Here's the second chapter for today. Hope it's long enough! (:

Disclaimer: Twilight does not belong to me.

CHAPTER 5

I never thought that I would find them so easily, not after futile searching and hoping for so many years. I sped off towards Alice in the fastest human pace that I could manage, scanning thoughts to find her. I usually tuned all the thoughts out. It did tend to be quite distracting. I picked out the voice in an instant.

Can't wait to get back home and show all these to the family. For Cunell is like the only brand that the family can stand.

I finally got to the voice and threw my arms around Alice just right after she stepped out of the boutique. "Alice!" I was dry sobbing by now. It was unbelievable. She was thrown off balance for quite a while before she saw me and pulled me into an even tighter embrace.

"Bella! I missed you! I wanted to go find you, but Edward banned me. He's been so miserable. Everyone has. We all objected to Edward leaving, but he was too stubborn. He-" Alice was dry sobbing by now. A wave of calm was sent towards us and I spun around to look at Jasper. I had forgotten him for a moment. Grateful for the calm, I smiled and embraced him in one swift fluid motion.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have-" I knew he was going to apologize for the incident on my birthday so I shushed him right away. I didn't blame him. After all, being a vampire was all about the bloodlust. That and eternal life. He pulled me into a short embrace after dropping all the shopping bags. Alice didn't even say anything.

Remembering my purpose of being at the outlet, I said, "Sorry, I have to go in to do something first. After that, we can go out together, ok?" Both of them nodded, but I could hear what Alice was thinking. Oh my gosh. Bella is shopping at For Cunell!!! As I went into the store again, I couldn't help grinning. I couldn't wait till Alice found out my secret.

I hastily concluded my inspection, eager to see Alice and Jasper again. The euphoria of being reunited with some of the Cullens was rolling off me in such waves that Jasper would probably have a hard time controlling the emotions. Going out of the store again, I shot a look at Alice and couldn't help but wince at what she was planning for me. Even if I was a fashion designer now, going for shopping at so many different outlets was still torturous. I didn't think that Jasper would really appreciate that, then realizing that he had gone to get the car.

Shooting a glance at Alice, I tried a rebuttal. "Alice, I will not be pulled into shopping at so many different clothing outlets. My fashion sense has probably improved, as you can see. I don't need that many clothes." She looked too shocked for words. Oh, how did Bella know what I was thinking? I flashed a big grin as I answered her thoughts. "Yes, Alice, I can read your mind." Then I realized that I still had my illusion on and that she probably thought that I was still human. "I will explain later."

Just then, Jasper stopped the car right in front of us. I told them to wait while I went to drive my Ferrari over. Telling them to follow me, I drove back to my house. It was in quite a deserted place and looked kind of like the Cullens' house in Forks. I could hear Alice and Jasper gasp as they caught sight of the house, wondering what I needed such a big house for and how I actually managed to build it like the big white house in Forks.

Soon, I was explaining everything to Alice and Jasper, only leaving out the part where I became a fashion designer. They were furious that Victoria had managed to get to me and revealed that Edward was going to track Victoria down but she just disappeared. They then told me their side of the story.

It turned out that Edward had really left me to protect me and that everybody was against his decision. But because of his stubbornness, nobody could persuade him and had to move. "Edward was miserable, cooping himself in the room all day. Emmett couldn't stand losing his little sister, and blamed Edward. Even Rosalie didn't approve of Edward's decision. It made the whole family on bad terms. Carlisle and Esme were heartbroken for losing a daughter but tried to keep the family together. Soon after, Emmett and Rosalie moved away to South America." Alice was explaining.

"The atmosphere in the house is just a lot of grief and I really couldn't stand it. But we didn't want Esme and Carlisle to deal with Edward alone so we still decided to stay with them, just that I need to get out of the house quite a lot to avoid the emotions." Jasper added.

Even though I felt responsible for breaking up the family, a part of me was still happy that all my suspicions were confirmed and that Edward still loved me. I saw Jasper twitch out of the corner of my eye. Shooting him an apologetic glance, I smiled and asked about Edward.

I didn't even need to hear what they had to say. Their minds showed pictures of Edward in his room all day long, refusing to go out to hunt until somebody dragged him out. Edward played my lullaby all day long and refused to do anything else. The mental images were enough to make my heart ache and I quickly tuned out the pictures, resolving to save Edward. He looked so different from the Edward that I knew and loved.

A/N: Thanks to those who have read, reviewed, added this story to alerts, and marked it as favorite. It really makes my day. Please continue to review! Thanks! (: