My hands were in my lap as I sat on the farthest end of James's couch, all hairs on alert. Meanwhile, my gaze wandered round the apartment. It was way more decorated than mine. For one thing, the entire living area was covered with wallpaper, mine was simply painted white.

Beside the large TV set, there was a tall flower pot. At the far end of the room, the door to his bedroom stood. The kitchen and then l living area were separated by a marble counter which had barstools lined in front of it. On the other side, James stood in front of the stove, shirtless, holding a spatula in one hand and a plate of freshly made pancakes on the other.

No matter how alert I was and no matter how hard I tried to lie to myself, nothing could prepare me for that. James. Shirtless. I mean I'd seen him shirtless tons of times but this was different. We weren't together, not really. I had to control myself. It was like I had something caged and it was itching to burst out.

I wouldn't let it.

A clang sounded in the air as James dropped the spatula on the kitchen island, eight next to the pancakes. Then he went to the fridge, took out the syrup and got a bowl from the drawer. I watched him carefully squeeze the syrup into the small glass bowl.

I looked away sharply when his gaze snapped up, towards me, silently praying he hadn't caught me staring. My heart started doing the racing thing again and I took deep breaths to try and slow it down.

Was it just me or did my ex just remember exactly how I liked my pancakes?

James's footsteps were the first thing I heard before he sighed and sat down dangerously close to me and set the food down on the table. I turned to look at him, hopefully, my astonishment wasn't too visible on my expression. He grinned and put a hand up, telling me to wait, then he stood up and hurried to the fridge to grab a cartoon of apple juice.

I stared at him with wide eyes as he settle back down beside me, making the chair dip slightly under his weight. And no, the fact that he was shirtless did not go unnoticed. It was just overshadowed by the fact that he remembered.

His eyes twinkled, complimenting his smile so well that I felt my heart skip while I just stared. He nudged me softly and I blinked twice, breaking out of my trance.

"You're probably hungry," he said, motioning to the food. "I made pancakes, just the way you like them."

My gaze flickered to the pancakes, and suddenly, my eyes felt heavy, my throat thick with emotion.

No no no, this was not happening right now.

I inhaled, regaining my composure, and cleared my throat, peering up at him. "You remembered?"

James shrugged. "It's hard to forget such a weird preference."

That made me laugh, genuinely. It made my insides feel all fluttery. Even though I wasn't supposed to, I liked it. Even though I wanted to forget him and him to forget me, a selfish part of me was glad he hadn't. I had no clue why.

But alas, all good things have to end.

James sat up, cleared his throat at said, "but that's all in the past, right?"

Just like that, my fantasy was viciously stomped on and destroyed.

The smile I'd been wearing fell and shattered to a million pieces. I should have known. I shouldn't have let myself be transported back to all those months ago. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. He had me exactly where he wanted. But not for long.

"Exactly," I replied, unmoving, with my hands still in my lap. I adjusted my sitting posture. "After tonight, you have to uphold your end of the bargain, James."

The sooner this charade was over, the better. We both needed to get on with our lives, without each other.

As I reached out to take a pancake and dip it in the syrup, James voice rang out. "I'll hold my end of the bargain up, as long as you do yours. Remember, you have to make my parents believe we're back together."

I shrugged and took a large bite. "Easy," I replied mid-chew. As much as I tried to look like I wasn't being affected by all of this, deep down, I knew it wasn't easy. But I wasn't going to let James know that. It could ruin everything.

If only he knew exactly how dangerously we both were stepping.

"Good," James said and got up, heading towards the armchair where he'd slung the clothes wed gotten, and his shirt. He picked up the black shirt and put it on gingerly. And I, sat there and watched with an aching heart as perfect muscles were hidden away from me. I wanted him back so bad. It was wrong.

Halfway done with his buttons, he turned to me, still doing them but giving enough room for me to get a peek of what lay underneath. Like he was teasing me. But with a serious face.

"I'm heading to my penthouse. I have a few things to do before the party."

Honestly, I was flattered. He didn't need to, but he was actually telling me what he was going to be doing. He buttoned up the last of his shirt buttons, messing up the last two, however. I bit down on my lip, swearing to not rearrange it for him. James wasn't mine.

Not mine. Not mine.

I needed to get it into my head, so I bit down harder on my lip.

"When does Kong get back?"

"Er..." I cleared my throat. I'd been doing that a lot today. "Six."

James furrowed his brows and stepped closer to me. My gaze flickered between his and those buttons in the wrong positions.

Not mine.

"The event starts at five. You can just change here, I'll be at the penthouse anyway. When you're ready, I'll come pick you up."

Dammit. Damn everything. Damn these butterflies!

I finished what was left of my pancake, wiping off my hand against my clothes, and stood up. One of James's brows shot up in confusion as I approached him. "What are you--"

I reached up and undid the messed up buttons then corrected them. Everything paused when I accidentally touched him and he froze. Just like that. Both our gazes were locked, my heart was pounding in my ears but I didn't really care if he heard it. James eyes flickered down to my lips and in that one second, I was more excited than ever.

But then his gaze snapped back up and he stepped away from me, muttering a small thank you. Without another word, he collected his suit, snatched his keys off the counter and was out of the apartment. Leaving me standing there wondering why I kept doing this to myself.