This is the edited one :) Thank you to my beta, Anita, for beta'ing the chapter ^_^

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This is chapter 13.

Chapter 13

Edward's Invitation

The moment our lips touched, my body was jolted with another familiar fire. At first Edward didn't respond, but then I felt his lips move slowly against mine and his strong arms wrap themselves around my waist. Our kiss was tender. I could understand because there were a lot of issues that we needed to settle first. I broke the kiss first and looked at his eyes. Edward's eyes were closed. He slowly opened them and my heart beat turned erratic when I saw the longing in his stare.

And then, I heard Carlisle sigh loudly and my attention snapped back to reality. He groaned slightly and stood up from the ground. I watched him closely, preparing to defend Edward if I had to. He rubbed his cheek and then he looked at me. "I will leave you two alone," he mumbled before walking out of the room.

I blinked. Wow!

I turned to look at Edward and found him still looking at me with those green eyes. Moments later, he swayed and I held him as strong as I could. I helped him to sit and lean against the wall. His lips were not bleeding anymore and I was surprised that I didn't feel the blood when we were kissing earlier. I blushed slightly. Now, Bella! It's not the time to think about that!

"Are you alright?" I asked him in low voice.

Edward nodded and leaned his head up against the wall. "Yeah, nothing's broken. Damn! I never knew my dad had a great hook."

I chuckled lightly. "You could still be thinking that way in this kind of situation. I am the one who is worried your dad will do something to us," I sighed. "Just wait here."

He nodded again and I rose to my feet. I walked out of the room and quickly ran to the medical room and grabbed a bowl, antiseptic and a dry towel. I poured water in the bowl and walked back to Carlisle's room. Edward still sat there with his eyes closed and my heart clenched seeing him like that.

I slowly kneeled down in front of him and put the towel inside the bowl. I twisted the towel until it was damp and started to clean his wound. Edward hissed every time I wiped dry blood from his face and I bit my lip seeing his reaction. After a moment, he opened his eyes and our eyes met. I glanced down and put the towel back in the bowl to rinse it before I continued to clean his wound. Honestly, it was hard to do that with him staring at me.

After his wound was clean, I started to apply some antiseptic and he winced every time I gave his wound the medicine. And then, he held my hand and I looked at him. "Is it real?" he asked me in low voice.

I smiled warmly. "What do you mean by that?"

He released his hold on my hand and brushed my lips with his finger. I trembled slightly. "Our kiss. Is that real?" he asked again.

I pursed my lips. "Well...knowing that you wince every time I clean your wound, I guess you're not dreaming." I put the bowl away from both of us and sat in front of him. I caressed his cheek. "What do you think, Edward? Is everything real to you now?"

Edward smiled dreamily and began to caress my face. "I had a dream about us last night."

I blinked and I lowered my hand from his face. "A dream?"

He smiled again and dropped his hand to his side. He leaned his head again on the wall. "Me and you...we were in a beautiful meadow and you looked like an angel."

An angel? Seriously?

As if he could read my mind, Edward raised his head and looked at me again. "You wore a white dress and there were flowers in your beautiful hair."

I chuckled. "Well, that's a good dream. What did you wear in your dream?" I knew it was a silly question, but as long as I could keep him telling his story, it would be good for him.

Edward pursed his lips. "I wore a white shirt and white trousers. That's weird because I have never liked white in my entire life."

We both laughed lightly.

I looked at Edward and sat next to him. "What did we do in your dream?"

Edward smiled slightly. "I asked you out on a date." And then, he chuckled. "Can you imagine that? I should have asked you to go to the movies or maybe to walk in the park, but I take you to the meadow instead."

I smiled back. It was nice to hear him more open about himself to me and I didn't know if he realized it or not. He was just breaking down some walls around him. Edward sighed and looked at me. "I'm sorry if I yelled at you earlier," he said slowly.

I chuckled lightly. "I'm getting used to it. Don't worry."

Silence.

Suddenly he spoke. "Everything is a mess."

I looked at him again. "Huh?"

Edward exhaled and stood from the floor. He walked to the window and turned to look at me. "My family is a mess. No matter how hard I try to fix it, I just...can't," his voice faltered at the end.

My heart twisted and suddenly I remembered what Emmett said about Edward being the compassionate one in the family. It must have been hard for him to see his family apart and in the end; it was tearing him apart too.

"I don't know what to do, Bella," Edward's voice brought me back to the present.

I stood from the floor and approached him. I held his hands. "Don't blame yourself. This is not your burden and you shouldn't have felt that way."

"Will you help me to recover?" he asked me.

I smiled grimly. "I can't help you if you don't help yourself."

Edward took deep breaths. "We still have our session, right? You know...after lunch?"

I shrugged. "Yes, we do...if you want to."

"Of course I do," he blurted out.

I nodded slowly. "That's good. I'll see you after lunch."

Edward nodded back and I slowly gave him a tender hug. He returned my hug and murmured in my hair, "I'm so glad I found you, Bella."

I hugged him tighter and mumbled into the back of his T-shirt, "No, Edward. I'm so glad that we have found each other."

After taking care of the mess in Carlisle's office, I had every thought to take Edward back to his room. But he refused to stay there and only took my Rubik Cube with him. He said he wanted to spend some time alone in the piano room. He gave me a quick kiss on my cheek and left me blushing hard. I continued to walk to the employee's room and prepared for an attack of questions, but it never happened. And then I learned that Carlisle had left Our Hearts hours ago without leaving a message. I was safe. Well...for now.

I spent my time with Margaret until lunch time. She talked a lot about her plans once she came out from Our Hearts and I smiled to myself seeing her eyes light up. She told me she couldn't wait to have the outing with me next week. I told her the same thing and informed her that I will probably arrive at Our Hearts on the Wednesday after the weekend because I need to finish my report and see my lecturer.

I ate my lunch with Angela, as always, and we didn't talk much about our kids. For all I know, only Margaret was allowed to have her time outside Our Hearts and according to Angela, it motivated the other kids to do their session so they could be like Margaret. Wow!

After the lunch time was over, I took my bag and walked to the piano room, but I stopped when I reached the door. I could hear the soft music playing from the inside and I chewed my bottom lip. Could Edward know about my plan to take Margaret outside? What his reaction would be?
I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. The soft music stopped the moment my eyes landed on Edward. The memory of our kiss flashed through my mind and I blushed slightly. We haven't talk about it again, well...not yet anyway...so I didn't know what he thinks about our kiss. I raised my head and he smiled when he looked into my eyes.

"I'm so glad you came," he said to me and stood up from the piano bench. He gestured for me to follow him and he sat next to the giant glass door. I sat down next to him and placed my bag next to me before he held my bag.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him. Edward stared at the postcards which my mom had given me and I almost winced. I had forgotten about them.

"It's Chicago, right?" he asked me.

I cleared my throat. "Um...yes. My mom sent it to me. I think Phil has a game there this week."

Edward titled his head and looked at me in confusion. "Phil?"

I smiled. I hadn't told Edward about my family, not that that mattered anyway. "It's a long story."

He raised his eyebrows. "I have time for your story."

I blinked and chuckled nervously. "No, really. It's not that important."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a boring story. You won't like it."

"Why would you think that way?"

I rolled my eyes. "Just leave it, Edward. This is about you, not me."

Edward narrowed his eyes. "Is this a trick from you so I will say something about myself?"

I almost scoffed. "Oh, please...Edward, it's nothing. Can we not discuss this?"

He looked at me briefly before he took a deep breath and gestured to the postcard. "Can I see it?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

I took the postcard from my bag's side pocket and gave it to him. Edward's eyes had that faraway look in them when he saw my postcard. His eyes were full with longing and other feelings that I couldn't put my finger on. I assumed that he went to Chicago some time ago and it was a happy memory for him, compared to his situation right now.

"Have you ever been to Chicago?" I asked him in low voice.

He didn't answer me at first, but then he smiled and looked at me. "I come from Chicago."

My eyes widened. "Really?" Honestly, I have spent weeks in this place, but I seem to know nothing about him.

He chuckled and nodded. He looked back to the postcard in his hand. "I was born there and spent my life until the last year of my high school. And then, I moved to Boston. To Harvard."

He paused.

His revelation really warmed my heart. If he could open up to me and tell me anything about his life it would help me help him.

He went on. "It was a happy moment. I could say that before everything was changed." He sighed and ran his hand through his bronze hair.

I looked at him curiously. His story was not complete. I needed to know what happened. "What happened to your mom?"

Edward smiled. "She's still in Chicago and feeling so much better, I hope...well, knowing that his son is under intensive mental care." His tone was half mocking at the end and I sighed sadly.

"Well...at least you have your parents and they are still together."

Ooppsss!

My eyes widened after I said that and quickly composed myself, but it was too late. Edward could see that because he titled his head again. "What do you mean by that?"

Oh, God!

I sighed. Well, he will find out soon enough, though. I leaned my head onto the glass window and looked outside. Some children were playing outside with other volunteers in the garden and they all looked happy. "My parents are divorced," I said to him.

"Oh...I'm...I'm sorry."

I took a deep breath and looked at Edward. "No, it's alright. I'm getting used to it."

"How did you cope with all of that?"

I smiled. "I didn't."

Edward looked at me in confusion. "I don't understand."

I looked over to the window again. "No matter how hard I try, I will never get my parents to be together again. I just learn to accept it. I learnt the truth that I still have parents, but they just don't live in the same house."

"And how do you feel now?"

I smiled grimly and looked back to Edward. "My life and my heart will never be the same. I just learn to accept it." I repeated.

Edward blinked and sighed. "I wish I could do that."

"Yes, you can," I told him. "You have the strength. You only need to find the will."

"Is that the reason why you want to be a Psychologist?"

I chuckled. "Well...no. It's not the reason. I just love to study people and I always believe that no matter how good or bad a person could be, there's a reason behind it."

Edward smiled. "You are amazing, Bella. I know you will be great someday."

I blushed. "Thank you."

Silence.

"Um...Bella?"

"Yes?"

"Um...if I ever have the chance to go out, will you come with me to see my mother?"

I raised my eyebrows. "What?"

Edward looked at me deeply. "I want you to meet my mother."

O...kay...I needed to think clearly here. I bet he had already heard about my plan to take Margaret out and he just wanted to do the same with me. I mean...we were just friends, right? Well, apart from the kiss and I knew it will be awkward for me to see Edward's mother while he was still my subject. And don't forget about Carlisle. What would he think about that?

"What do you say?" Edward asked me again.

I sighed and grimaced. "Do you think it's wise for us to do that?"

Edward shrugged. "Well...you will do it with Margaret. So, why not?"

Aha! I knew it!

"We still need to wait for that, Edward. Besides, your dad won't be happy about that," I reminded him. Hell, I didn't even know if I would stay in this place two weeks from now.

Edward scoffed. "Don't worry about my dad. I will take care of him." And then, he smiled. "Besides, Emmett misses you and he really wants to see you, Bella."

I chuckled and shook my head. Ah, yes, Emmett. I haven't seen him again since he took me out for lunch. I assumed he was already back in Chicago or maybe to his college.

"We'll see about that," I said to him.

We talked about random things after the Chicago conversation and I watched Edward briefly when he tried to finish the Rubik Cube. I could tell that he was good. Some of the colors were already in the right pattern and I was sure he could finish it soon. When my time was up, I said goodbye to Edward and told him I would come to Our Hearts on Wednesday next week because I needed to see my lecturer. He gave me a soft kiss on my forehead and I successfully blushing hard afterwards.

I worked hard on the weekend while Alice prepared for her date with Jasper. We didn't talk much because Alice knew I had to work on my report before I went to see my lecturer on Monday. Thankfully, I finished my report on time so I could hand it in. I did a little research too in the library and discussed some pointers from my report so I could finish it perfectly. I went home in bright mood on Tuesday afternoon after my lecturer approved my report. My project is almost finished!

I walked to the dorm building and before I could climb on the stairs, someone called me name.

"Miss Swan, there's a delivery for you," my dorm manager said to me.

I blinked and walked to her direction. There was a huge bouquet of lilies in her hand and she gave it to me. I smiled. "Thank you."

She nodded and turned away. I furrowed my eyebrows and saw a card on the flower. I took the card and opened it.

Dear Bella,
I hope this flower brightens up your day. I miss you.
Yours,
Edward

I laughed lightly and looked over to the flowers. It didn't bother me as to how he found out that lilies are my favorite flowers. He's always surprising me.

Next chapter...Bella and Margaret's outing :) As for Edward's invitation...just wait :)

And...I guess no updates until the holiday is over...Happy Christmas to all my readers who celebrate it.

Puissiez-vous tous de bonnes vacances!

See you next year, guys ^_^