"Did it go okay?" Rose asks when I enter her office.

I close the door behind me and lean against it, exhausted. It feels like I've run a marathon.

"What happened in there? You're white as a sheet."

I exhale and have a seat.

"Jessica said I looked green."

I slide the cellphone across the desk to Rose.

She picks it up and snorts.

"You're still recording," she notes. "And it's been recording for the past twenty minutes so I guess you must've gotten her on tape, so to speak."

Suddenly something rings twice and very loudly. I jump in my seat from the harsh sounds thinking there's a fire somewhere. Rose explains she got a text message.

"Why so loud?" I complain.

My head is aching. I hope I'm not about to get a migraine although I wouldn't be surprised if it happened now.

She looks at the display and laughs out loud, hitting the table with her hand as if it's so darn funny she just needs to punch something.

"You're gold Bells. Pure gold!"

"What?"

"You sent Emmett a snap chat."

She shows me the display and there's a photo of my upper half taken from below so that my boobs are in focus. While I'm not wearing anything scandalous today: a simple white shirt along my classic black pencil skirt, it's still a weird photo to send to my best friend's boyfriend.

"You also sent about five more of the table. And two of the ceiling. Very interesting snap chats. Good job," Rose says cheerily.

"I don't even know what chat snap is," I sigh.

"Snap chat," she corrects me. "Why aren't you happy? You got her on tape. This is great."

I cringe. I don't want to say it out loud but I have to tell Rose.

"Did you know Havens is doing real bad?"

She frowns.

"And you're concerned about that?"

I look at the desk in front of me and contemplate banging my head against it. Instead I groan out loud: a very mature reaction for a person of my age.

"Wait, what? You are concerned about that," Rose says. "That's unexpected."

"Stanley Projects are in talks about buying Havens," I tell her.

Rose looks like she's about to barf.

"But why? Why would they want to buy a sucky company that's not doing well?"

"I don't know. I was under the impression that Havens was doing alright. I want more info but at the same time I don't, you know?"

I stand up and Rose gestures for me to sit down again.

"You're not going anywhere. We need to vent about this. This is huge!"

"I've got work to do and I have to be at the Newman-building at twelve."

The unsaid childish "but I don't wannaaa" echoes in my head and Rose looks about as miserable as I'm feeling.

"I'll let you know if I pick up some gossip from the coffee room," she says. "Talk to you later."

Back in my office I try to focus on work but my mind is spinning. It's wildly exaggerated to think Jessica would consider buying Havens only to get James and his mistress in the same building as me. I'm flattered that she seems to find me important enough to irritate but she wouldn't go that far. I know there are tons of talented people working at Havens. Any company would be lucky to have their expertise and since Stanley Projects is doing well and constantly expanding it's not crazy that they would want to take over a smaller company. The truly annoying part however is knowing Jessica's enjoying the idea slightly more because of my connection to Havens.

I have to think clearly and calm down. Firstly: it's not the end of the world and secondly: these things take time. It's not like James and Lauren will start working here tomorrow. Nothing is decided yet, if I can trust Jessica that is. Hopefully I'll have time to get the hell out of here before the possible take-over takes place.

Before going to the Newman-building I swing by Edward's office to give him an update. No, I did not get fired. What did she want to talk about? Oh, she just wanted to check in, see how everything's going. I'm not sure if I should tell him yet. After all, maybe nothing will happen.


Simply put: an architect's work consists of creating the perfect blend of three basic things: beauty, sustainability and functionality. Most important of all though is listening to the client. Being patient doesn't hurt either. While I might think we're done talking about removing a bearing wall, if the client has more to say about it I have to hear him or her out and come up with something new. Functionality comes first, but it all goes hand in hand really. If we remove bearing walls what we're making can never be sustainable and it doesn't matter if it's pretty if the construction doesn't work. On my way to the building I think of all this while asking myself why I became an architect in the first place. I come up with the following things: I like the challenge, to be creative and also because I got a scholarship to Colombia. I do this because I love this and because I was given a chance to prove myself. The Newman-project is another chance for me to prove myself, but today it's harder than usual to remind myself of these things because of the drama at work with Jessica and her little schemes. It's distracting me from my work and I'm wondering what I even mean by proving myself. Proving myself to who? The client?

Jacob is standing by the main entrance of the building smiling widely. He's wearing jeans and a black shirt, a more casual attire than I've seen him in lately. It's good that he went casual. It makes it that more apparent that I'm actually out of the office for now. I tell myself to stay sharp and focus on Jacob and what he's saying. I realize I do want to prove myself to the client. It's a motivation that makes sense: Jacob Blacks indirectly pays me to do my job. Of course I want to show him what I can do. Hopefully even excel his expectations.

"Bella. So glad you could make it," he greets.

"Well it is my job," I say as lightly as I can muster.

We head inside.

"I really hope I didn't make you uncomfortable with the phone call. I..." he starts and I put up my hand to hush him.

Ironic how I just thought I should hear him out and then hush him the first thing I do, but he wasn't talking about work, right? But damn I feel cool. I should use hand-gestures more often. It's oddly empowering on a day like this when I feel like everything is out of my control.

"It's forgotten," I say. "Unless you keep bringing it up," I joke poorly and Jacob laughs a little too much.

Good God, don't let this meeting get too awkward. We're off to a rocky start.

"Let's look at that wall shall we?" I say sounding way more upbeat than I feel.

There's honestly not much to look at. There's nothing we can do about the wall. I'm wondering if Jacob is secretely getting a kick out of this, feeling like we're a pair of plays that he can move around however he wishes. He wouldn't be the first client. Still he's far from being the most high maintenance one.

We're looking at the wall. It's white and very much existing and not going anywhere. My brain is spinning from this morning's meeting with Jessica and getting completely riled up over thinking I would get fired and then finding out this thing about Havens.

And tonight I'm cooking dinner for Edward.

A lot of things happening today.

Ignore those things. Ignore it all. Focus on what's happening now.

"Or we could turn it into four rooms..." Jacob muses aloud.

Oh, no he didn't.

"I thought you wanted big wide rooms. Fewer rooms. One big room if possible," I say and even to my own ears my voice sounds tired.

"It's a house, Bella. Not space," he teases.

I want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him roughly. He doesn't get it.

"My entire team is working around that basic concept," I explain as patiently as I can. "If you want to make a big change or in this case actually several small changes you need to be sure. We don't have limited time on this project."

"But we do have a lot of time," he says pointing at me as if he's saying "gotcha!"

I shake my head. When it comes to stuff like this jokes don't work. I've already been screwed over by Jessica with the fake contract she got us in the beginning. I need Jacob to be serious and clear with what he wants.

"The plan is to get started with construction work this August," I say. "It sounds like we have a lot of time until then but when it comes to big buildings like this, it's not."

"I trust you," he says smiling reassuringly.

I have to admit it's refreshing to hear.

"Good," I smile relieved.

Good.

"You should be thankful for this bearing wall. It was made to keep the building upright. It's here for a reason and I think that's kind of nice," I muse aloud.

"You believe in reason?" Jacob asks.

"I'd like to," I admit. "We're not only talking about walls here?"

"I'd like to know what's going on in that head of yours," he says so casually I'm almost not sure of if I heard him correctly, but the look on his face tells me I did.

He's flirting with me. I look at him like "what the hell?" and he instantly takes a step back although we're not standing that close. He looks down at the floor sighing.

"I'm sorry Bella. I meant nothing by it."

"It's alright," I say but it's not.

I know I should keep my mouth shut at times, but my filosofical musings about bearing walls weren't meant to encourage flirtations from Jacob.

I think about Edward and me. About Jessica going after Edward. About Irina who seems to have the same mission. About Laurent Da Revin and Rose. Are we all having trouble staying professional? I'm no better than any of them.

"Alright. Give me a call if you need anything," I say as we walk to the entrance again.

"I will. On your professional number," he snaps his fingers.

"That's what I meant," I say.

"Of course. Jesus. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I'm having a strange day."

"Me too," Jacob says laughing nervously. "Let's call it a day," he says nodding as if to reassure himself.

"Good idea."

This wasn't awkward at all.