EPOV

"I'm really sorry on her behalf," Dad told me in the office the next day, "If I had the slightest idea about it, I'd have..."

"Dad... Come on! Please don't do this," I said, "I know you didn't know anything. It's my fault, too. If I had used my brains, I might have figured out what was going on."

"I had no idea she would do something like that," he said, "But... She had agreed to take up counseling. Hope it helps her."

"Good for her," I said.

I was extremely mad at her and extremely hurt.

How could she do this?

And why?

I doubted if I could ever forgive her for what she did.

Maybe someday in the future?

I wasn't sure about that, but at this moment I was finding it impossible to forgive her.

"How have you been doing?" I asked him. It looked like he had aged by five years in the last few months. I felt like I had been pretty ignorant towards him.

"I'm good," he said, "Extremely stressed."

"Yeah, I can see that. You should take care of yourself." I said.

"Well, I can say the same about you," he said.

"I'm just... fine," I said, "Hope everything gets back to normal now. We've had enough."

"I hope so, too," he said, "It's been tough times, but it shall pass, too. I'm worried about Bella though. How is she doing?"

"Not good really," I said, "I hope she gets back to life soon. I want to help the best I can. I feel we owe her that."

"You know what? I'm so happy to see the changes in you. I'm very proud of the person you're becoming. Very proud." He smiled.

"But at what cost this change happened?" I smiled weakly, "I'd have preferred to continue with my careless, immature ways if it meant Emmett was still here."

"Well, I think you'd have found the light anyway," he smiled, and I rolled my eyes.

I found Bella occupied in her thoughts, and staring blankly at the canvas when I went back home in the evening.

"Oh, I didn't know you were an artist!" I commented.

"Rosalie got these for me. She said it'd be good to keep myself busy."

"That's nice," I said.

"But I'm not an artist. I mean, I love to make paintings, but that's about it," she said, "I'm not really good though," she added, looking embarrassed.

"I'm sure you must be good," I smiled.

"Not really," she smiled, "How was your day?"

"Just the routine." I shrugged my shoulders, "How about you?"

"Just the same," she said, "I went to meet Gran, and then Rosalie joined us for lunch."

"Nice." I said.

It was good to see her putting in efforts to move on.

She was very strong, probably more than I thought her to be. I was pretty sure she'd get everything under her control again.

"Ummm... Do you like paintings?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean, not much... I can do abstract painting," I said.

"I see," she said, "What type of abstract painting?"

"Oh, are there supposed to be different types of abstract paintings?" I said, "I thought you just splash the colors as you wish, and bam! The painting is ready! It doesn't take too much effort!"

She looked at me with disbelief which made me laugh.

"You see, I'm very artistic!" I joked.

"Yeah, I can see that," she chuckled.