A/N: Dear readers, thanks once again for the reviews/favorites/story alerts, they are truly appreciated. And all those who came from Collide over here, thanks!

A bigger thanks to Kuntrygal (my other half), she just makes me feel so special and the rate at which she betas this fast astonishes me. Thanks sweetheart!

Oh yeah, I own nothing, not even the Chanel earrings, sadly.


Whispers of the Life We Created

"My Isabella." His soft whisper wafted with the breeze that slapped my face.

Oh. My. God!

Breathe Bella, breathe…How do you breathe?

I opened my mouth a little, hoping that the air that refused to pass through my nose would enter through my mouth.

I think I'm going to faint.

At that particular moment my eyes met his figure, it seemed like everything around me was in slow motion. I could hear all the soft little things, from the birds chirping, the noises erupting from the water fountain close by, a little girl's laughter, the sound of keys hitting the ground. I stood up slowly, absorbing and digesting his magnificent sight. I was definitely sure I was drooling at that moment due to my mouth being open.

Someone please wake me up.

He was dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt that clung to his upper body like a leech; accentuating his dynamic manly curves and emphasizing the muscles sticking out from his sleeves. His hair was as unruly as ever and the sun bounced off rays on it. He looked like he had just got out of bed, or had sex before walking down the street. His eyes, oh lord, his green eyes; I could swim in them for eternity. His lips parted slightly, and I was almost drawn to them like a magnet as his tongue stuck out and caressed his lower lip ever so gently.

I scraped my bottom lip with my teeth, trying to prevent the betrayal vibes that were vibrating in my bones.

Then everything went back to normal, the world had returned, crashing down violently. I could hear everything now, and the volume had been amplified. I could hear the construction workers shouting over the noise of their drilling, a dog barking intensely, cell phones ringing all around me–everything. I had woken up finally.

"Hey, there you are. I almost thought I lost you," a blond woman screeched as she walked toward us, her heels clanking on the ground with each step.

I looked up and scrutinized her; she was dressed in an animal skin boob tube knee-length dress. Her hair was strawberry blond, the red and gold strands blending together to form the hues. On her feet were high black pumps that brought out her unblemished legs. Basically, she looked like she walked out of a pageant. I would have very much liked to say she looked plastic, but I wasn't sure if my judgment was based upon her appearance or on the acquaintance that she seemed to have with Edward.

My gaze traveled back to Edward who kept staring at me like he had seen a ghost. Although I'm sure that all the blood had drained out of my face, so I could definitely resemble one. But I was frightened by the expressions drawn out on his features. He looked like someone had electrocuted him; his sculptured jaw was taut and his green eyes cried out in agony. The emotions on his face flashed before my eyes like an open grave. If I didn't know any better, I'd have said he was in pain. But pain from what? From seeing me? Was he frigging serious?

I felt my muscles tighten as anger riled up inside of me. "Could you please give me back my book?" I asked, when my voice box decided to function. The way he was staring at me was totally freaking me out. I didn't kill his mother, he was the one that did something to me, so why the painful glare?

Strawberry-blond-plastic-hottie-doll stomped on his foot for him to come down to earth.

"Oh, I'm sorry, here you go." His hands lifted upward to give me the ragged copy. I tried to avoid any contact with his, because one touch and I would definitely fade away.

But since the earth was naturally against me and Murphy's Law had to be proved to show that I was human and I couldn't be excused from evil, his fingers brushed mine as I collected the book. His hands were so cold; they felt like ice block against mine as they made contact. The innocent, intimate moment didn't last because as soon as I steadied myself, I took off.

I started running away from him as fast as I could, just exactly the way he had ran away from me. I ran past the people on the sidewalk with really no destination as to where I was going. I just wanted to be away from him. His pained face painted my memories. Why did he look in so much pain from seeing me? Was I really that bad, that just my mere sight could cause such repulsion?

Was it not enough that he thought I was insignificant in the way he treated me? Why in heaven's name did he still call me 'My Isabella'? He lost the right to say that name years ago.

***Whispers of the Past***

Age 5:

"Bells honey, I would like you to meet a friend of mine," my mother called me sweetly as I removed my eyes from the sand castle I was trying but failing to build. She bent her back lower to the little boy's height she was holding. "This is Edward." She smiled as she pushed him further to meet me.

The first thing that caught my attention was his hair. It was so scattered, it looked like it hadn't been washed in a week. My eyes moved to his face and found the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. They were so intriguing to look at; they looked immaculate and gave off the vibe that they could pierce right into a soul. His face had a very serious look, as if he was trying to figure out what I was doing.

"He's aunt Esme's son, why don't you two play together while we discuss grown up things, alright?" she asked and I nodded in response. "Alright then, see you later." She kissed my forehead before leaving.

I wasn't sure why I wanted to talk to him, normally, I would have just gone back to work on my castle but something made me want to introduce myself. So I stood up and dusted my hands on my dress before sticking them out to shake him like my mom taught me.

"Hello, my name is Isabella. My friends call me Bella."

"Hi, Isabella, I'm Edward and my friends call me Edward." He left my hand hanging and dropped beside the sand castle. "You'll need water to make this stay," he said, studying the castle intently, as if he were trying to solve a math quiz. I propped right beside him. "And you have to mold it in this way or else the sand will not stay in the shape you want it to." He started gathering all the sand together, forming a heap.

Age 17:

"Goodbye Ty and thanks for everything." I stacked the pile of books on my left hand and turned to meet Edward at his locker. The hallway was empty since all the kids had already headed to the cafeteria for lunch. He was throwing all his books inside his locker with unnecessary force when I asked, "Edward, what's the matter?"

He threw a punch to the metallic door. "Nothing," he said in exasperation without even looking at me.

Edward and I had been best friends for over ten years and I could tell whenever something was bothering him. But if he wasn't going to talk about it, then I wasn't going to pry. He would tell me whenever he was ready; it was kind of how we worked.

"Alright then, I'm going for lunch. I'll see you after school?" I asked, hoping his sour mood would not make him avoid me.

We never communicated much in school due to his popularity status. He was a very handsome boy and most of the girls were head over heels for him. If I was caught seen with him, I would have been the center of attraction for gossip in the whole school and I couldn't risk that. Besides, if people saw us together, they would totally assume that there was something going on when there wasn't. The idea of that hope being increased by people who didn't even know us that well was too much to bear. I didn't want to jeopardize my friendship with him because I had suddenly grown feelings for him. He was my best friend, well after Alice, he was the next person who knew almost all of my secrets and he was oblivious to my feelings. There was no point if he didn't feel the same way. That was one of the reasons why I started dating Tyler to counteract the feelings for him even though it was futile.

"Yeah whatever!" he fumed, and I decided to leave him to cool off. He rarely took out his anger on me and when he did, the regret that filled him afterwards made me feel guilty. "Wait Isabella," he called when I almost reached the end of the hallway. He walked down to meet me with his school bag slung over his shoulders. "I'm sorry," he whispered when he got close. "It's just that," he skimmed his hands through his hair, "I don't like seeing you with Tyler."

A puzzled expression colored my face. Tyler was a good guy, he was one of the sweetest guys I knew.

"Why?"

"Nothing, I just don't like him," he finished bluntly.

That was one of the reasons I never told him about my boyfriends, he would always take it too personal and then claim that he was trying to be a big brother to me.

"Well that doesn't give me any reason to stop seeing him. And I don't even know why I care whether you like him or not, it's me who's dating him," I replied him with the same tone he used and turned to walk away.

"I don't want you seeing him," he called from behind me.

"You can't tell me what to do!" I snarled in frustration. Why the hell did he feel he had to control everything!

"Damn it Bella!" He used his bag to hit one of the lockers. I turned back in astonishment; he had never called me that name before, never. He always called me Isabella because it annoyed me and since then, it stuck to him. "I want you to be mine!"

I continued staring at him with wild eyes.

The possessiveness in his tone should have made me flinch, but the way he blurted out that line just made my heart gallop. He wanted me.

His eyes softened when he saw my face and then he walked to me. "My Isabella," my name purred through his lips and caused my cheeks to heat up furiously.

"What?" I muttered, unable to wipe the huge smile spread across my face.

"My very own Isabella," he reciprocated with a dazzling smile and pushed my hair backwards. "My Isabella." He blew air to the side of my face but it couldn't cool up heat burning in my body. And from that day on, that was the name that fell from his lips whenever he called me.

***Present***

I stopped running as my breaths came in heavy pants, sweat trickled down my face and my legs dragged on like they were attached to an anvil. I glimpsed back to the path I had run away from, to be sure I was out of his sight, and I was. I settled on one of the chairs by the sidewalk to steady my breathing and calm down.

I took out my phone from my bag and dialed Alice. She picked up on the first ring. "Hello."

"Hey Al, you busy?" I raked my hair and tried to stop myself from breaking down mentally and physically in public.

"Are you alright? I'm just showing a couple a condo right now, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry for disturbing you; I didn't know you were busy. I just needed someone to come and pick me up."

"Text me the address and I'll be there in fifteen."

"Al, it's okay–" I got cut off by the abrupt dialing tone. I sighed and sent her a text of the location.

Alice Brandon was one of the best girlfriends anyone could ever ask for but she really needed to stop putting others before herself. Her kindness and generosity was definitely going to hand her betrayal someday. She had a fair share of jobs before she finally settled for real estate. She was very much interested in fashion; it was like her second love after Jasper. Unfortunately, after spending four years in College and obtaining a degree for her beloved passion, jobs weren't easy to find. She then decided to get a job as a secretary in a bank. Later she quit, claiming it was boring and not something she was into. After reading a book about a guy who wanted to work as a fashion designer but found his calling in real estate, she decided to give it a try. She went to school for two years and thereafter, started her job as a real estate agent. She developed a strong enthusiasm for it because of the similarities between it and her passion, the only difference was it dealt with houses instead.

Fifteen minutes later, Alice arrived in her yellow Porsche, wearing black skinny jeans with a light yellow-green blouse and gold Chanel earrings. She looked flashy and very glamorous. "Fuck, Bella. Why the hell are you here looking like a homeless person?"

"How do I look like a homeless person?" I retorted, if she wasn't always looking like a diva, maybe she would have thought I looked normal.

"You're wearing that brown hideous gypsy skirt and a blouse that seems older than my grandmother with books in your hands. I understand that you're a librarian but must you really carry your followers everywhere you go?"

I rolled my eyes and entered the car. Maybe that's why Edward was looking at me like I was from another planet. But then again, he knew my style of dressing so it shouldn't have really bothered him.

She got into the car, turned on the air conditioning and started driving. "I should suggest you watch 'What not to wear' every day before you step out of your house." She continued looking at the road through the windscreen. "Alright spill, something's wrong. If it wasn't you would have called Jake to pick you up instead."

"I saw him." I exhaled a deep breath and leaned further to the side of the seat, facing the window.

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" I turned to face her with a bewildering expression. "How do you even know who I'm talking about?"

"I'm not stupid Bella. If it was another him, you would have said his name. And we all know you see Jake every day. Plus you really don't socialize with members of the opposite specie…" she trailed off.

"How long did you know?"

"Jasper said he has been here for a week but I knew yesterday," she said in a faint voice, avoiding my face.

"You whore! How could you not tell me? Do you know what I've been through since, thinking I'm delusional hearing him? Not to talk of the fact that I bumped into him today."

"Now hold on tiger." She shot me a glance telling me to zip it before continuing, "I didn't want to tell you because you were finally happy with Jake. Damn it! The guy has been waiting for the perfect time to propose and suddenly Edward comes back. It wasn't going to be fair! Secondly, maybe you're really delusional hearing voices not speaking to you, who knows? And I didn't think you could possibly bump into him. Jeez, there are a lot of people in the world. You don't see me bumping into Taylor Kitsch and I've been wanting to for years." She huffed and patted the steering wheel.

I stared at her in disbelief. I wasn't sure what to address in her little rant, the issue that she kept this piece of information to herself or the fact that she just claimed her crush for Taylor when I had important matters to discuss.

"I don't even know what to say to you." I crossed my arms against my chest and watched the blur of trees pass by.

"You know what, fuck this shit." She turned the steering wheel and entered another lane diverting from the natural course to my house. "We're going to see Rose; you need to get this stuff out of your mind."

We made it to Rosalie's house in a few minutes due to Al's crazy driving. I wasn't in the mood to see Rose; she was quite antagonistic in matters involving men, men specifically born with the name Edward Cullen. I got down from the car and followed Alice to the front door.

"Oh God! Why are you bitches disturbing me by this time of the day?" A grouchy Rosalie opened the door with sleepy eyes, a scattered hair and a red night robe.

"What happened? You were banging Em all night that you had to sleep till…" Alice glanced at her watch. "12pm?"

Rosalie and Emmett had been married for four years now with their cute baby boy, Brady. Emmett was an electrical engineer while Rosalie had on and off jobs. She worked with a clothing line as a model before she had Brady, but then decided to put it off until he was at least a year old.

"I wish! No…Brady kept me all night with his fucking cries. I was so frustrated, I even cried myself to sleep." She hissed as she went to the living room to switch off the television. "Why the fuck are you two midgets here anyway?"

"Bella saw Edward," Alice answered as we all climbed the stairs to her bedroom.

Rosalie let out a long hiss and opened the door of her bedroom. Their house was big and beautifully decorated. Alice had found them one of the houses in the larger estates, the government reserved area, a little bit on the outskirts of Forks; she claimed it was pretty expensive. It was a four bedroom duplex with high ceilings, a kitchen, a living room and two bathrooms. The floors leading to the bedrooms were covered in a cream carpet while the rest were wooden and polished. Everything was furnished and adorned according to Rose's extravagant taste.

"You know Bella, this is going to come out rather harshly but your life doesn't revolve around Edward Cullen. I understand that the breakup was brutal but it's been six fucking years of you repairing yourself. You cannot be breaking down every minute you see or hear about him. He's not dead. There's a possibility that he'll always be around so deal with it," she blurted out in aggravation and threw some outfits from her wardrobe on her bed. "Jake is a pretty nice guy and he's asked you to marry him, could you just be happy for once and fucking leave issues concerning Edward?"

And that right there was one of the reasons why I didn't like Rosalie Hale McCarty. She was so blunt and impassive.

"Hey mouse," she called Alice, who seemed to be glued to her phone in a texting convo. "Where are we going?"

"Wear shorts or jean," she replied, still engrossed with her business.

"Rose, you don't know what it was like. You didn't feel it, it didn't happen to you. Do you think that someone can just wake up and feel alright after that?"

I was not going to have her condemn me for being emotional after this issue. This man was the love of my life and he left me after we spent a whole lifetime building what we had.

"I was there!" Rosalie snapped. "I watched you breakdown. Everyone was there. We all saw you. Fuck it! Bella give it up! I gave you time to mourn your lost soul, two years was enough for your wallowing. And now the man who has been there every step of the way has proposed and the next thing you do is think about the past," she barked back and entered her gigantic bathroom.

"How would you feel if Emmett did that to you? Tell me because I really want to know." I followed her and stood by the doorway, watching as she squeezed the toothpaste on her blue toothbrush.

"You know what I'd do? I'd fucking castrate him to make sure he doesn't get to do that to another woman. But if I can't find him in two years, then I'd move on!" She stuck the brush into her mouth and began brushing her teeth furiously.

"Rose, I didn't bring her here for you to butcher her, I just wanted you to shapen her a little." Alice joined in.

"I LOVED HIM! I loved him. Everyone told me it wouldn't work that I should wait but I trusted him and he betrayed me! Are you frigging serious about telling me to move on? Most women don't even recover after that, they don't even get married. It was a whole life time and I gave him everything. The stupid bastard, I gave him me!" I screamed as the tears and all the revelations slammed me in full force.

I was surprised at my outburst. I had been holding it together since I saw his face but it was too much. I felt like burning. The fire raged inside of me, and to think he had the guts to have another woman beside him only added more fuel. I was the only one he was supposed to see. The only one he was supposed to love. The one he promised he'd never leave. The one he left without an explanation. If there was something wrong, he could have told me. We were so close. Yet he thought I was unimportant, that his decisions wouldn't affect me. We struggled and built this foundation that was based on hopes and dreams, our future and he shattered it all without a single word.

I was never going to forgive him.

After a few minutes, I felt four hands hold me as I cried out the inbuilt pain that was threatening to crumble me into pieces. The pain was suffocating my insides, all the years I spent hoping and praying. All the lies, the hurt, the time, everything spilled down in the form of tears. I hadn't fully confronted it since the time it happened. I didn't believe it, I thought I was just having a nightmare but seeing him today made me feel it was real. The fact that I was going to relive the whole situation was taunting. I was gamophobic, and I wasn't sure if Jacob would do the same thing to me. I knew he was a good guy but the fear of being bruised again was horrific.

"Shhsh," Alice hushed me as they began rocking me back and forth. "We are here for you and we know this isn't going to be easy but we're here, alright?" I nodded my head dumbly because words were stuck in my throat.

"I'm going to take a shower. I'll be right out soon and we can go out." I felt Rose's hands leave my body and heard her quiet steps to the bathroom.

I laid on the couch in the living room, my head on Alice's laps as she tried to comfort me by running her hands though my hair softly. Rose got dressed in thirty minutes. She came out of her bedroom in white Capri pants and a camouflage tank top with a silver playboy bunny logo on it and white strapped heels. Alice vehemently refused that I go in my current outfit, so we had to go to my apartment to change before heading out.

"Alice, are you kidding me? This of all places is where you decided for us to go?" I asked incredulously as I signed the indemnity form and ticked no for all the places inquiring for medical issues.

"What? It relieves stress, so I heard. It will help you feel a lot better trust me." She winked and handed the form to the instructor.

I finished filling my form and submitted it before going to check our body weight.

"What kind of jumping would you like to do?" the instructor asked. "Bungee trampoline? Bungee rocket? Or Tandem Bungee?"

Alice and I looked at the little flyer to understand what each of them meant.

"Um…" she started with her index finger between her lips."How about Tandem Bungee, the lovers leap?"

"Are you insane?" My head snapped to her direction in shock.

"What? We'll both be tied together and then fall. It'll be fun."

"I'm sorry but I think bungee trampoline is safer, that way we'll be sure we're landing on the trampoline and not possibly a thousand feet in air."

Before I even finished my little babble, Alice had informed the instructor that we would be doing the lovers' leap. The instructor made us wait for a while so they could find the right type of bungee cord that would balance the both of us.

After a few minutes of biting and chewing all my nails, the jump master arrived and gave us a lesson on few techniques of how to jump. We were going to jump from a board that was fixed on one of the higher rocks close to the Peninsula Lake. We weren't going to land in the water but we were going to come in close proximity with it.

"Oh lord, Al! Why in heaven's name did you talk me into this?" I looked at her, almost wanting to smack the smile off her face as the jump master strapped us tight with the black elastic bungee cord.

"It will be fine B."

"Rose, please, please I'm begging you don't make me do this alone with this psychopath!" I shouted to Rose who was standing at the bottom in between one of the rocks close to the lake.

"Hell no! I have a child and a loving husband back home that would terribly miss me if I die. I don't think I'm ready to give up on earth yet." She smiled. It never struck me that the hardcore Rosalie was afraid of heights. She was such a coward under that tough mask. "You guys just signed your death wish. If you see Royce, tell him I said hi."

"Now ladies remember, don't look down. It might make this worse," the jump master said, ensuring for the last time that we were safely strapped.

Reverse psychology began to work on me. The moment he said not to look down was the moment my eyes drifted to the bottom of the lake and the panic set in. Fear coursed through my veins at a rapid rate and I felt a tightening in my stomach as it twisted in knots. My heart started speeding at the sight of the tremendous height that we were about to dive into. There was a huge reason why they insisted not to look down. I clearly lacked obedience.

"Let it go Bella, let all of it go," Alice whispered as our bodies rubbed each other unconsciously.

"Alright ladies, ready?" the jump master shouted.

"Yep!" Alice answered, slipping her fingers through mine and holding them tightly in a fist.

"If we die Al, I'm going to make–OH MY FUCKING GOD!" I screamed as our legs left the board and we were off into air.

I couldn't stop screaming and I was definitely sure if Alice wasn't already dead, then she'd be deaf by the time we got out of this. The wind gusted through my face and whirled my hair around. My senses were sharp and the adrenaline began pumping at a fast rate. It felt like as if my heart was going to come out from my mouth, my ears were banging loudly. And for a second, I was so sure I was going to die. It was frightening as the rope hovered us to the top of the lake, it felt good. I felt alive. It was great to be hanging in the air, but I was very sure it wouldn't have been that superb if the cord wasn't holding us.

"Oh fuck Bella! That was insane," Alice squealed as the rope began to drag us up slowly.

I was shocked at the disappointment I felt. I wanted to jump again to enjoy that brief feeling of joy and temporary bliss. After we made it safely to the top, my stomach disagreed with me about the jump, because I had to rush to the bathroom to heave. Alice later dropped me home and took off with Rosalie.

I changed into my sleeping attire and took Advil to alleviate the headache I was feeling. Alice said jumping would relieve the stress but it created a whole new load of problems for me. There was no way I was ever listening to her again. My phone buzzed and I looked at the screen to find out it was Jake.

Hey baby, how was the jump?

I smiled and sent my reply. Hell, I miss you. Come over.

When my phone started blasting out its obnoxious ringtone, I answered it thinking it was Jake.

"Jake, could you come over? My head is killing me." I whined into the receiver and was answered with silence.

"Isabella," the velvet voice replied after a few seconds. "Please, I need to talk to you," Edward pleaded in a distressed tone.


Hmm…wonder what he wants to talk about, should Bella listen to him? Leave me some sweets please?