"Jerome ? What the fuck are you doing here ? You better not have brought your little puppy." She looked in the hall to see if Christee was with him.

Thanks God, she wasn't here.

"Don't worry, she doesn't know I'm here." He put his hands behind his back as he gave her a nice smile.

"I shouldn't worry about that ? Are you sure ? " she asked him, folding her arms as she put her weight on her right hip.

"Yes, I'm sure," he answered, looking her up and down as he licked his lips.

Ebony didn't like that one bit. She didn't know what he was trying to do, but she wasn't here for this. She really didn't need him to bring drama into her life. She didn't break up with him for him to come back and bring in more negativity. The purpose of the breakup was the opposite. He even wished her to be happy, so what was he doing right now ?

"Why are you here ? Are you lost ? "

He shook his head, smirking. "I miss you," he blurted out, causing her heart to jump in her chest.

She wasn't expecting this. Mainly not with the way he'd been acting towards her lately. She had a sudden flashback of his IG post where he was telling her that he had upgraded with Christee and didn't want her to come back crawling because he would never take her back. With ignorant hashtags. What in the hell was he doing ?

"You miss me ? " she asked, repeating his words.

"Yes. Can I come in, please ? I need to talk to you about something."

"Like ? Does your girlfriend know that you've been missing me ? What are you trying to do, Jerome ? "

He took a step closer and looked down into her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her waist, so she couldn't move. Ebony's body stiffened at his touch, something that didn't happen in the past but now that she was totally done with him, he disgusted her. The Jerome he became had nothing to do with the one she got to meet and fall for in college. She disliked the new version badly, and wanted nothing to do with him.

"You didn't miss me ? " he asked, getting a bit closer.

She put her right hand on his chest, trying to push him back, but he didn't want to let go of her waist. "Please, get your hands off me, Jerome. Right now."

"C'mon, baby. Let me in, so we can talk."

The look in his eyes was betraying him a lot. He didn't want to talk, he had other plans in his head and she was sure and certain that it included more physical touches, which she wasn't interested in. They hadn't been intimate for so long and just thinking about it now was causing her a stomachache.

"I don't want to talk. Leave." She grabbed his forearms and forced his hands off her. She then pushed him to create more distance between them.

"Why are you doing this, Eb ? You can't stop loving someone overnight. I know what the problem was in our relationship, we needed to re-connect. Mentally, emotionally and...physically." He was devouring her with his eyes. "You look good in those shorts. You knew I was coming, huh ? "

She instantly laughed. "Yes, I was waiting for company, " she started as his smile grew wider, "but it wasn't you." His expression changed immediately as he began frowning.

"You're really messing with that dude ? "

"What I'm doing with my life is none of your motherfucking business, Jerome. I'm grown, single and ready to fucking mingle. I do what I want. Last time I checked you weren't my father. But you know..." she flipped her hair behind her left shoulder, "I might have found myself a daddy. And this one can quickly become a zaddy, if you know what I mean." She absolutely loved the expression on his face. He wasn't expecting this one.

Seriously though, what did he expect ? He was out there doing any and everything, why couldn't she do the same ? Crazy how he didn't care about her when they were together, and now he was all in her face trying to fix things. He had chances after chances to do that, and now it was too late. He needed to get that.

Her phone made a noise in her back pocket. She took it out and swiped her thumb across the screen to unlock it.

: Hey, I went to grab some food so I'm coming a bit later than what I said. See you !

Ok, thank you ! See you !

After replying to Chresanto, she put her phone back in her pocket and got her attention back on Jerome. He needed to leave now. Santo and her just got back on good terms; she didn't need more unnecessary drama with him.

"You have to go. I don't want to talk, I don't want to work on our already broken relationship, I don't love you anymore and it's been like this for awhile now, please leave me alone. If you really care about me and want to show me how much, then let me be happy. Let me do me."

"I don't want you to do you, Ebony ! What the hell ? Me and you, we were supposed to get married and have kids together ! " He began raising his voice, bringing in a past that was far far away.

"We had that conversation so many years ago. Since then we never discussed it. Why are you doing this now ? We're done ! "

"I don't want us to be done ! I still have feelings for you."

"Are you sure ? Cause you weren't acting like this a few months ago and even less lately. Don't come back crawling cause I will never take you back."

"I was going through something, Eb."

She sighed heavily, not here to hear this. She frankly didn't care at this point. "Jerome, you're doing the most for some reason that I don't care to find out. Seriously, I..." She sighed again, putting hair behind her ears. "I gave you so many chances to make it work, and you didn't care. Now that we're done, all of a sudden you want to work things out. And according to you, I should just go with that and not give a damn about myself and what I want for myself. This is not how it goes. I want what's best for me, and you're not it. I don't want you for myself."

"I can change." He attempted to grab her hands, but she raised her hands up and with her eyes made him understand that she wasn't playing with him this time. He was now making her lose her patience and she was getting herself ready to beat his ass.

"I don't--" she started, but was quickly cut off.

"Hey."

Jumping to conclusions wasn't what Chresanto was trying to do, but it was hard when he walked in on this kind of scene. Ebony was dressed in short cotton camo shorts that he was sure were making her ass look very nice, a white v-neck t-shirt that was showing cleavage and high white socks that were reaching her knees. Her makeup looked the same as earlier and her hair too. She looked good. Her chocolate black skin was glowing and it also seemed so soft. Oh yes, she looked extra good. And he was sure she must smell great too.

There would be nothing wrong with this if her ex-boyfriend wasn't in her face though. He was in a grey Adidas tracksuit with some black Yeezy sneakers. He had his hoodie on his head and from what he could see, his hair looked a mess.

What was he doing here ? Did they hang out before he came ? Were they still messing around ? So many questions were running through his mind and it was getting harder to keep calm.

The scenarios were getting worse and worse. He would hate to find out that he was being played all this time. They agreed on not bringing other people in the mix and only focusing on themselves, or maybe they didn't agree on the same thing ?

At the end of the day, they were both single and grown.

He repeated it to himself a few times, but it still didn't sound right. If she wanted to get back with her boyfriend, she just had to tell him instead of making him waste his energy and time. Oh, he didn't know how long he'll be able to keep control because all he wanted to do right now was to use his fists.

"Hey ! Glad you finally made it. Uh, come." She motioned for him to enter, but Santo couldn't move. He was observing the two exes, trying to get hints on the actual situation, whether something was going on with those two or not.

Thinking that he didn't hear her, Ebony walked towards him and grabbed his hand, leading him into her apartment. She then closed the door in Jerome's face, and looked through the peephole to make sure that he was leaving, which he didn't do immediately. He knocked on the door a few times, and when he realized that she wasn't going to open the door, he finally left.

"Thanks, Lord, " she mumbled to herself before turning around and focusing on Chresanto, who still looked mad. "He showed up and uh--"

"You don't need to explain yourself, " he heard himself tell her, even though all he wanted to say was the opposite.

"Really ? " she asked, suspiciously raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah." He nodded. "You're single, I'm not your father, so you do whatever you want. We're both free to do whatever we want." His voice was calm, but you could clearly hear sarcasm behind his words.

"I'm not convinced. Are you mad at me ? "

"No, it's cool." He fanned her off, looking around her apartment to get himself busy. "Christee showed up at the shop yesterday afternoon and your ex is showing up today. We're even."

"We're even ? " she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yes, so no reason to be mad."

"Okay..." she exclaimed, clapping her hands before bursting into laughter. "They must have planned this shit. And look at us, we're getting mad at each other while they're surely having a blast right now."

"Damn..." The anger he felt a few seconds ago suddenly vanished. The two exes were trying to get them to be as miserable as they were, and it almost worked. They already had company, so why did they want them to join in their misery so badly ?

"They don't want to see us win ! " Ebony said, making them laugh a bit. "Let me help you with that." She grabbed the bags with the food out of his hands and went to the kitchen to put it in plates and get them glasses and drinks.

"Right. The devil is busy," he agreed, sitting at the counter as he watched her maneuver in her kitchen.

"What do you want to drink ? " She turned around with her hand on her hip, looking at him with a small smile. She found him so cute in his black Nike tracksuit. She'd always preferred men in their laidback outfits than in suits, even though they look amazing in them too.

"Water, please."

"Okay, it's coming." She turned back to the cabinets to get the glasses, then she walked to the refrigerator to get their drinks.

Chresanto couldn't help but watch her ass, which looked good in those shorts. Too good to be true actually. It bounced every time she made a step, causing him to bite on his bottom lip. He was enjoying the view to the fullest. His eyes then focused on her legs, and they were as beautiful to look at. He really wanted to caress her skin, to the point where his hands were itching a bit.

"There's this movie I wanted to watch on Netflix. It's a Nigerian movie, focusing on four women that are in their late forties. I can't remember the name of it, but I added it to my list. Do you mind if we watch it ? " He was still in his trance when the first words got out of her mouth, but he caught up on what she was saying and fortunately stopped undressing her with his eyes before she could notice.

"Uh, yeah. It's good with me," he answered, not really knowing what he was agreeing with. He hoped it wasn't something bad.

About ten minutes later, they were settled in front of the TV with their plates and Ebony was logging into her Netflix account. For some reason, the thing was acting slow tonight, so they had to wait a bit longer.

"How was your day ? " she asked to make conversation, so they wouldn't stay in silence.

"Good." He shrugged, struggling to remember what he did. He smacked his teeth, not believing that he already forgot and the day wasn't even over yet. Sometimes he could really have a bad memory. "I can't even remember what I did today to be honest."

She chuckled. "Dang ! Were you that bored ? Cause that's the only way you can forget a day that fast."

"No...I was working. Oh yeah, I talked with Arietta. She's supposed to apologize next time she sees you."

Ebony shook her head, replaying what the little girl did earlier in the day. Hours later, she actually found it cute and hilarious. "She really has a thing for you."

"I hope it'll go away soon."

"Hm, you can have a crush for the longest time. And it seems like it's not just a crush for her. She told you that she loves you." They chuckled as her Netflix account finally loaded. They didn't talk while she went to her list to select the movie they were going to watch. "You really weren't mad when you saw us ? " she suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Chresanto rolled his eyes, getting annoyed for the second time of the night. He thought they were done with this, but it seemed like Ebony couldn't just move forward from a situation.

She could be stuck on something for a long time, like at the mini golf when they noticed their exes playing not too far from them. While he was trying to enjoy his time, Ebony was focused on them which got her angry and killed the vibes for their whole date.

"No, like I said we're both single and grown."

"Okay, but we're talking and correct me if I'm wrong but we never really agreed on mingling with other people besides us. I thought that we were like kind of exclusive."

"We never said that we're exclusive like that though," he reminded her.

"So...should we ? " she asked, sitting next to him.

"Do you want to ? " he answered with another question, making her roll her eyes.

"I asked first, so answer the damn question." She looked at him with an unamused expression.

Seeing how serious she was, he gave her a response. "Well, I wasn't fooling around with other girls anyways." He shrugged, then grabbed a fry from his plate and threw it into his mouth.

"Okay, so we're exclusively dating each other, " she concluded.

"Alright, " he added before grabbing more fries.

"Alright." She smiled and stole a fry from his plate, winking at him.

"Excuse you, miss. You have your own plate."

"Okay, and ? " she challenged him as the smile on her face grew.

"And you're so disrespectful. I can't believe this. You owe me a fry, I don't care." He attempted to put his hand in her plate, but she moved it away from him.

"No, don't touch it or we're gonna have some problems. Stay where you're at."

"What ? Why can you take my food, but I can't take yours ? " he questioned, confused.

"Shh, the movie is starting," she told him as he playfully smacked his teeth. Turning his head towards the TV screen so he could focus on the movie, he suddenly heard a sound from his phone. He took it out and checked his notifications.

Hey, nephew ! I know who gave your grandma your number. Call me as soon as you can !!

Okay, I'm calling you in a few hours.

He replied after calculating the time difference in his head. It was the beginning of the afternoon in Melbourne and he knew his aunt finished work at around six in the evening, so he planned to give her another hour before calling. He didn't know when he and Ebony were going to be done with their movie, but he knew for sure that he will still be up after midnight. Everything was going to work out for him.

"Are you okay ? " He heard Ebony ask him.

"Yeah, yeah, " he quickly answered.

"Are you sure ? You're still frowning," she told him, making him frown even more. He didn't know his facial expression had changed.

He was irritated that Ebony was so observant and noticing all the changes in his demeanor. It meant that he had to be more careful around her.

"Yes, I'm sure. Let's watch the movie."

"Okay..."

He was glad she didn't insist more.

Chresanto had a heavy past that he preferred not to share with too many people. He was so secretive with it that even his two best friends didn't know about it. Whenever they shared childhood stories, he had to fill holes for his and lie about some things so they wouldn't grow suspicious. It worked amazingly, but he felt like it wouldn't be that easy with Ebony, and it was slowly starting to freak him out.

That was something he didn't want to open up to people about.

Eventually, he thought that if he were to get a wife one day, he would then tell her so she could have a better understanding of her husband and also because he wouldn't feel right to share his life with someone that didn't really know him, the true him.

For the rest of the night, they Netflix and chilled. Literally, no funny business. Which got Ebony a little suspicious. He didn't once try to touch her, nothing. He was either really respectful or there was another reason to it. Or maybe she just had too many encounters with fuck boys.

Damn, she didn't know it was that bad.

Towards one in the morning, the two were getting sleepy. Chresanto actually fell asleep in the middle of their second movie. He had his head laid on Ebony's right shoulder, which wasn't a problem for her.

"Aw ! " she cooed, glancing at him. He looked so cute, almost like a baby.

She couldn't resist any longer and began tracing his face with her finger. She started with the nose, then caressed his cheeks and finally got to the lips. It felt like she hadn't had a taste in so long.

Should I or should I not ? She asked herself, biting down on her bottom lip. She didn't know where this sudden urge to be in physical contact with him came from, but she didn't want to fight it.

"You're weird, " Chresanto suddenly said with his eyes still closed, startling her.

"What the fuck ? " She jumped a bit, letting his head fall on the couch next to her.

"Damn, Eb." He chuckled slightly and sat up. "You didn't have to do a brother like that." He rubbed his sleepy eyes, still chuckling.

"You were fake sleeping all this time ? "

He shook his head. "No. I felt something on my lips and woke up. What were you trying to do ? " he asked with a smirk.

"Nothing, sleeping beauty." She playfully rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and legs.

He looked at her, then leaned in and kissed her shoulder. She quickly glared at him with a grin and turned her head back to the TV, acting like this little gesture of affection didn't do something to her.

Chresanto beamed and kissed the same spot again, before slowly making his way to her neck, trailing sweet kisses on her soft skin. After the neck, he travelled to her right cheek, then her nose and finally her lips. He bit the upper lip before giving a peck, and a second one, a third one and continued until she gave in as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back as tongues joined the party.

"You should have just asked, weirdo," he told her as they pulled away.

"Stop calling me like this or we gon' have some real issues," she jokingly warned him as he pecked her lips one more time.

"I have to go."

She immediately pouted. "What ? You can stay here." The words left her mouth before she could even think about it.