Nadine entered the tent to find James sitting in his folding chair, holding a bouquet of assorted flowers. James stood up when he saw her, scratched the back of his head and handed her the flowers.

Nadine looked at him questioningly. I'm not gonna give you flowers like Mr. Anonymous, she remembered him saying.

He shrugged. "Might as well. The sunflowers reminded me of you." He smiled his lopsided smile and Nadine ignored the butterflies in her stomach.

James cleared his throat. "Nadz, I went to the Brewery last night with the guys. Just wanted you to know."

And with that, he left the room and Nadine couldn't stop herself from smiling at his back.

***

James handed Nadine the Japanese take out he had asked Ella to buy.

"Let's eat? You haven't eaten the whole day," James reminded her.

They sat on the table next to the tindahan in Tenement Uno. James watched Nadine devour her food, she always had a hearty appetite.

"You know what, babe, ang takaw mo talaga noh," he said, laughing.

"Babe ka diyan."

"Babe, love, sweetie, baby, wifey.... Which one do you want me to call you?" he teased.

Nadine tried answering with her mouth full, "Naddghhh wugh be fighnnnne."

"I didn't get what you said. But I guess anything would be fine, they're all just you anyway." He gave her a piercing gaze that Nadine looked away from, her heart racing.

***

Nadine opened her Instagram and unconsciously went straight to James' account. She hasn't been online in a while.

Much to her surprise, she found herself in most of James' pictures... In Sacramento, during the fans day, in San Francisco, in Lake Tahoe. Most were of the two of them, some was just her alone. She opened a picture of her staring out into the lake at Lake Tahoe, with the beautiful snow capped mountains on the background. She didn't even know James had taken this picture. They were still in a fight during that time.

Caption: Breathtaking.

She opened another one of the two of them in front of Crocker Art Museum, the one they asked a stranger to take.
He had posted that one real time.

Caption: To me, she's art.

Another one was of her sitting on the bench by the Palace of Fine Arts. This was right before the kissing scene. She was looking at the side, a blanket wrapped around her and a serene look on her face.

Caption: My quiet.

Her mind tried to process everything she was seeing. She looked up to where James was doing a scene with Nico Antonio.

James, oh James.

She simply couldn't contain the kilig she felt.

***

They were crossing the street to get to take, and James' hand automatically went to her waist leading Nadine, James transferring to whichever side the cars were crossing.

Even before, James had always been protective of her, regardless of their status. Regardless if they were fighting or not.

Yes, they've had their share of fights. That white dress fiasco being one of the major ones. She didn't talk to him for days, but he had ways of still giving her what she wanted. When she had said out loud that she wanted ice candy, 2 seconds later, James' on-call PA was handing her ice candy. She laughed at the memory.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing. Gusto ko ng ice candy."

Without a word, James went back to cross the street to buy the requested ice candy.

***

It was already wee hours of the morning. James had been different the whole day. Well, not different different. He was still the same old James, but he seemed to have some sort of quiet resolve. He was less moody. Cursed less. Laughed and smiled more. Polite. Pleasant.

Nadine called him in on it.

They were sitting on a bench, Nadine wrapped in a blanket, her head resting on James' shoulder while James had his hand on her thigh.

"Anong meron sayo today? Parang ang saya mo." She said with a yawn.

"What do you mean?"

"You're being super nice. It's unnerving."

"That's my point. I just wanna freak you out." He laughed. Nadine sort of head bumped his shoulder because she was too tired to move anything else.

"Seriously though. Bret hit me up with some harsh truths last night."

"Which is....?"

"That I'd never get you if I didn't change." He squeezed her thigh and leaned his head on her head. His voice was filled with conviction. "I can't undo what I've done before, Nadz, but from now on I will do everything in my power to make myself worthy of you."

He adjusted himself so that he was looking straight into Nadine's eyes.

"If that means no more partying or booze, so be it. If it means I can't be within a 5 meter radius of another woman, that's fine by me."

He took her hands.

"Mapasagot lang kita." The way James stumbled on the words was adorable.

Nadine seemed at a loss for words, but James didn't need any answers right now.

James kissed her hand and resumed his earlier position, with Nadine's head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead right before she fell asleep.

***

It started the following morning.

As soon as she opened her Instagram, she knew something was wrong. Then she saw it. A picture of her and JC. He was leaning in close to her in the shot and it looked like they were about to kiss. Yassi was nowhere in the picture.

Without really wanting to, her eyes scanned the comments.

Malandi ka! May James ka na nga hindi ka pa nakuntento!

Wow, @jaye.wolf look at your girlfriend, mukhang di pa over sa ex niya. Did you know they were still seeing each other? If I were you, I'd break up with her right away. Madami pang iba diyan.

Obvious na hindi ka niya mahal, James. Ako nalang mahalin mo.

She was cursed, insulted, and bad mouthed all over social media. Everyone was on James' side. And why wouldn't they be? He was the one who was vocal, he was the one who had sweet IG posts. She had done nothing to reciprocate that. Of course everyone would defend James.

She wasn't used to being at the short end of the stick.

Her phone rang and she closed her eyes in dread.

"Hello, Boss Vic?"

"Be at my office at 3pm later today."

A/N: Surprise! It's me again! Naccliff hanger kasi ako sa sarili kong storya. Lol.