthew and I looked for you two for a while." Jiwoong tells him.

"Yeah, sorry." Hanbin apologizes. "I know I probably crossed the line. I'll let you be with Zhang Hao now. You're on a date with him after all. I just lost track of the time."

"There's no need to apologize." Jiwoong assures him. "I know you have feelings for him."

"What? How did you-"

"It's just obvious." Jiwoong smiles. "Honestly, I can be pretty clueless, so I didn't notice that until recently."

Hanbin doesn't know what to say, so he stays quiet. He hopes he and Jiwoong don't start having problems over this. He would've never wanted to have the same crush as his best friend, but feelings aren't something one can control.

"Since I can clearly see you like him and that he likes you too, it only leaves me with one question... why aren't you two together yet?" Jiwoong asks him. "Is it because I liked him?"

"Liked?"

"I don't have feelings for him anymore." Jiwoong tells him, honestly. "There's someone else who I haven't been able to stop thinking about." He turns his gaze to where Matthew and Zhang Hao are standing. They're both by the claw machine and it seems like they're both struggling to win anything. Zhang Hao was trying to get the plushie for Matthew, but kept missing, which was making Matthew laugh.

"Wait... Matthew?" Hanbin gasps. "You like him?"

Jiwoong turns back to look at Hanbin and nods. "I know it may seem sudden, but I was slowly falling for him all this time. You know we've been friends for years."

"Have you told him?"

"I don't know how to. I mean... I was just going after Zhang Hao up until recently. Plus, I'm even on a date with him right now." Jiwoong tells him. "Honestly, the date with Zhang Hao isn't serious or anything. He just agreed to help me by coming on this double date... so I could make Matthew jealous."

"What? Really?" Hanbin can't help but smile. Why is it that all of sudden his shoulders feel lighter? It's as if a huge weight has been lifted off of his shoulders.

"Do you really think Matthew will believe me when I tell him I have feelings for him?"

"He might question it at first and have his doubts." Hanbin tells him. "I don't think this fake date thing was the best idea. You should've tried being honest with him."

"I know." Jiwoong sighs. "Maybe I messed it all up, but I just can't bring myself to ask him out. I don't have the courage to, especially since I don't know if he feels that same way about me. That's what this fake date was for. I wanted to see if he'd really get jealous."

"Well, did he?"

"I don't know." He shakes his head. "He always has a bright smile on his face, so I can't really tell what he's thinking most of the time."

"Our date was fake as well, so you don't have to worry about him having feelings for me." Hanbin tells him. He doesn't know if he should be telling him this. Matthew might get mad at him, but Jiwoong's a best friend of his. He can't hide that from him. "I think you'll be able to convince him you have feelings for him. Just be honest with him and give him some time."

"How did I not realize I had feelings for him before?" Jiwoong sighs.

Hanbin had kind of noticed it before. He'd notice Jiwoong was always getting annoyed whenever Matthew and Taerae would hang out together. He also remembers the times Jiwoong would take notes for Matthew whenever he was sick and couldn't go to school. He'd use the excuse of him being the class president to give Matthew all the handwritten notes. When Matthew was sick, Jiwoong was always picking up the homework from his classes and going to his house to give it to him.

Hanbin also remembers this one time that Matthew and Taerae were playfully flirting. They're best friends, so they do that a lot, but Jiwoong looked really annoyed and even walked away from them. At that time, Hanbin and all of them assumed that Jiwoong was just in a bad mood that day, but he now knows the real reason.

He had noticed Jiwoong might have feelings for Matthew, but Hanbin had forgot about all of that when Zhang Hao came back.

It's crazy how not realizing your feelings for someone can really mess up your chances with the person you're really meant to be with.

"I'm just scared." Jiwoong looks down. "Because he and Taerae are best friends. It seems like people always end up falling for their best friends... just like you and Hao."

"Oh, come on... that's not always true." Hanbin tells him. "We've also been best friends for years and feelings were never involved. You can have a best friend without feeling like that about them."

"Yeah, I guess." Jiwoong shrugs, hoping Hanbin is right. "But he and Taerae flirt a lot. What if they do have feelings for each other?"

Hanbin tries to make him stop talking by doing hand gestures when he sees Matthew and Zhang Hao walking their way, but Jiwoong is too lost in his own world to realize. "I just like Matthew so much, but I don't know how he feels about me. I also don't know to tell him." Jiwoong sighs.

"You what?" Jiwoong hears a voice behind him and he doesn't even dare turn around, already knowing it's Matthew.

Hanbin and Zhang Hao exchange looks. Hanbin has a worried look on his face since he's sure this isn't how Jiwoong expected to confess his feelings for Matthew. Zhang Hao has a surprised look on his face. He had no idea that's what Jiwoong and Hanbin would be talking about. If he would've known, he would've stayed with Matthew at the claw machines for a little longer.

But maybe Matthew finding out like this was for the better. Judging by how Jiwoong was acting, it seemed like he wasn't going to confess to him any time soon.

Jiwoong stays quiet for a few seconds. That's until he gets the courage to turn around and walk up to Matthew. "I just said... that I like you."

Hanbin and Zhang Hao exchange glances at each other, smiling proudly at Jiwoong.

_________________

Wow, can you believe another ship
might sail before Haobin???
They need to hurry up 😤

Don't worry, it'll happen very soon!!
Did you like their arcade scene? ❤️❤️
The next chapter is so cute by the way 🥲

Also, I hope you're liking Mattwoong.
I just had to make them the side couple because I wasn't going to let
Jiwoong be so sad

If you like Mattwoong, don't forget
to go check out my new story
'Stop The Time'. Thank youu!❤️