I am now at Times Square. This is where my first date with Jace was held. I still remember it as clear as day. I could feel my heart beating rapidly against my chest as I waited for Jace to appear. Gosh, I feel like a high school kid all over again.

Looking around, my mind drifted back to six years ago when we were so happy. We were so in love. I thought we were. Thinking back, I feel damn stupid how I used to fawn over him. I feel damn stupid thinking I would actually last long with him.

Stupid girl.

I glanced at my phone. It's one minute to six. I doubt he's coming. Or maybe he has forgotten where we had our first date. When another minute passed and my phone stated that it was already six, I sighed. You suck, Jace Leighton. You suck.

As I moved to leave, I heard that familiar voice calling for me, "Belle."

I turned around and saw that it was indeed Jace. My breath hitched a little. "On the dot. I'm impressed," I replied. I genuinely was. I thought he wouldn't show up... like he did five years ago. "You actually remember where our first date was. Interesting," I said bitterly.

"Of course, I would remember," he replied with a seemingly sad smile.

"You don't get to give me that look," I deadpanned.

"I know," he muttered, keeping his gaze.

We had a staring contest, which lasted thirty seconds before I looked away. What the hell am I doing? Why am I playing his games? Stop it, Belinda. He's going to hurt you. "Okay, good to know. What do you want to do?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps we can watch a movie before having dinner," he suggested with his ever so charming smile. My heart skipped a beat. That was exactly what we did on our first date. Where is he trying to get at?

"Um, sure," I muttered, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. Well, this is awkward. Who would have thought we would meet again after five years?

"Okay, let's do that. Um, we can watch 'Sparks Fly: Reunion'. I mean, on our first date, we watched part one and, five years later, they've finally got part two. Why don't we give it a shot? 'Sparks Fly' was nice, right?" he suggested.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah... it was. Okay, then," I muttered. How the hell did he remember such a small detail like that?

"Okay, let's go to AMC Empire 25. Don't worry, I'm paying," he replied with a bright smile. With that, he grabbed my hand and walked.

I shook his hand away. "Sorry but we're not exactly dating anymore."

He looked dismayed. Nodding, he replied, "Yeah, I understand... Um, let's go then." He gestured in the direction of the movie theatre and let me pass. It was only after I walked past him that he followed behind me.

Our journey to the movie theatre was awkward. Scratch that. This entire meetup was awkward. Why did I agree to come in the first place? I tried my best not to turn back and see what he was doing. Is he staring at me? Is he even still behind me?

The movie theatre appeared in front of me as I walked further ahead. I can't believe I'm going for a movie date with Jace Leighton again after five years. I can't believe I'm actually watching a movie with the guy who dumped me five years ago!

I cleared all the thoughts about him off my head. Why are you thinking about him? He's not even thinking about you! You're just here for a free movie and dinner, Belinda. Nothing more. Nothing will come out of this.

"Two tickets for 'Sparks Fly: Reunion', please," Jace said, breaking my train of thoughts.

"Coming right up," the lady at the ticket booth replied. She gave us the tickets which Jace paid for. "Enjoy the show!" I heard her chirp as we left. Maybe I would if I weren't watching it with Jace Leighton.

"Popcorn, large," he told the lady selling food and beverages. Does he still remember how much popcorn I eat during a movie? I remember, on our first date, we ordered a small bucket of popcorn and it wasn't enough. Jace kindly went out and bought another one.

Come on, Belinda. He just wants to save the trouble of coming out to get more popcorn when it finishes! Common sense! I settled on that thought and we finally went into the theatre.

Two hours passed and the movie finally finished. It was quite morbid if you asked me. You would think the main characters in part one had a happy ending and that's it. But no... the screenwriters just had to create problems for them.

So they broke up. And this movie basically shows the story of an estranged couple gaining trust and getting back together again! Why does it sound a little familiar to me? Whatever. Overall, the movie was good except for the fact that the screenwriters had to split them up somewhere between part one and part two. It was quite unnecessary.

"What do you think of the movie?" Jace asked.

"It was good," I replied. "I thought it was quite nice. I don't get why they had to split up between part one and part two, though. I thought they were going strong."

He shrugged. "Shit happens."

"So what shit happened to you?" I snapped.

That definitely caught him by surprise as that look of shock appeared. "Well, like I said, I was a coward. I got scared of commitment. We just graduated from high school. I was a mess. I didn't exactly know what I wanted to do after that."

"That is not an excuse to end a relationship, Jace," I deadpanned.

"True, true..." he murmured. "I got damn scared of what's going to come now that we graduated. What if you suddenly break up with me because you wanted to go overseas to study or something? You know I can't take abandonment—"

"So you abandoned me," I replied. "How smart of you, Jace. You abandoned me because you were afraid of being abandoned. You never really loved me, did you?"

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped. Can't find a reason anymore, can you? "Where do you want to eat?" Changing the topic now, aren't you? "How about Haru Sushi? I know you love Japanese cuisine."

"Sure," I said. I acted like I didn't care but, deep down, I did so much. He remembers! And that was the place we had our first date because he soon realised what type of food I liked and disliked. He's just so meticulous in the things he does!

He smiled. Ugh, why does his smile have to be so cute? I turned away and we headed towards that restaurant. I remember, back then, he told me that he could afford a more expensive restaurant like Wolfgang's Steakhouse or even La Masseria which was only a ten-minute walk away but I declined.

It's sushi all the way.

We took a quick three-minute walk to Haru Sushi and got ourselves a table. Nice. We ordered our food which took quite some time to come. Meanwhile, silence reigned. Neither of us dared to start a conversation. Awkward.

"Here's your food," the waiter said. I thanked him and he left. Finally, my food is here! I gouged my dinner like a lion who hasn't eaten in three years. What can I say? I don't usually have dinner this late. Besides, I naturally eat very quickly.

I looked up and saw that Jace was staring at me. "What?"

"Nothing," he replied just as his food arrived. He, in my opinion, ate at a moderate pace. I ordered more sushi so it wouldn't be so awkward. Besides, I'm not the one paying! Surely Jace Leighton can afford all these.

The sushi came in no time. There was a lot of salmon sushi, my favourite of them all.

"I left you because I got unsure of our relationship," he suddenly said.

"What?" I asked, immediately stopping all actions. "What did you just say?"

He took a deep breath and said, "I left you because I got unsure of our relationship. Graduation happened and, you know, people normally go their separate ways after high school. I got scared."

"How does that make any sense?" I asked again.

"I didn't want you to tell me one day that you want to leave New York so you decided to break up with me. And, even if you didn't, I don't want you to tell me one day that staying with me was a mistake," he muttered.

My heart softened at that instant. Jace may look very tough but he's fragile at heart. Since young, he hardly saw his parents. They were always too busy to spend time with him. It got worse when he grew older since they thought he was old enough to fend for himself.

Perhaps, if he didn't have such a lonely childhood, he wouldn't have left me. Stop! Why are you defending him? Whatever his reason was, he left you after all! He doesn't deserve your sympathy, my conscience yelled at me.

"Okay," I replied coldly.

I felt a little bad but I had no choice. I can't let him hurt me again. He made that choice of leaving me so, now, he has to bear the consequences. There is no way I'm letting him gain control of my heart once again.

No way.

***

A/N:

Q: Do you still remember your first date?

I've never had one so uh yeah... single people raise your hands HAHAHA we can relate to each other!

Anyway, stay tuned! It will be so fun watching Belinda try to resist Jace. Invest some of your time to watch this love story unfold, okay? ;)