MANILA - Joshua Garcia admitted he never thought he and Julia Barretto would reunite for a project so soon after they parted ways as a couple mid-2019.

The two recently starred as exes Tin and Benj in the short film, “E-numan,” which aired last month on Kapamilya Online Live.

“Hindi ko in-expect na agad-agad, magkaka-work agad kami,” he told Bianca Gonzalez in an interview for Cinema News At Home Edition.

“Siyempre maliit lang ang industriya so sabi ko magkakatrabaho at magkakatrabaho kami pero hindi pa ngayon. Feeling ko bibigyan kami ng project baka next year pa or next, next year. Hindi ko in-expect na ngayon din agad,” he added.

While the timing came as a surprise for him, Garcia said he was down for it because he and Barretto are actually in good terms.

“Pero sa akin wala namang kaso. Okay naman ako kay Julia. Wala naman kaming problema,” he said.

When asked what is it about working with Barretto that he missed the most, Garcia simply said: “'Yung presence niya.”

“Siyempre iba din naman 'yung feeling kapag may ka-relasyon ka. Ang sarap kaya nun. Feeling ko, in general, 'yun na talaga, 'yung presence niya. 'Yung feeling na may kasama ako sa lahat ng ginagawa ko, parang team,” he explained.

Garcia said he found the whole experience of reuniting with Barretto for the virtual project lovely that he sent her a text message right after they finished shooting.

“Maganda 'yung episode. Tinext ko agad si Julia. Sabi ko, ‘Nice to see you. Thank you for today. Ingat kayo ng family mo.’ Nag-reply lang siya ng thank you,” he said.

Barretto and Garcia once formed the popular “JoshLia” tandem. The two co-starred in a teleserye and five films starting in 2016.

They broke up last year signaling the end of not only of their real-life relationship, but also their love team. They were most recently seen together in January, for the promotional tour of their zombie flick “Block Z.”