I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and the plot of my story.
Edward is having his weekly lunch with Tanya. So he drives to her office and meets her by the door. "Afternoon Babe," she tells him as she gets on her tiptoes and gives him a quick peek on the lips.
They walk together towards the elevator and pass by Marco who is standing by the door of Bella's office. He looks deep in his thoughts and doesn't notice them as he is too busy rubbing his nose while walking back and forth in front of her office and looking at his screen.
"Maybe he needs something, let's see if he needs help," Tanya whispers. He tries to stop her as she drags him towards Marco but Marco has already looked up and seen them by then. Probably due to the loud clicking of Tanya's heels.
Thing is, Edward does not want to deal with Marco. Whatever pleasantry he established with him was demolished by the fact that he is married to Bella. A thing he is still trying to come to terms with.
"Hey Marco, you are waiting for Bella?" Tanya asks him. He smiles at her as he chuckles nervously, "we are having lunch together. She just sent me a message that she is in Eleazar Denali's office but I don't know where that is."
Tanya offers to take him to her father's office. He tries to decline and tells her if she gives him instructions he can get there on his own. But Tanya refuses that and insists on taking him herself.
It becomes clear to Edward that Marco knows his relation to Bella as he refuses to look at him, or look him in the eye. Edward smirks at that.
I shouldn't be the only person feeling uncomfortable in this whole thing.
The elevator opens into Eleazar's office floor, as Bella leaves his office. Instead of them staying in the elevator and going down, Tanya gets off it and he huffs as he follows her.
Marco greets Bella with a kiss on the forehead and whispers something to her that gets her to smile as she turns to Tanya and Edward. "Hey Tanya and Edward," Bella greets them with a wave.
Tanya waves back.
"So, a birdie namely Marco told me that the both of you are going for lunch together. Since we," she pauses pointing at herself and Edward, "are having lunch too. How about the four of us have lunch together?"
Bella initially tries to get out of doing that by telling them they were planning to go over some stuff relating to Cece's health insurance. Tanya was having none of it and ordered them to join her and so reluctantly they accept.
What follows that is the most uncomfortable 10-minute car ride Edward has ever experienced in his life with Tanya chatting excitedly beside him and him humming and grunting replies.
Good thing Tanya knows that he is not a fan of driving and talking or she would have noticed something wrong with him.
Things aren't that different in Bella's car ride, except that she is the one receiving questions and driving. "Can I asks you a question Bella?" Marco asks her as he looks through the window. "You already did but ask again anyway."
"The way you spoke about your relationship with Edward and what kind of a boyfriend he was got me thinking, was he anything with like he is with Tanya? Cause he seems very calm and collected with her which is the opposite of how I thought he would be."
"I don't know."
The truth is Bella doesn't want to know. She wants to believe that he is the same way with Tanya but maybe behind closed doors. Or just like he was with her, he is going through his sane phase and at some point, he will turn into his shitty self.
Bella doesn't want to believe that he changed for Tanya. That he chose to be a better man for Tanya and not her. She doesn't want to believe that all along she was lacking that golden ingredient to fix him that Tanya seems to have.
Even more, Bella doesn't want to think of the fact that throughout the last year of their relationship, while she was bearing the brunt of his aggression, his gentle smiles and kind eyes were being saved for someone else.
She does not want to know that all along, she was thinking that the tension in their relationship was due to school and getting a job when it was in fact the pressure of another relationship.
Bella doesn't want to think of the fact that to the man that was once upon a time her entire world and still is to a smaller extent, she is just a stepping stone he has to step on to get to his true love.
She parks the car behind Edward and notices the restaurant they are at. The one where they celebrated their fourth anniversary in. Bella closes her eyes as flashbacks of a fancy night with diamonds and wine, that turned into a night of true passion flashed before her eyes.
She closed her eyes tightly and tried to wish those memories away. She doesn't know what is more painful, the memories or the fact that the place that held the memory of their fourth anniversary to him is just a restaurant for having lunch with the girl he cheated on her with.
With the help of Marco, Bella exits the car and follows the happy into the restaurant with Marco by her side. They are greeted by the hostess who greets Tanya and Edward by their first name and takes them to their usual table, which ironically is the one they dined at.
Bella feels sick and excuses herself to go to the bathroom and Tanya decides to join her while the men order for them. That leaves Marco with Edward alone.
For the first three minutes, neither of them talks to the other, each busy pretending to be reading the menu. Then the waiter comes and takes their order.
Marco puts down his menu and says, "Edward I want to apologize to you. Had I known that you are Bella's previous partner I would not have called you names the last time we meet. That was rude of me."
"It's fine man. I was the things you described. Let's move forward."
Before Marco can reply anything, Bella and Tanya return to the Table. "Did you order for us?" Tanya asks the men. They tell her they did. And soon after that, the food arrives.
They eat with minimal talk between them. 20 minutes into eating Tanya receives an emergency call from the office. Edward offers to take her back but since he is not done eating Tanya turns it down. Marco offers to take her there in Bella's car instead of her riding a taxi, and before Bella and Edward know it, they are left alone.
After minutes of silence, Edward tells her, "your husband could not get your order correct." She looks up at him unsure of what he wants, "what?"
"Your lovely husband doesn't even know what you like. He got you a salad and chicken."
She rolls her eyes as she tells him, "there is nothing wrong with what he ordered me. This is what I eat now."
"So now you're what? A health freak?" Edward asks rhetorically.
"Yes," Bella replies and goes back to eating. For a couple of seconds, there is silence before Edward slams his fork on the table and asks her, "why are you here?"
She looks at him and gives him a fake smile as she says, "because Tanya invited me and my husband to have lunch with the two of you."
"I mean why are you back in Chicago?"
"Why? Is Chicago your personal property?" Bella asks him rhetorically.
"You are working for the company of my girlfriend's father. I don't like that. I want you to quit and leave. Take your kid and husband and go back to where you came from."
"I won't."
"Then I will tell Eleazar your relation to me and that you want me back," He threatens her.
"He already knows. I have been on his payroll since before I left Chicago. But the real question is, does your girlfriend know? Cause I have a feeling," Bella pauses for a second to sip from her lemonade, "And it's just a feeling but, she would not really like me if she knew."
Bella shakes her head at him as she takes a bite from her chicken. "You told Marco that we used to date." It was not a question but rather a statement.
She nods her head, "we don't keep secrets from each other."
"And he was completely fine with leaving you behind to sit with me."
"And you would have never done that. That is what you are trying to get at, aren't you?" she asks him. When all she receives is silence she tells him, "and that is the precise difference that made me choose him over you. He trusts me unlike you."
They spend the rest of their meal in silence and then he drives her to her office. Right before she leaves his car once he stops, she tells him, "Stop pretending that you are not over me. If you weren't over me, the table we celebrated our fourth anniversary at wouldn't be your girlfriend and your regular lunch table. You're just a kid that threw his toy away and had the audacity to cry once he saw someone else play with it."
"I never threw you away."
"With your shitty treatment, I could have sworn you did that."
This chapter is the longest one so far. Over 1600 words.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave me your thoughts in a review.
The next chapter will be Edward confronting Eleazar. So stick around for that.