A/N: Thanks again for reading and leaving reviews. Please note the usual disclaimers.


Chapter 8

"Aw, Angela… you shouldn't have! This is absolutely beautiful!"

"Don't be silly. It's just a small gift."

I rolled my eyes before turning them again to the small bronzed Greek theatre mask that Angela had brought back from her honeymoon. "Okay, fine. But for the record, as much as I love the souvenir, I'm happy to have you here for a visit." I reached out and squeezed her hand. "I can't believe it's been so long since we've been under the same roof."

"I missed you a lot, too, Bella. As much as I love Ben and having our own place, I have to admit that I miss having you as my roomie. You're a wiz in the kitchen and so tidy."

"Uh-oh… what heinous habit have you discovered?"

"Socks!" she half yelled. "Dozens of socks everywhere! Under the bed, behind the toilet, between the couch cushions, you name it. And they never hide in pairs. I can't believe I didn't know this about him before."

I burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of my best friend's plight. My mind conjured up an image of a mountain-sized pile of socks in the middle of their living room with Angela dumping more into it using a wheelbarrow. I hadn't realized that I was still cracking up and clutching at my sides until I caught sight of Angela frowning at me. "Sorry," I muttered sheepishly.

"Okay, now that you're all spent from laughing – at my expense – I'm going to turn the tables and ask how things are going with you." She tilted her head toward the living room where Evan and Ben sat in front of the TV chatting. Obviously, Angela wasn't inquiring about my health.

"We still haven't figured out what to do," I replied, all mirth drained from my voice.

"Bella, you do realize that you originally planned to go back home in three weeks, right?" She eyed me for a few moments. "Are you planning to stay here longer?"

"No, I'm not. I mean, I don't know…" My neck and cheeks began to feel warm.

"Haven't you and Evan discussed this at all? I thought that was part of the reason in coming here for the summer months." Her gaze softened. "Look, Bella, I care about you. I don't mean to give a lecture, but you can't leave your life in suspended mode forever. You have to figure out where you'll live and how you'll support yourself. I'm not saying he isn't already helping, but honey, you have to be able to do that on your own, too. Unless you have concrete plans to stay here, there isn't much in the way of having some independence."

Not having anything to say to the contrary, I simply nodded my head. She was absolutely right; Evan and I have to have the talk.

After our guests had retired for the evening, I mulled over how to bring up the subject. It was strange that after a few months of living together, we were only going to start discussing how we would move forward. When I first arrived back in May, it seemed like a shame to spoil our happiness with questions regarding who will give up what to live together. As things got busier at work for Evan, I didn't have the heart to drag him into a heavy conversation. I didn't realize how much I procrastinated until my time had nearly run out and it took my best friend to remind me just how little time was left. I bit my lip as he crawled under the sheets next to me. I hated what I was about to do, but I had to start sometime or I may never have the courage to bring it up again until it's too late.

"Can we talk about something for a bit?"

"Sure, babe. What's on your mind?" He sounded tired, but he sat up and looked at me.

I dropped my gaze to my hands and twisted my fingers together. "Well… I think we've put this conversation off for far too long already and –" I began only to be cut off by the buzzing sound of a cell phone. He reached back to his nightstand and peered at the caller ID display.

"Bella, I have to take this call. I won't be long."

Annoyed by the interruption, I couldn't bite my tongue fast enough to prevent my complaint. "Is work seriously calling you at this hour? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Yeah, just hang on okay?" He grabbed the offensive device and walked out of the bedroom. Although he already spoke too quietly for me to understand anything, I heard the distinct sound of the front door closing. That was new. Was there something he didn't want me to hear? I sighed, and chastised myself for being paranoid. He was only being considerate of me and our guests in the spare room. Why else would he take his call outside of the apartment?

The clock read half past midnight and I wondered who would have the audacity to call so late. I mentally ran through a short list of people from his work who had called him before on his personal cell. It might be his team leader, Marco, but Evan had mentioned that he and his wife took off for the Bahamas a couple of days ago, so it probably wasn't him. Perhaps it was his obnoxious project manager, whose name I couldn't recall, but he never made a habit out of calling past nine o' clock. I shifted uncomfortably on the bed when my mind settled on Nick. I've never met him, but from what I gathered in my conversations with Evan, Nick was a relatively new team member. Lately, he had been calling about this and that and I didn't think much about it because he probably needed a lot of guidance. But when I came to think on it some more, he had been calling quite late in the evenings and instead of the calls becoming less, it had only increased over the last couple of weeks. I furrowed my brows at this realization, becoming more disturbed by the second when I felt the bed dip down.

"Hi, I'm back."

"Was it Nick who called?"

"Um, yeah… Everything's good now." He yawned and smiled sleepily at me. "Honey, think we can take a rain check on that talk? I'm bushed."

"Okay, I guess," I replied and curled up on my side of the bed facing away from him.


Angela and Ben had only stayed for the weekend and when I watched them drive off toward Washington, my heart felt heavy. They were my slice of home and now that they'd gone, I began to feel homesick again. I took the elevator back up to my floor and was just about to get in the apartment when I heard Elsie calling my name.

"Bella! Have your friends gone home already?" she inquired looking a little breathless.

"Yes, I just walked them down a few minutes ago."

"Aw, shoot. Auntie's gonna kill me…" She collapsed against the wall opposite my door and slid down to the floor. "She told me to give this to your friends before they leave. I accidentally slept in."

I hadn't noticed earlier that she had a small box within a white plastic bag in her hands. It now lay on the floor next to her. "What do you have there?"

"Oh, it's just a box of Chinese pastry. I think your friend Angela mentioned that she liked sweetheart cake and Auntie got some from her baker friend." She stood up and handed the bag to me. "Here take it. Don't tell her that it never made it to your friend. You know how she is when she gets upset," she said with a roll of her eyes.

I giggled, knowing exactly what she was referring to. There were only a couple of times when I'd seen Mrs. Li angry. Her voice got shrill and there seemed to be no end to her scolding of anyone who happened to cross her path. She was normally very sweet, but when you get on her bad side, it was best to stay out of her way. "Hey, I like Chinese pastry too. We'll keep this secret between you and me, okay?" She smiled gratefully and headed towards the elevator.

The pastries smelled divine when I opened the box. In the usual Mrs. Li style, she did not skimp on giving gifts. Nestled inside were dozens of the flaky, golden treat and I loathed the thought of how easily I could gobble them all up. An idea then struck me and I carefully closed the lid and placed it back into the plastic bag.

It was almost lunchtime when I arrived at Evan's office building. The security guard on duty recognized me from my previous visits and she waved me in without bothering to have me to sign in. Careful not to trip, I hurried over to the elevator. I hummed a tune happily on the ride up and thought about possible places to lunch at that were relatively close by. When the elevator dinged, I got off and proceeded to the glass doors just as one of Evan's office mates was heading out. He held one of the doors open for me and smiled politely.

"Hey, Bella. Long time no see. Evan expecting you?"

"Hi, Ernie," I greeted back. "No, I'm here on a surprise visit, actually. My neighbor left me a bunch of goodies and I thought I'd bring it here for everyone to share. I might even try to convince him to go for lunch. Do you know if he's at his desk?"

He pondered over this for a few moments and scratched his head. "You know I haven't seen him this morning… Come, let's go find him." He led me to a small group of people who were huddled into a small cubicle. "Hey, has anyone seen Evan around?"

A small mousy woman spoke up as she typed like a maniac on her keyboard. "He had a meeting this morning in the boardroom. Not sure if it's done yet."

I smiled, even though she hadn't looked up once from her screen. "That's fine. I'll just drop this off at his desk and leave a note." Everyone in the group exchanged curious glances. I thought that maybe they were nervous about the contents of the mysterious box in my hands. "Um… I'm not sure if you've tried these before. There's quite a bit in here if you want some." A couple of them each took a piece and thanked me.

When I was finally on my way to Evan's desk, I passed through a maze of drab, gray cubicles and small offices. The offices all had glass for walls along the hallway, with frosted patterns that partially obscured the interior. I supposed it was to allow more natural light in yet still provide some privacy. When I reached the end of the hall, I had to stop and think about which way to turn. Nothing around me looked familiar, since I hadn't gone this way before. That was when I noticed that I was adjacent to a large boardroom with the same frosted glass motif. It looked empty except for what appeared to be two people hanging around by the entrance. One of them was a young woman with sandy hair that was pulled up into a messy chignon on top her head. She wore a rather snug top with a pair of dark skinny jeans that accentuated her lean figure. Seeing that no one else roamed the area, I decided to walk up to her and ask for directions. She must not have noticed my approach because she quickly looked over her shoulder then reached out to the other person, who was completely hidden from view. I smirked, recognizing the sultry curve of her smile.

Tsk-tsk… office romance.

As I got closer to where she leaned against the door frame, I thought about averting my gaze to the floor and pretending not to see what was going on. But something kept me from doing so. It was like watching everything in slow motion. I saw her seductively pull her companion impossibly close until their lips met eagerly. To my horror, I recognized the dark hair, the geeky dark-rimmed glasses, and the face that looked completely lost to passion… Evan! I froze on the spot and dropped the box of sweetheart cakes with an audible thump on the floor. They immediately flew apart.

When he turned around and saw me standing there, all the color drained from his face. "Shit," he cussed and raked a hand through his hair before stepping towards me. "Bella… it's not what you think. Nick and I were just -"

I looked at the pair incredulously. "Nick?" I spat. "This is Nick?"

"I can explain... Can we talk for a bit? We can talk in here or we can go someplace."

All I wanted was either for the ground to swallow me whole or for lightning to strike me down.

"Bella, honey… please... I can explain," he pleaded as he tried to reach for me.

As if by reflex, I yanked my arm away roughly and turned on my heel. I fled as quickly as I could while he called after me. I needed to be away from there – from them – before I got sick all over the carpeted floor. When I reached the main office entrance, I saw a set of elevator doors starting to close. Not caring who was in it or how crazy I must've sounded, I yelled. "Please hold the doors!" Thankfully, they remained ajar and I jumped in pushing the close button frantically. By the time elevator car was safely descending, I realized that Ernie was in there with me. He gave me a pitying look for a second and looked away uncomfortably.

"Why did you look at me like that? Did everyone know but me?" I asked as the tears spilled down my cheeks.

He blushed a shade of red that rivaled my trademark hue. "We tease them about it. But I swear… I didn't know they were actually…" he trailed off. He probably thought that it was unwise to continue with what he was about to say. After all, he was in a small, enclosed space with a woman who had just been spurned. As soon as we reached the main floor, he gave me an apologetic smile and scampered off.


I watched the water for a very long time. Its color fluctuated as the clouds sailed across the sky and the hours passed. After I left Evan's office building, I hopped on to the Sky Train and stayed on until my ticket had expired. The apartment was the last place I wanted to be. There was no doubt that he would go looking for me there and I certainly didn't want to face him and deal with what I had witnessed. Instead, I thought about going to Mrs. Li's restaurant, my one other refuge. However, when I was a few blocks away, it occurred to me that Evan might look for me there, too. So to avoid causing a scene, I decided to walk to the park surrounding Lost Lagoon and hide away until I could figure out what to do next.

My stomach growled in protest, but I ignored it. I wasn't sure if I could keep anything down anyway, at least not while the lurid image of "Nick" making out with my boyfriend was fresh in my mind. Not once did I question the gender of the coworker who called almost incessantly in the recent weeks. I dismissed the phone calls and even felt sympathetic to the poor guy who needed so much help. Was I just being sexist? Would it have bothered me had I known Nick was short for Nicole or Nikki or something? I clenched my hand into a fist. Of course it would have. Why would a woman persistently call a man at any hour of the day, unless she was attracted to him? Didn't she think that she was intruding on his personal time? Did she not care what his girlfriend might've thought? Everyone at the office knew Evan was taken. It would be next to impossible to not know, especially since he had a picture of us as his desktop wallpaper. Wouldn't Evan have told her that he was already in a relationship when she began to pursue him?

But he was kissing her back.

I slammed my fist on the bench and bit my lip to suppress the scream that almost escaped my lips. All those phone calls… he never showed nearly as much annoyance to them as he had to those from his other officemates. He even stayed late at work a few times claiming Nick had needed his expertise with coding something. I thought back and I couldn't recall a time when Evan referred to Nick using a pronoun. How long had he been seeing her behind my back?

As though things couldn't get any worse, Jessica's taunting words came back to haunt me: someone will come along one day and steal him right under your nose. Well, her prophecy came true, didn't it? Someone did come along and steal him from me. I couldn't even comprehend how it happened. He seemed happy, but maybe what we had wasn't enough for him. Surely he knew how I felt about him. I put my life on hold to be here, to be with him. We were going to figure out a long-term solution… A fresh flood of hot tears broke free and fell on my lap. I had three weeks left before my original plan to go back to Washington and not once during my entire stay had we even talked about our future. Maybe he had realized some time ago that he did not want me after all.

Oh my god… oh my god…

I didn't notice when the rain had started. My clothes were soaked and the slight breeze made me shiver. I wished so much to be some place warm and dry, but there was no going home to the apartment – not with Evan possibly waiting for me. It was probably safe to go to Mrs. Li's restaurant by then. But in my state, clothes soaked and eyes red and puffy from crying, I would only worry her or cause some kind of commotion. Tired, cold, and hungry. Betrayed. I'd never felt this wretched in my entire life, so I broke down sobbing again.

When my sobs had subsided, I listened to the peaceful sounds that the raindrops made as they fell on the leaves. It reminded me so much of being in Washington that I allowed myself to pretend that I was at home in Forks. Charlie would be on his way home from the station and I would be adding the finishing touches to another special dinner. I could imagine my father's face when he walked in to the smell of pot roast. I smiled at my mental picture until I heard a very audible snap of a branch.

My blood ran cold. Through my misery, I failed to think of how vulnerable I was to sit all alone in the dark on a secluded bench. My eyes scanned the wooded area for anything that posed a threat while I readied myself to run. From a short distance, I caught sight of a tall, ghostly figure of a man. He appeared to hesitate a little before slowly making his way toward me. Instead of screaming in terror and running away as quickly as my legs would carry me, I remained rooted to where I stood. As he came closer, I noticed the familiar fair hair and the unnaturally white skin, despite the darkness that surrounded us. My heart swelled with joy, melting away the emotional and physical misery that threatened to drown me earlier. I wanted to fly into his arms, but I restrained myself in fear that he was only an apparition that could vanish in a puff of smoke in an instant. He sensed my uncertainty and crossed the remaining distance that separated us in a blink. I reached out and touched his cheek. It was cold and hard like marble – just the way I expected it to be. Without further ado, I flung my arms around his waist just as he returned my embrace. Though his body was neither warm nor dry, I did not care. All that mattered was Carlisle. He was there with me and I felt safe.