Emily woke at seven o'clock in the morning. She was disappointed not to find James beside her and more surprised at the fact that she could sleep with him on his bed, in his arms, the entire night. 

She stretched her legs as she awoke. She went to the bathroom to freshen up once she was stable enough to stand. Since it wasn't attached to the room like hers, so she had to leave their bedroom and walk toward the living room. She was baffled to see James in the kitchen making breakfast. 

He was wholly absorbed in his work, so she took a quiet step away from the kitchen and toward the bathroom to brush her teeth.

She joined him in the kitchen once she finished her business there. He hadn't taken a bath yet because he was still dressed in his tracks and t-shirt from the night before, yet he looked fresh.

"Good Morning." He greeted her as soon as he saw her.

"Good Morning." She greeted him back.

"How did you sleep?" He asked her.

"Better than I had imagined." 

He acknowledged her response with a nod. Even though it was her first time staying with him, everything seemed normal. They didn’t feel like indulging themselves in a forceful conversation. 

Instead, they were both quietly eating the eggs and toast that James had prepared. While Emily was scrolling through her phone's feeds, James was busy reading the newspaper. 

She had never envisioned him as a newspaper type of a man in her life. From where she was looking at him, he was soaking in every word printed on that sheet like there was no tomorrow. 

He was entirely immersed in it.

After getting ready, they both went to the office to resume their work. 

It felt weirdly normal. 

Even though they were both experiencing this phase for the first time with each other, it seemed like a typical routine that they could picture themselves becoming accustomed to. 

James and Emily initially anticipated that their strange relationship, along with the fact that they were living together, would make things awkward, but it didn't. 

Instead, it was the complete opposite. 

They did, however, have a dinner invitation from Jake today around seven o’clock.

Emily’s brother, Jake, had riveted his gaze on James as he sat anxiously on the couch. He was staring hard with such intensity that it made James squirm in discomfort. 

Jake's arm was folded, and he was watching his every move like a hawk. Perhaps, James was a fool to believe that families adored him.

"Umm." James was at a loss for words in front of Emily's brother. 

She wasn't joking when she said that her brother is over-protective. He was way over his head when he assumed that he would be in a good place with her brother since he was not actually dating his sister. Because, presently, he was feeling nervous. 

His meal with Emily the night before was great. Later, she did tell him that in order for their plan to work, Jake would have to be a part of it. But he didn't expect her to phone her brother right away. 

Even though he boasted about how much parents adore him, meeting them is not the same as meeting Jake. 

He didn't want to make a negative first impression. 

He first met Emily's father, Bob, as Justin and Fiona's friend and Emily's annoying colleague, but now he's meeting Jake as Emily's pretend lover. 

Certainly not a good first impression and not a prominent start to his delusional love story.

"So, you and my sister are living together?" Jake asked James in a firm tone. 

Kate, his wife, wanted to face-palm at the entire scenario playing in front of her. 

On the other hand, Emily was unsure whether she should be concerned or not. However, she had to admit that it was amusing to see James being scrutinized by her brother.

"Um… yeah," James muttered while attempting to look away from Jake.

"Could you just chill out, Jake? We aren’t actually dating." Emily stepped in. 

She felt sorry for her pretend boyfriend. 

Poor him, he had no idea Jake could be this protective. She would have been laughing by now if it was any other guy, but unfortunately, it was James. 

"It's all right, Em. Your brother's apprehension is entirely understandable. But I assure you that I will look after her." James attempted to reassure Jake. "I have no ill intention towards her."

"I don’t need anyone to take care of me." Emily frowned at her fake boyfriend.

"I know you are perfectly capable of looking after yourself. I mean that I won’t let anything bad happen to you." James tried to rephrase his previous sentence.

"No one can dare to harm me. I can defend myself. Honestly, I am capable enough to protect you." Emily sighed and rolled her eyes.

"For once in your life, can’t you say, ‘Thank you, James? It is really nice of you to be so considerate.’" James glared at her. 

She can be so frustrating.

"Now…" Emily began, but Kate stopped her.

"Christ! With so much squabbling, how the hell are you even going to convince CC Grams that you two love each other?" 

"It is part of our charm." 

James said at the same time when Emily spoke.

"Love? Kate, we are living together. What does that have to do with love?" 

"Emily, sweetheart. Living together is a step before marriage, which is equivalent to saying I love my partner." James told her, as a matter of fact.

"Don’t call me sweetheart. But yes, arguing is definitely part of our charm." Emily glared at him.

"How about I call you baby?" James raised his brows. "Or munchkins, honey, darling, or senorita, or…."

"James, I swear to you I am going to kill you in your sleep if you ever call me those names." Emily was staring at him with a scowl on her face.

"I will keep my doors locked." In an attempt to outsmart her, James responded.

"Jamie, baby. We are living together. Don’t you know a couple who live together, who love each other, and sleep in the same bed? Moreover, we still have to turn that dumping ground of yours into a room." Emily mocked him.

"Emily, honey..."

"Okay, you two. Shut the hell up! Both of you are impossible. James, I am going to warn and threaten you later. As of now, tell me, did you guys even go through the plan in detail and figure out how it's going to end? What are you guys even trying to accomplish by pretending to be in love?" Jake asked them in frustration. 

James and his sister's planned ruse was stupid and had no logical conclusion. Someone was seriously going to get hurt in the end, if not both.

"What are we trying to achieve? It is actually quite simple. We are going to make CC Grams lose in their own game for meddling in people's lives trying to set them up." Emily told him with a smirk.

"Exactly. Plus, she thinks that we are incompatible. I mean, we can be a perfectly nice couple. They cannot tell us that we cannot date each other." James continued.

"Bingo. So we are going to prove to them that their so-called talent of assuming that we aren’t a match is wrong. We are going to make them loose in the own scheming game." Emily said with new found zeal.

"What happens when you guys break up? If it is a ruse, then this has got to end at some point. So in the end, you are just going to prove her right by losing in your own illusionary game." Jake's words were a mic drop moment. 

James and Emily were deafeningly silent for a brief moment since their plan was beginning to seem ridiculous. 

Emily, on the other hand, isn't easily deterred. She had no intention of backing out if James was on her side. Even if she had to invent her own logical reason for being together with James, she didn't want to fake a break-up with James. 

Not this soon. 

"But our goal is to prove that Emily and I can be together. She cannot decide who we should be with. Moreover, if we are together, she won't be able to set us up on a date, which is the biggest bonus for both of us. I like to believe that I am saying this for both of us: none of us has any intention of dating other people." James said. 

He doesn’t even want to imagine Emily dating other people.

Emily was relieved that James had an immediate reaction to support her.

"He is right. Even if we split up, it still proves that we were not bad together. When the time comes, we'll come up with a reasonable reason that caused us to part ways."

“Do you have any older siblings, James?" Jake asked him all of a sudden.

"How did you know? I have a sister that is four years older than me." James stated with a smile. 

"Because only the baby of the house could sound this stupid." Jake's statement made Kate laugh.

"I object! Just because we're young doesn't mean we're stupid." Emily objected.

"No, but it does imply being overly protected by the entire family. Now, I don’t only have to handle her as a sister but also have a potential baby brother-in-law too. Two people to protect." Jake sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Wait, so you are okay with our plan?" James asked him. 

His last statement sounded a lot like 'welcome to the family.'

"Do I really have a choice? Emily is stubborn." Jake commented. 

"Stubbornness runs in the family," Kate said. 

As a result, Jake scowled at her. This only made her chuckle and ruffled his hair.

"Anyway, why don't you ladies talk, and James will join me in setting the table?" Jake said. 

The hidden meaning, he needs to talk to James. Hence, Jake led the way to the kitchen, followed by James. 

“Okay, so what the hell is your intention with my sister?” Jake was direct and to the point.

“It is pure. I promise.” James defended himself.

"James, I am not an idiot. My sister is not an easy person to deal with, and I am well aware of that. Guys run away from her rather than be enamored with her. I hate to admit this, but she likes to consider herself a male repellent cream,” Jake said. 

Emily is his baby sister. Even though Emily can take care of herself, he needs to be entirely absolutely sure James is a decent bloke with no flaws in his character.

"It is a good thing that her tactics don’t work on me," James told him.

"Look, truth be told, I think either you consider Emily to be a plaything for you and fun to mess around with, or you like her, and this was the best way to get closer to her." Jake's words went silent on James. 

He was right on point with the second statement. However, he didn’t know how to respond to Jake. He didn’t want to admit the truth, but he also didn’t want to lie.

"It’s the second one, isn't it?" Jake's face lit up with a little grin. 

He had prayed for this day to come. The day when Emily finds a guy who is tough enough to earn a place in her heart. He had a hint that she trusted him even if she didn’t realize it herself because she would never have said yes to this insane plan in the first place if James was remotely a bad guy.

"I… That was something I didn't realize until later. I am not sure exactly how I feel about Emily, but what I do know is that she is important to me. More than anyone else in this world. I don't know if it’s like, infatuation, attraction, or something else entirely. Sometimes it feels like a combination of every goddamn emotion in this universe, including frustration." 

Jake was acutely aware of how he felt. That was precisely how he feels about his wife, Kate.

"James, I am putting my faith in you. So, please look after her. She may appear all tough, and she is, but…."

James finished his sentence softly, "But she is a softie at heart who has been hurt before." 

Jake was taken aback because no other guy had gone to such lengths to even have a suspicion about Emily's veiled veneer. 

His reaction didn’t go unnoticed by James, so he continued, "I am not that stupid as Emily likes to claim. And I am hundred percent sure she had already voiced out all colorful words in the dictionary about me to you. But I think that she has been wronged in the past, and it's about time she saw the world from a different perspective and in a new light. I don’t know what our future holds, but I want her to get all the happiness. Even if it's not with me, I don’t have to like it but would have to deal with it. But that does not mean I am giving up."

"That means you are aware that you might face heartbreak in the end," Jake stated. 

James is way more understanding and sensible than he had imagined.

"Yeah, with each passing day." James smiled and nodded. He didn't care about the possibility of having his heart shattered into million pieces because Emily was worth it.

"All the best, James. I am rooting for you. But if you ever hurt my sister…" Jake tried to warn him.

"You already know where to find me." James completed his sentence.

"I'd also like to express my gratitude for taking her in. She could have simply stayed at my place, but I also know she doesn’t want to intrude. Plus, Fiona has a lot of positive things to say about you, so I am going to go with my gut and trust her words."

"Thanks, Jake. I promise you that no harm will come to her under my watch." James told him with relief. 

Jake's approval means a lot to him. He is, after all, Emily's brother.