Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does. No copyright infringement is intended, and I am making no financial gain from this, either.


Chapter 2

It had been two weeks after Bella's return from Italy, just as she had accepted that she had made the strange incident fourteen days ago up, that the first of many letters finally arrived.

Bella had had a terrible nightmare the night prior to its arrival, a hideous figment of her imagination that vehemently tried to convince her that Edward would leave her once more, and since she had been certain that there would be nothing to watch out for, she stayed in bed until several hours after noon. It was Charlie that eventually found the letter, neatly layed onto the exact center of the ancient door mat, and delivered it to his daughter.

Bella, taken by surprise, had been too dumbstruck by the sight of the envelope to make up an excuse that was anything but terrible.

It's Edward, she'd said. I haven't been talking to him for a few days, so I guess he figured I'd have to listen to him that way.

Bella's acting abilities had not improved within the few weeks that had passed, but somehow, Charlie did not question her logic.

Bella listened to her father walk down the stairs and turn on the TV, then waited ten extra minutes for safety, and only then, completely taken by curiosity, ripped open the expensive looking envelope. In near artistic handwriting, he had written her address on the front. There was no return address.

For a second, Bella was infuriated. How on Earth was she supposed to respond to a letter without a return address?

But then she realized that Aro must have guessed that either Edward or her father would see the letter's exterior, and her rage subsided.

My dearest, he wrote.

I must apologize for waiting this long to write to you; you must believe me that what I did was for reasons of security only, though. Your boyfriend (in case that is indeed the correct classification) has spent the last few days meticulously guarding everything and all that you ultimately even so much as saw, and I figured it to end very badly for the both of us if the contents of our letters were to fall into his hands.

Now, for the explanation you have awaited for such a long time now, which I will try to explain as easily as possible — my dear, cara, something happened between the two of us in the throne room. I felt it the second I first layed eyes on your inexplicably beautiful, graceful form, and according to what you told me then, so did you.

Mesmerized, was the word you chose to describe it. And I hope I don't frighten you, my dear, but allow me to say that that is indeed the perfect description for my feelings back then.

In all of my countless years, I have never felt anything alike it before. I was mesmerized by the flawless little creature that was Isabella Swan, you, and this mesmerization utterly fascinated me. And with every step that I took towards you and your heart did not speed up in fear, my fascination grew.

Allow me to summarize, to make a long story short: I was and am awestruck by you, my dear. Ever since I breathed in your scent, I could not take my mind off you. And eventhough I am honestly oblivious to the reason, I hope that you feel similarly and choose to commence a correspondence with me.

Do not be frightened to ask whatever comes to your thoughts, my dear. I will try to answer as good as I can.

A.V.

Piazzo dei Priori 8, 31452 Volterra, Italy.

Mesmerized. That was what Bella had been by the dark, powerful Volturi leader; and it was what she felt then.

She knew that responding at all would be foolish. After her epiphany in Italy she had come back together with Edward, at first out of pity, then out of frustration as day for day, no mail came. If, as he had mentioned, Edward was controlling her every move, he would surely be informed of the contact within the blink of an eye.

But at the same time, she could not help herself. Liquid euphoria running through her veins, she quickly located a piece of paper and a pen and sat down at her small desk to write. She was aware that however what she was doing classified, she was betraying Edward. She would hide a secret from him, and an important one at that. But she did not love him.

Not anymore.

And there were so many questions on her mind, so many thoughts, dreams. Thoughts that could not help but be written down for him to read.

Yes, she thought. I will do this. I must do this. I will not have Edward change my life for the worse once more.

Dear Sir, she wrote, uncertain on how to address him. Aro? Friend? King of All Vampires? 'Sir' seemed like the polite, easy way out, and she took it.

You can't imagine the relief and utter happiness I was feeling when I finally received your letter. I must confess that I had already convinced myself I had only made our little encounter up — luckily, I now know for sure that I haven't lost my sanity during the last few months. Thank you.

Knowing that you actually feel the same way is a great relief to me. With our little secret on my mind, I have been feeling very guilty talking to Edward lately. I've been trying my best not to make him notice that I have lost my interest for him, but all the while my thoughts, strangely, have been with you, and not him.

What an odd human I must be to you. Just another foolish girl hypnotized by you, senselessly writing you secret letters on true feelings after hardly thirty minutes of having met in real life.

And yes, I do have some questions. A lot, to be honest. I will only insist on having one answered for now, though, for otherwise I would never finish this letter: why me? From what I guess to be thousands of girls and women, why is it me that you are mesmerized by? I cannot understand, no matter how hard I try.

Best wishes,

Bella.

She quickly looked around herself, checking for an unwanted pair of eyes that were watching her. But there were none. Hastily, she folded up her letter, put it into the empty envelope and sealed it shut. Not for one second losing her sudden paranoia, she copied the address from his letter, then hid his letter under her matress, grabbed her own and exited the room, running down the stairs.

"Bells," Charlie greeted her. "I haven't seen you 'round here all day. You come to grab some... well, it wouldn't exactly be breakfast, but I guess I could fix you some lunch..."

Bella shook her head. "Thanks Dad, but I'm not hungry. I'm just up to bring my reply to Edward's letter to the mail."

"Fine, I guess," he answered. "But you're still grounded."

"Sure," she smiled to herself as she left the house. A warm autumn breeze surrounded her as she had to force herself not to smile. For security reasons.


His reply had come exactly two days later. Bella picked the letter up before going to high school in the morning and carried it around in her backpack the entire day, multiple times noticing her concentration drift away during classes. There was only one man on her mind, and as guilty as it made her feel, it was definetely not Edward.

She'd spent the day before at the Cullen house, telling Charlie she was at Angela's for a biology project. Awkward silence had surrounded Edward and his family, but nobody, not even Rosalie, had dared to admit that whatever social event the Olympic Coven made up to invite Bella over was of no use at all. Except of the polite 'hello's and 'goodbye's, not a single word had been spoken.

But Edward had held on to her skinny hand as if it were a life boat, and Bella had not wanted to cruelly break his heart the way he had broken hers by denying him his silent request.

Everything seemed to be complicated for her these days.

Once she had arrived home from school that day, she almost forgot to greet her own father due to the excitement overdose. Immediately she locked herself up in her room, leaving all her homework incomplete and undone, and ripped open the envelope, revealing his written words.

Dearest Bella, he began.

forgive me, but I fail to understand. Why did you decide to give Edward a second chance? You see, after your departure, Marcus came to me to show you your bonds to the boy. From what he saw, you held no love, but rather pity and slight hatred for him. Please understand that I cannot comprehend how within two weeks, such negative emotions could have possibly turned into enough love to be willing to forgive the boy for what he did to you.

Under any other circumstances, I would have corrected you for calling me 'Sir'. But now that I see what connection you and the Cullen boy share once more, I will not object. I will keep silent.

If you wish for distance, then so be it.

Allow me to say just one more thing, though: eventhough I still do not know why, I would and will leave everything behind for you. I would have been, and will be there for you in your times of need. And Aro Volturi is a man who keeps his promises.

Awaiting your reply,

A.V.

Bella had sat there, breathless, wondering about why he had not answered her questions, replied to any other parts of her letter but a part that had been told only to prove another one. She had been bewildered, and she had failed to understand his reasoning.

And now, as Alice's arms embraced her artificially shaking form and her eyes were still fixated upon the box and its contents, she knew why.

Because he loved you.


Author's Note: You're all awesome, do you know that? I woke up this morning to twenty (!) new mails, and there were about another ten during the day. Thank you so much! :) So here, as a reward, another quick chapter. I hope you like it.

So basically, in this part of the story, I'll go back and explain what moments Aro and Bella shared in the past before going back to the present day story line. Just in case you were wondering.

Were Bella and Aro understandable in this chapter? How did you like the letters? Please leave a review, every single one increases the chance of another 24-hour update! Bye guys! :)