Love Contract | haobin

Fourteen

"It was nice meeting you, Matthew. See you around." Ricky tells him.

"It was nice meeting you, too." He nods.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" Ricky asks Jiwoong.

"Talk to you later." Jiwoong nods and smiles.

"Matthew, come to the front." Ricky tells him.

"Oh, I'm okay here." Matthew tells him.

"Jiwoong looks like your chauffeur." Ricky laughs. "You can come to the front."

"Okay." Matthew gets out of the car once Ricky's out and gets in the passengers seat.

"Drive safely, okay? See you later." Ricky waves at them before walking into his house.

Matthew just looks straight ahead at the road. He's usually not this awkward with people. He's usually the one to start conversations, but he hasn't had the best day today and he doesn't have the energy to pretend that nothing's wrong. 

"Is everything okay?" Jiwoong glances at him and notices the frown on his face.

"Oh... yeah, everything's fine." Matthew nods and fakes a smile. He usually always has a smile on his face, so he doesn't want people he met today to get the wrong idea and think he's mean. "It's just been a long day." He tells him. He just met him today, so he doesn't want to tell him everything that's going on. He'll just tell Gyuvin later.

"I know we just met today, but does it have to do with the Hanbin guy?" Jiwoong asks him. "I know I should probably mind my own business, but I saw how you were looking at him and Ricky's friend."

"What? Is it that obvious?" Matthew sighs.

"Well, yeah... I didn't notice when we were in the movie theater since I was on the other side, but when we went out, I saw you were really awkward with him. Is he an ex-boyfriend of yours or something?" Matthew just stays quiet and looks down as he feels his eyes watering. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Jiwoong immediately says when he sees his watery eyes.

Matthew can't hold it in anymore. He's been holding in the tears since Hanbin told him he was married and was adopting a kid. He had to hold in those tears for hours. He had to pretend it didn't hurt him, but this is the biggest heartbreak he's felt in a long time. Matthew starts crying and quickly covers his face in embarrassment. He just met Jiwoong today and he's already crying in front of him. It's so embarrassing.

Jiwoong pulls over and reaches for some tissues, then hands them to Matthew. Matthew quickly wipes his tears away with them and takes a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing."

"Don't worry, it's okay to cry. I can see you were holding in your tears."

"Yeah, to tell you the truth... he is my ex-boyfriend." Matthew nods. "Our relationship didn't end with us in good terms, but we just recently started being friends again. I thought I had a chance with him after he forgave me, but today I found out he has gotten married and is even adopting a kid. It was just so unexpected, so it hurts."

"I know you're really hurt right now and I'm not the best when it comes to giving advice... Getting over him may seem difficult or maybe even impossible to you right now, but it's really not impossible. Getting over someone you love is a difficult thing to do, but it's not impossible... You seem like a good guy, so I'm sure you'll find someone."

Matthew just nods, not knowing what to say. He does think getting over Hanbin is impossible.

-

After Hanbin and Zhang Hao drop Yujin off at the orphanage, Hanbin takes Zhang Hao home, then goes to the house they'll be living in a few weeks from now. In the contract, they had said they wouldn't live together until they adopted Yujin, so that's what they're going to do. Hanbin has already moved all of his things to the new house. Now he just has to decorate the place and buy some new furniture.

He would've asked Zhang Hao to help him out, but he kind of wants to make this a surprise for him and Yujin. He knows they'll be happy to see the finished result and how all the rooms end up getting decorated.

The talk he had with Matthew today kind of made Hanbin realize something. Why is he taking this marriage and adoption thing so seriously? Matthew is his ex-boyfriend, whom he still has feelings for, so why did he have to lie to him and tell him all of this was real?

After the five months are over, Hanbin and Zhang Hao are going to get a divorce and Matthew will clearly not wait for him. He doesn't expect him to, either.

The conversation he had with Matthew keeps replaying in his head. Did he do the right thing? Should he have just told him the truth? He must be so heartbroken right now and it's all Hanbin's fault for lying to him.

Hanbin paces back and forth, not knowing what to do. Should he tell Matthew the truth? But then, that'd be giving him hope. Does Hanbin even want to get back together with him?

He feels like he'd kind of feel guilty if he does get back with Matthew. Yes, the marriage is fake, but why does he feel like he'd still feel like a cheater?

Hanbin sighs and sits down on a chair, not knowing what to do. He's starting to take this marriage thing way too seriously and he doesn't like it.

"Hey, Gyuvin." Hanbin calls him. "I need your help with something. Could you come over?"

"Yeah, of course. I just got out of work, but I'll be right there. Where are you?"

-

"Woah! This house is a mansion." Gyuvin's eyes widen. "You really are rich now."

"Yeah, it's still hard for me to believe it as well." Hanbin nods. "But come in." He leads him to the living room.

"So what did you need help with?"

"Well, I'm getting some things delivered right now. Some furniture and house decorations. I kind of need your help with that."

"Oh, yeah of course." Gyuvin smiles. "Your house will be so cool after I help you decorate it. Although, it's cool already. This is the biggest house I've seen in life." Gyuvin says, still in shock. "But why did you get this big house just for yourself?" He raises an eyebrow. "It seems a little too much. It's suspicious."

"What do you mean?" Hanbin asks, confused.

"Well, I mean... it's a really big house. It has a really big backyard and it has a lot of rooms."

"Well, the backyard is really nice for a kid to play in, don't you think? As for the many rooms, one of them will be Yujin's room, another will be his toy room... Also, Zhang Hao and I won't be sharing a room, so it's better to have extra rooms, just in case we want rooms for other things."

"Hanbin... I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Gyuvin starts. "Don't you think you're taking this marriage and adoption thing too seriously? I mean... why are you thinking about what they'll like and won't like if at the end of the day, they'll be moving out after five months. You'll have this huge house and will have to live by yourself. Listen, Zhang Hao seems like a really nice person and all, but you're the one who's my friend at the end of the day. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Don't worry, Gyuvin. Why would I get hurt?" Hanbin asks him. "I just want them to live comfortably for the next five months. They've gone through a lot, so I at least want them to be happy for the five months we'll live together."

"But why does that matter to you?

"Because whether it's fake or not, they'll be my family for the next five months."