I'm late again. I'm sorry.
Thanks to PTB for their patience in correcting the grammar-challenged chapter.
Also to romanceaholic, iBaby, iluvtwilight60, vampdreams, cullenmeadow.
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Since they are in Japan they are a few sushi names in there. Google it for the picture.
Ika: Sushi rice topped with squid.
Shirauo: Sushi rice topped with Japanes Squid and wrapped with seaweed.
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Previously on AY+
"Their present is a trip to Japan. Wearegoingtohaveourhoneymoonthere."
The Honeymoon
Day One
The couple finally reached their room. In no time, Bella had opened every door, inspecting every inch as she had done every time she went to a new place. She made a decision to forget the ridiculousness that had become her life and to just enjoy this gift.
"Wow."
"Woah."
"Nice."
"Cool."
"Awesome."
These were the words coming from her mouth. But the last word was:
"Damn."
"Dibs." Edward said as he slowly walked behind her.
"You can't call dibs. I was here first."
"Being here first doesn't make it yours. Calling dibs make it yours, so the bed is mine." Jet lag might have been the cause behind his grumpiness. But all his thought centred in the bed in front of him and continue the sleep he had ended hours ago as he felt the fatigue was slowly, but surely, catching up with him.
Or maybe he was paying Bella back for slapping his wine glass, causing the wine to end up staining his shirt, which he couldn't change because he hadn't packed an extra shirt in his carryon.
"But the couch is comfy." He pointed to the couch in front of the TV. "Didn't you say 'nice' when you saw it?" He winked and shut the door. Bella, who was standing on the threshold, was forced to take a few steps back.
In Bella's defence, she had accidentally slapped Edward's wine glass, but remembering the fact that Edward had flicked her nose that caused her to woke up from her sleep, she didn't feel apologetic. She thought of it as a payback. Edward's reason for waking her up had been, "I can't sleep, so you can't either."
Unbelievable.
She then proceeded to knock, scratch that, banged on the door, loudly. Edward, who had dived into the bed without taking his clothes off groaned at the sound and placed the pillow on top of his head, ignoring the noise. But the banging never ceased.
"Leave me alone!" he shouted.
"Open up!"
Let's just get this over with, he thought.
"What?" he said as he opened the door.
"I want the room," she said petulantly.
"Well, you can't have it."
"But..."
"Fine, you can have the room. But I'm not leaving this room either. So let's practice 'sharing is caring,' shall we?" He grabbed Bella's hand and made their way into the room together.
When his step seemed to be zeroed in on the bed, she then realised what he was doing and pulled her hand away. She sent a spine-chilling glare his way and stomped out of the room.
Edward pushed the guilt out of his mind and started to strip to his boxers and get to sleep; however, this time, it didn't make him feel like a winner when Bella looked defeated.
Bella set her bag in the living room couch, took out her PJ's and went into the bathroom, producing a stream of colourful language. Once changed, she set up her 'bed' which was the couch, and then she noticed that she didn't have any blankets and let out a string of profanities. Hearing Edward's snore, she cursed at him. Becoming aware of her swearing problem, she used a vulgar word once more before promising herself that she wouldn't let Edward Cullen cause her to ever use crude words again. At least during the honeymoon.
She used her sweater as her blanket and two pairs of sock to shield her from the cold and went to sleep.
At 11PM, Edward woke up automatically as it was actually 6AM back home. He hadn't adjusted well to the change in time zones yet. He went to the loo and searched for some water. On his way, he saw a shivering Bella on the couch. He ignored her and made his way to the kitchen. On his third step, he halted.
Your sense of responsibility will help you. Your gentlemanly ways will make sure that you won't hurt the girl in any way.
Esme's words rang in his head.
With a silent 'damn it,', he went back to his room and grabbed the blanket off his bed. As he was about to wrap it around her, she woke up.
When her eyes set on him, she said with venom, "What?"
While Bella's eyes adjusted to the dark blanketing the room, Edward changed his mind about covering her, and wrapped the blanket around his waist. He was wearing only his boxers.
"Just checking if you're still alive, considering how cold Japan at this time of the year."
She snorted. "It's going to take more than that to kill me." She was feeling the beginning of flu at the back of her throat, but he wasn't going to know. She fell back into slumber, ignoring Edward standing at the back of the couch.
He chuckled at her statement and went to the fridge. On his way, though, he switched off the air conditioner.
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Day two
Bella remembered her vow last night to not use any crass words for the rest of their vacation and decided that, to do so, she would have to not talk to Edward or give him any time of the day. He could get under her skin like no one else could.
She made up her bed, brushed her teeth, and she made herself some breakfast. She was on her second slice of toast when Edward walked out of the room freshly showered and looked like he was having the time of his life. She looked the other way when he came into the kitchen with a big smile that almost touched his ears. He was really taking the statement he made during the prenup signing seriously and had made this a game. Only, his level was apparently preschool, considering the figurative hair tugs Bella was enduring.
"Morning," he greeted.
She shoved the remainder of her toast in her mouth and ignored him. She picked up her plate and drained the last of her milk as she was on her way to the sink and washed them. He only looked at her, still amused. He thought she was cute, acting like that.
She petulantly made her way to the living room where she decided to spend the night, leaving Edward, who was still wearing the amused grin, in the kitchen. She missed the grin since she was studiously ignoring him. She was happy with the newfound peace and switched the TV on.
He stayed in the kitchen, making himself the same breakfast and took the plate and the glass of milk to the living room where she was watching some Japanese cartoon.
He took a seat next to her, inching closer as she moved further away from him.
No. 131) No regards of personal space.
Bella added that to the list of things people might not know about Edward Cullen.
He filled the silence with meaningless chatter mostly about the cartoon they were watching. She bit on her lip, holding her laughter in when the character was being really funny, not wanting to let him think that he was succeeding in making her talk.
Meanwhile, he was determined to crack her. For, somehow, her silence was turning out to be quite awful. Not to mention that they were married and now stuck with each other for one full year–which was not a short time—so the silence would definitely make things awkward. So communication was a must for two cultured human beings in order for harmony to be achieved. Or so he believed.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Cullen, his conscience said.
"You're really not going to talk to me?" he asked her.
Again, he was answered by silence. She was focusing her attention on the cartoon that was in Japanese–with no subtitles. He took the remote and switched it off.
No. 241) Does not appreciate the glory of Saturday morning cartoons.
Now she was focusing on the blank TV screen. Not only had he crashed her personal space, he was also in her makeshift bedroom. Trying to find her Zen place, she grabbed her toiletries and clothes and stomped to the bathroom.
She had her bath, extra-long, playing with the bubbles until there weren't any, and at one point, she fell asleep. When she woke up, her fingers were like raisins and there were constant knocks on the door.
"Wake up, Bella. Did Freddy Krueger get to you?" he said in a singsong voice.
She growled and got out of the tub. When she was dressed, the living room was clear of Edward.
"Boo!"
"Oh my God! What the hell, Edward?" She was clutching her heart, securing it in her rib cage.
"Ah… got you talking now, didn't I?"
Bella ignored him and switched on the TV.
"Aw, come on, Bella. We're gonna spend a week here. Might as well be civilised. I'll make you a deal–you remember about the house I bought?" When she nodded, he continued, "I will give you free reign on interior design. Which means whatever you say, goes. Which I know would be not buying expensive stuff." He didn't want her to think he was a softie for relinquishing his hold on the bedroom, which frankly was god-awesome. It had memory foam. That was definitely god-awesome in his dictionary. "How about that?"
He had the first claim to the bedroom and also because he called dibs first.
Was it ever mentioned how childish he was?
She seemed to be thinking really hard, but agreed to it nonetheless, and shook his hand to seal the deal. Truce had been called, white flags now in the air and the couple decided for a day out.
They went for a walk, basically going nowhere, just talking, being civil to each other and getting to know one another better. When it was time for lunch, they walked in the first restaurant they spotted. To his joy, and her annoyance, it was a sushi restaurant.
Noticing her reaction, he asked, "You're not allergic to seafood right?" ready to find the next restaurant.
She shook her head no, for it wasn't seafood she was allergic to. It was the two sticks people used to eat them with.
Maybe he had forgotten that she didn't know how to use chopsticks.
But he hadn't forgotten. It was once of the first things to cross his mind when his father presented him with the gift of honeymooning in Japan: his vow to make sure Bella knew how to use the chopsticks before their marriage ended.
When they were seated, he started grabbing plate after plate from the conveyor belt. Bella only looked at him, surprised. He only shrugged as an answer. Bella didn't take as many as plates as he did, but the two of them made quite a sight with their plates on the table.
He unwrapped the chopsticks. Bella was rubbing her hands together, and had almost grabbed the shirauo, when the plate was snatched away from her sight. She blinked.
"You're not using your hands to eat sushi, Bella," Edward said.
"They're clean. Give it back."
Even when she had about twenty plates in front of her, and seven of them were her favourite, she chose to fight Edward for the one he had in his hand.
If you asked her why, she would say something about always starting her sushi meal with the shirauo.
But the actual reason lies within this question.
Was it ever mentioned how childish she was?
Statement retracted. Would you like to know how childish these two could get?
"It's not about the cleanliness of your hands. You're in Japan. You have to respect their culture. Eating with cutlery other than chopsticks is a sin," he said, absolutely serious.
"Did you just make that up?" She was smiling at the ridiculousness of that statement.
"No, it's true. You can Google it." He puffed his chest out like Superman without the hands on his hips and said, "I will make sure, that you know how to use these things..." he clanked his chopsticks together "...before the honeymoon ends."
He had shortened the period of learning from one year to two weeks. He might need a shrinking ray for his confidence or it was just what he needed for her to really learn the art of chopsticks–the intensive crash course way, considering Jacob had tried and failed even with five years of teaching experience.
"Good luck with that," she warned him.
Their lesson began. Both were cooperative at first. But their patience wore thin, their hunger getting the best of them. He decided that they both wouldn't eat unless she could at least grab her ika for five seconds. Previous rules included, without dropping the squid, without dropping the whole thing, for ten seconds.
Before one of them exploded, she called it quits but he wouldn't hear of it. The pep talk he was giving only succeeded to annoy her so much, she only wanted him to stop talking.
She squeezed her fingers so tight that she emerged victorious, as well as happy to have the ika in her mouth.
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"Thank God. Let's eat," he groaned.
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Day four
Still on the lesson of chopsticks. Takeout boxes on the living room table. TV turned on but ignored. The couple were seen giving each other heated glares. In the red corner, Miss Swan had tossed the chopstick to the other side of the room. In the blue corner, Mr. Cullen had his eyes closed and his nose bridge pinched, breathing slowly through his mouth.
"It's been almost two hours, and I'm hungry as hell," Bella said.
"I didn't say you couldn't eat."
She had been making real progress that he didn't think he needed to impose that rule. Even a military style crash course taskmaster had a heart. Especially when Edward Cullen was teaching the course.
"Well, you didn't say that I could eat." How was she supposed to know that she could have eaten? His rule had always been they both wouldn't eat until a certain milestone was reached.
And today's milestone was: to not squeeze your hands too hard just to keep the sushi from falling.
That and the fact that he persistently said, 'let's go again,' even before she could think of popping the damn sushi in her mouth.
Edward, who was at first sitting opposite her, was now sitting beside her, eating the takeouts together. His eyebrows were having a meeting at the centre of his forehead. She used her thumb and forefinger of her left hand to pry them apart. "You'll get wrinkles if you do that."
Her mood was better now that she had food in her stomach. It wasn't the fact that she soothed his forehead that energized him, but it was the electricity that they couldn't blame on the faulty wiring anymore.
Ah, yes. The couple still ignored it.
He was angry, not at her, but at himself, for he wasn't used to not accomplishing what he had set as a goal. She told him that he still had another week left. That made him feel a little better. She, never having seen anyone who was determined enough to teach her, actually found herself willing to try harder.
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Day six
He needed three more before he called it.
"That's it, Bella. Come on," he urged.
When she finished with her three, they both had their mouth open, eyes wide, not believing what just happened.
"You did it!" He was the first to shout.
"I did it!" They both jumped up in joy, hands in the air.
"Wait, I have a surprise for you." Edward ran into his room and came out with his hands hidden behind his back.
He put on a serious face and in a serious voice, he said, "Congratulations, Miss Swan."
He shook her hand and presented her with a paper. She laughed out loud when she read what was on the paper.
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CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
To
Isabella Marie Swan
For completing
The Military Crash Course to Learning the Art of Chopsticks
This certificate is given to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the recipient
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"Thanks," she said, really appreciating the lengths he'd gone to for the certificate, which now made her wonder whether it was made in Japan or he had planned it since he knew of her inability to use chopsticks.
The "certificate" was as awesome as far as fake certificates went. He had even signed it down at the bottom.
They had a great time in Japan thanks to Bella, who finally knew how to use a pair of chopsticks. The next day, they would be spending their last day in Japan. Their last destination in Japan was befitting to the both of them, the two childish people.
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Day seven
They went to Disneyland that last day. They chose to go at night when the bright lights were just beckoning them to ride everything in sight.
"Welcome to your childhood, Swan."
Somehow Edward doubted Bella had gone to an amusement park that often in her life, since her parents had divorced and had then eventually left her when she was eighteen. She probably must have gone, but not as often as he did. Her twinkling eyes proved that for him.
Edward's notion was half true. Bella didn't go to the amusement park as often because there weren't any in Forks. There was the one she had visited when she was in Phoenix, but she didn't go too often because she always had an accident every time: she sprained her ankle, she broke a bone, she lost her money, and the list went on. So she went very scarcely. Once every three years.
She was not letting this chance go. Disneyland, in Japan, no less. Adrenaline rush was sure to be in store for them, for this park had everything. For a clumsy person, Bella Swan really liked park rides.
They skipped all of the themed areas but the Tomorrowland, which promised rides after rides. They took it slow, strolling around, first trying everything that was offered on the ground, before riding anything that would throw them off of it.
First they got themselves some cotton candy and did the whole stealing food off of each other's hand and chasing each other around the rides. Basically just acting like kids, using their newfound politeness towards each other. They stopped at a shooting booth, panting. Bella looked up at Edward, asking him to shoot it for her, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to. Edward just laughed but refused. Now that he knew Bella was a klutz, he didn't waste any chance to see it. They made a deal for Bella to shoot one round and Edward would get two items for her. Bella sucked obviously, and Edward was laughing so hard at her. That got her in a bad mood. But when Edward got her the two items: a giraffe and a Doraemon, she was all smiles. As Edward recounted the disaster that was Bella and a gun, Bella couldn't help but smile at him, remembering him in a jovial mood and his serious face while shooting to get her the toys. Edward, too, sneaked a look at her while she was stroking her teddies.
Once they were sure they didn't miss any booths, they went to ride the rides that would throw them off the ground.
They started with a roller coaster. As the crept closer to the entrance, Bella started to get nervous, sure she liked the rides, but it had been a long time. She didn't show it on her face but it was showing in her wringing hands. Seeing a Japanese boy coming off the ride with no fear at all, she started to feel confident. As it turned out, the ride was scary, Edward's hand was sore from Bella's tight squeeze, but she started to enjoy herself on the second half of the ride and they both really enjoyed coming back to their childhood.
They went around the park making sure every ride was ridden but found out that they missed a booth: a photo booth. She tugged on Edward to take some pictures only to find the hand she tugged on had no electricity and the owner of the hand looking funnily at her.
"Gomenasai," she apologised to the man.
She looked around for Edward, his height giving him an advantage, for Japanese men weren't as tall. But he was nowhere in sight. She walked around trying to find him.
Half an hour in, she started to feel her eyes getting watery. Reality that she might have lost him dawned on her; she was in Japan with a language barrier so big that the Great Wall could pass through, and she had no means of contacting Edward for he kept all the Yens, and her phone didn't work in Japan.
An hour later, she stopped walking and sat on a nearby bench. People were looking at her. A crying grown woman in an amusement park was bound to draw attention. Besides, if she kept walking it would be harder for Edward to find her.
Edward just relieved himself and went out to find Bella, but she wasn't there. He, too, started to sweat when he couldn't find her after half an hour, not because of walking around too much but from never seeing her again. His mind started to conjure all the image of her being held up and taken for ransom.
Suddenly his eyes caught on a figure on a bench in front of him. It was Bella. She had her knees to her chest and hands around her ankles. Her forehead was on her knees, and from the movement of her shoulders, she seemed to be sobbing.
He let out a huge sigh of relief and advanced slowly, hands outstretched. He tapped her knees twice. She was shocked and almost screamed but stopped herself when she saw who it was.
What she actually did frightened Edward more than if she were to scream.
"Where were you?" she wailed.
His eyes widened at the volume she used to project her voice and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Thankfully the park was noisy and very few people were looking their way .
"I went to the toilet. I told you to stay put. Why weren't you there?" he explained.
Truth was, Bella didn't hear him saying that. If memory served her correctly, the last time she remembered Edward being there was the time she saw a girl walking past her with ice cream about six inches tall without the cherry on top. She followed the way the girl came from and saw the photo booth.
"I saw…" she trailed off, quite embarrassed to say that an ice cream managed to distract her "…an ice cream."
Edward laughed at that. Seeing him laugh, she started to cry again. Giving in to her childishness, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to a standing position before hugging her and resting his chin on the top of her head.
"Don't do that again," he said to her.
In the end, Bella did get her ice cream with cherry on top and a wafer stick on the side.
I have written about three chapters up. the Beta'ing process is sometimes long, so I'm sorry about that.
To be safe, i will update every two weeks on Thursday.
Both my betas are busy so they had to pull out. I really need a pre-reader, would any of you be willing to be my pre-reader?
Thanks for reading.
Reviews are appreciated. They will or will not quicken the updating process though.
