Stephanie Meyer owns TWILIGHT.
A/N
Okay, so I am obviously not a writer. This is my first stab at penning anything other than a long-winded Facebook status update. I am just in love with Edward and Bella. I am new to fanfiction. I don't know what a beta is, but people seem to like theirs. I have read some AMAZING stories here – stories so good I would purchase them in hardcover. I know this story is a departure from the traditional. Esme (Esume-san) is Japanese in the story (and embodies all the loveable character traits of white-American Esme), Carlisle is Carlisle and Edward and Alice (Arisu) are their bi-racial Japanese American children. I do hope people like it. I am not sure where this story came from. But it was definitely inspired by my favorite fanfiction authors stories. I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who takes the time to share his or her stories of love for Bella and Edward and everything Twilight. What gifts your stories are.
Oh, and I don't know why they are called lemons, but I do have a couple of good ones planned. Like, really good… Wickedly good. It's towards the end though.
Please leave a review, even if it's a short one, even if you are shy, and even if you have never left one before. It would mean a lot to me.
Arigato!
BPOV
August 2000
I wandered outside into the Cullen's front yard. I wanted to take one last look at Esume-san's garden and snap a few pictures of the house before I left. I scrunched up my face as I waited for my eyes to adjust to the morning sunlight peeking through the maple trees.
This house was just too beautiful – too peaceful. I was going to miss it.
It was fairly large for a house in Japan. It was a white sort of stucco, with straight clean lines and large, windows. The elegant sliders all on three sides of the home gave one easy access to the expansive garden. A tall fence around the property's perimeter along with deciduous shrubbery helped create the illusion of privacy from the neighbor's homes situated just fifteen or so feet away from the house. The homes were much more close together here than I was used to in my small town of Forks, Washington, USA.
The Cullens were my host family for my study abroad program during the summer of my fifteenth year – which was incidentally the best summer of my life. Carlisle, an American doctor and his wife Esume, a Japanese national were living and raising their two children in Yokohama, Japan located about an hour outside of Tokyo. And as luck would have it, Arisu and I were the same age, and we got along so incredibly well, like sisters even.
For me, a small-town girl from the Pacific Northwest, well, being in Japan was the most eye-opening experience ever. I know studying abroad is supposed to be eye opening, but for me it was more than that. My stay here seemed to awaken and stir a part of my spirit; a part of my soul I never knew existed.
I won't lie. I had culture shock too -- and a lot of it. I was overwhelmed by how differently people moved in the world here. The dichotomies were endless. There was the compulsive politeness but then the lack of eye contact and coolness toward strangers. And of course there was a correct and an incorrect way to do everything it seemed. And the language, sigh: three alphabets and like, a trillion kanji. Gaaahh.
I had taken Japanese as my foreign language since middle school. But it just wasn't enough. Nowhere near enough to communicate effectively. I barely understood what people were saying to me most of the time. I might pick up a familiar word here or there and string together the gist of what they were saying, but those instances were few and far between. More often than not, I would drop my chin, exasperated and say, "gomenasai, wakarimasen," which translates to, 'I'm sorry, but I don't understand.' Red-cheeked and embarrassed I would inwardly retreat; cursing myself for thinking I could do this.
Flustering random shopkeepers and transit workers seemed to become a pastime of mine. They would politely say sorry and turn away. People were always saying sorry. Some others would angrily mutter 'gaijin' under their breath and walk off. Gaijin is a fairly derogatory term for foreigner in Japanese. Note to self… be incredibly nicer to 'foreigners' when back in the US.
Arisu and her parents were so patient with me, gently correcting my accent or tenses in non-shaming ways, which I truly appreciated. Like any other language, textbook Japanese and the vernacular are so very different. Miraculously, after my first two weeks I don't think I was committing any major social faux pas. Well…major ones anyway.
Which brings me to Edward. Deep breath. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on the way one looked at the situation, I always had someone to point out the little things – all the little gaffes I would make in language/verb conjugation or cultural convention that were incorrect.
Arisu's older brother wasn't as constructive with his feedback as the rest of the Cullen family. I came to learn that Edward was moody, a bit of a know it all, talented at everything, and slips or errors on my part seemed to really irritate him. And I couldn't for the life of me fathom why.
Edward was an over achiever, an athlete, totally intense, and the cutest boy I had ever seen in my life, which did not help matters when I tried to get and stay angry at him for lambasting my every mistake.
Edward Cullen looked like the boy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter (wink) with the hint of a young Keanu Reeves. Tall, with an athletic build, his hair was brown with natural golden-bronzed highlights that he wore in scruffy disarray. He had angular features with a strong jaw line and his skin was the most beautiful shade of sun-kissed caramel, tanned from hours on the practice field.
But what I found most appealing were Edward's eyes. They were the shape of rounded almonds and they were the oddest of colors -- soft ocher with hints of green, framed in long, dark lashes. Ahhh….swoon. I tried not to look at him as my knees went weak every time I did. How could someone so cute have such a bristly and cold personality – especially from such a warmhearted family as the Cullens?
Edward kept to mostly to himself, always either studying or at baseball practice. And when I say study, I mean study, like all the time. He would eat his meals in silence as he was allowed to study at the kitchen table. He never wasted his time talking with Arisu or I.
Everyone in the family knew how to speak English. The kids were sent to an international school where they had been learning to speak English since kindergarten. They had never really had to use it though. I was so grateful that Arisu spoke to me mostly English. Japanese was spoken exclusively during dinner to encourage the development of my language skills.
I remember one time at the dinner table I meant to ask for more crab but mistakenly asked for more turtle. Everyone at the table giggled lightly. I looked around to see why they were laughing. Carlisle gave me a gentle smile. But It was always Edward's reaction that made my stomach twist. "It's kani, not kame…" he snickered. I endured his disapproving glare until Carlisle cleared his throat and gave him a warning look to stop. My face turned at least three shades of red. I looked down until Esume put her hand over mine and gave me a tender smile. Arisu made a silly turtle face at me and we laughed. I loved Arisu so much.
As usual, Edward went right back to studying until he was finished with dinner. After bringing his dinner plates to the kitchen and saying goodnight to his parents and mutter a barely audible, 'oyasumi' to Arisu and I, he would hike up the stairs with a bottle of water to study some more before bed.
After about a week of witnessing Edward's standoffish and anti-social ways I felt more comfortable inquiring with Arisu about it.
" Umm.. Arisu -chan, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course, you can ask me anything Bella," she replied.
"Why does Edward study so much? I whispered." I mean he studies ALL the time." Alisu smiled.
"Don't you really mean to ask why he's such a complete ass all the time?"
"Arisu!, that's not what I said" as I sat down on her bed, hoping she wouldn't see me blush.
"Okay" she whispered. "Edward is trying to get into Tokyo University, which is like, the Harvard of Japan. It's really competitive Bella, which is why my parents have been letting him study at the dinner table and basically get away with everything. He wants to go to medical school like my dad. Edward has this really strong drive to be the best at everything. Our parents don't push him. They don't necessarily understand why he is so hell bent on being the best. But they do support him because getting into a good program is what he most wants," she explained.
"Don't most parents want their kids to strive for excellence though?" I asked.
"Most parents, yes. Japanese parents, absolutely. But Edward's drive is so intense, I think my parents worry that it might be a little unhealthy actually."
"Oh," was all I could reply.
"But Bella chan, don't let Edward's behavior get you down, okay. It's not personal; he's just a jerk most of the time. It happens rarely but when he allows himself to relax, he's a bit easier to be around. I hope you get to see the normal side of him at some point. But in the meantime, just ignore him, that's what I do."
I felt encouraged by Arisu's candidness and let my curiosity get the best of me once again, as I pressed a bit more.
"Why do you think that is? I mean… where does it come from, his drive to excel, do you think?" I looked at Arisu with a concerned look on my face.
"Beats me," she said. "Maybe he has a tiny weaner." Arisu and I lost it then, giggling ourselves into hysterics.
I felt a little better by the time I fell asleep that night. I may have even felt a little angry with myself for wasting my time trying to figure out what made this rude boy tick. The fact of the matter was that no matter what I said, did or didn't do, Ari's older brother, when he noticed me enough to react to me, really was a jerk to me. And I couldn't think of anything I had said or done to warrant his reactions. He did treat Arisu similarly, but I couldn't help imagine he was irritated by my very presence; and the way he talked to me was harsher than Arisu.
My heart squeezed in my chest as I remembered how he chided my mistake at the dinner table earlier that night. And the other times since my arrival. My tears welled up and spilled over onto my pillow and I succumbed to them. I wished it didn't hurt as much as it did. I couldn't help but feel there must was something wrong with me. I was a good person, I was polite. What was the problem here? And then for the first time, since my arrival in Japan, I got angry.
Well, Edward could piss off, I decided. This superior-acting, frustrating, driven, Calvin Klein underwear model-good looks, cold-hearted boy could go jump in a lake. I would enjoy my blissful time with the rest of the Cullens and pretend Edward didn't exist. I made up my mind that I had to stop letting him get to me. And I did. Well, that is until the day Alisu's forewarning that there was another side to Edward that she hoped I would get to see during the summer showed his face. That was the day I saw a glimpse of well, umm… sweet Edward?
