A/N: Sorry for such a late update. I am finally done with my exams and so the next updates will be coming much sooner. Meanwhile I am working for my second fan-fiction so keep your eyes opened for that one too.

Edward

I was sitting in my office-room going through the draft of an upcoming lemonade commercial when my Blackberry buzzed. Surprised, I checked the caller id to see Alice's name on the screen. That's happened twice in one month.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"I am posing for a magazine cover," she replied, indifferently.

My hands stopped working on the papers and a drop of ink collected at the pen's tip. I observed the drop getting heavier by my long pause in writing and I let out a breath when that drop of ink oozed on my papers, making a big blotch.

"Okay, why are you telling me such lame jokes," I checked my watch, "at the middle of the afternoon?" I asked, hesitantly, even though I knew she wasn't serious.

"That's exactly why I am doing this. Everyone seems to think it's a big joke, even I had the same response when they made the offer to me this morning."

"Who made you what offer Alice?" I asked, now grasping the seriousness of the situation.

"Why is it so hard to believe? I am telling you for the last time. Melanie Gordon, our magazine's Editor-in-Chief, thinks I represent the idea of a, quote 'contemporary independent single woman'. So she wants to stick my face on the cover for the Women's Day issue," she concluded, grimly.

I didn't know how to reply to this. In a way, I was happy for her. May be she will enjoy doing this. Who knows, it might also make her happy.

"Wow, that's great. Congrats, I guess. I am sorry for being such an inconsiderate jerk. It's just that you and designer outfits don't exactly.."

"Yes, that's the precise word the Editor used. David Gordon thinks I can't carry off those frilly girlish dresses like his Victoria's Secrets' supermodels can," she replied, smugly.

"I think those models wear lingerie, not dresses." I corrected, laughingly.

"Whatever! I am going to show that arrogant man that I can look beautiful too. And I don't need to expose my body to look good, I can do so while wearing non-revealing clothes…." She kept on talking.

I was taken aback at this sudden change. Alice never felt it was necessary to prove herself to anyone. She had always been extremely confident in her skin and whatever she wore. She never valued other opinions about her. This was one of the qualities that I admired of her.

"Alice, it's alright. You were the one who always kept saying that a person's beauty lies on their inside, not on their outer appearance. And you disregarded anyone who made judgements based on someone's exterior. Why on earth would you change your mind all of a sudden?" I asked.

"I am not changing my mind. I still believe everything that you said. It's just that the people I work with, they are an entirely different lot. I know I didn't used to care about what others thought of me, but Edward, I have been trying way too hard to make them see that I am capable of my job. But apparently, working hard is not good enough for these people. You also have to look bright and sunny and wear the right shade of eye-shadow. These people disgust me!

However, I want to do this now. I have this sudden curiosity to see if they would treat me the same way if I am wearing a different set of clothes. If they do, then I'll know who likes me for who I am and who likes me for what I wear," she concluded.

"Then I have got your back. You know I am so proud of you and I am happy that you are taking this different turn. If I can be of any help…" I started.

"Just be there for me, you know like moral support?" she asked.

"Absolutely," I replied.

3 days later.

After work, I drove to Alice's magazine office in the Upper East Side. That's twice I have been to that place in a month.

Alice had told me to go to the second floor. The last time I had been to that place, I had taken the stairs straight to the third floor. This time I paused after two flights of stairs, took a turn and reached a place that looked like a lobby.

I went to the receptionist's desk on the corner.

"Hi, I am here to see Alice Brandon?" I asked the plump woman sitting behind the desk.

When she looked at me, it was like being virtually molested by Lauren Mallory again. She observed me from head to toe and a small flirtatious smile crept upon her lips.

"And may I know who are you?" she asked, with a light South-American accent.

At that moment, I heard a familiar voice calling my name.

"Edward?" Bella Swan asked.

"Oh, hello." I replied, looking to a corner from where she spoke. I was reminded to the promise I'd made to myself earlier about maintaining the distance from Bella.

She was standing there with the tiniest smile on her lips and I wondered if she had had a good day at work if she looked that content. She was wearing a cream coloured knee-length skirt and a peacock blue short-sleeved top with that. That colour made her skin look more flawless and radiant than ever. I shook my head to clear those thoughts.

"Fancy seeing you here," she said, coming forward.

"Bella, won't you introduce us to your friend?" the receptionist from the corner asked.

I turned back to where the woman was sitting and saw that now there a few more people crowded around her desk.

Bella walked towards that desk and I followed her queue.

"Edward," she began, "That's Gabriella," she said pointing to the receptionist, "that is Grace," a middle-aged woman with a kind face "Michelle," a 30-something woman, "and that's Eric," she finished while gesturing towards a man wearing a bright pink t-shirt that hurt my eyes with yellow skinny pants.

All of them said hi and I smiled in response.

"Everyone, this is Alice's friend, Edward Cullen."

I couldn't think of anything to say so I kept smiling.

"Wait, if he's Alice's friend, how come you know him and we don't?" asked the guy. "I didn't know you and Alice hung out with common friends after work," he said, looking seriously offended at the thought.

"Oh no, we don't hang out, Eric, like ever. I once ran into Alice and Edward at a…..at a bookstore!" Bella answered. Goodness, she was a terrible liar.

The woman named Gabriella now came to my side and started talking excitedly.

"My, my, I see Alice had been hiding her friends from us. So tell me, Edward, where are you from, what do you do..?" she began.

"Gabriella, give him a rest! You can interrogate him all you want after he'd seen Alice. I bet he just got back from work and he's probably exhausted…" and with this Bella tactfully guided me away from the little crowd.

"Thanks a lot for that," I said, genuinely grateful, as I didn't have the energy to withstand anymore of the flirtatious glances and conversations.

"I bet you get that a lot from women, don't you?" Bella asked with a grim face, looking straight ahead and walking.

"Huh?" I asked, not exactly comprehending what she was saying.

"Never mind. Here we are. Alice will be thrilled to see you," she said.

"Oh, and Bella? Also thanks for not letting them know how we actually met," I said with a smile.

"That's alright. I gathered you would want to keep your volunteer work a secret. You're like Bruce Wayne during the day and Batman at night," she added while laughing.

She looked beautiful when she laughed.

We arrived at a large studio full of fabrics and materials lying haphazardly on tables and people walking around busily with cell phones stuck to their ears and amidst all of this commotion, I spotted Alice sitting on a revolving chair, with a few papers in her hand while a couple of people standing behind her head were endlessly babbling on.

"And this is dress you have to wear for the pictures on one of the inner pages, with the dress we still have to find the perfect pair of shoes.." one of the woman kept rambling.

As I approached her, Alice looked up from the pages she was pretending to pay attention to and smiled. She got up from her chair and hugged me.

"I am so glad you are here," she said, looking extremely relieved.

"I told you I would stop by, didn't I?" I said with a smirk.

She nodded then added in a whisper, "Listen I have to stay here for a couple more hours. I just wanted you to see what situation I am stuck in," she said, gesturing to all the mess of fabrics and cosmetics around her.

"You can still get yourself out of this…" I suggested.

"What, and let the people have the satisfaction that I wasn't capable enough for this? Not a chance," she finished, determinedly.

I patted her head, and turned towards Bella. All this time, she had not spoken a single word. When I looked back at her, she was looking at me with a strange expression, quite different from the ones she wore when she had looked at me on other occasions.

"What's the matter?" I asked, not being able to stop myself.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "Come on; let's go sit there so you'll able to see the dresses Alice will be trying on."

We walked to the far end of the room where there were a few single chairs lined along the wall.

I sat down and realised sitting there with Bella wasn't going to be the best idea if my initial plan was to keep away from her. However, now that we both were seated, it would be rude to get up.

As soon as I sat on the chair, beside Bella, I had this strange feeling. It was like an electric circuit was connected to my chair and was feeling some kind of static electricity. Astonishingly, it felt as if the electric field was somehow directed towards Bella and this made me realise something. I was feeling sparks between me and Bella.

We were sitting in closest proximity, our arms resting on the armrest of our respective chairs. I was a few inches apart from her, and this made me feel good, in a weird and wonderful way. She was staring straight ahead and I took this opportunity to look at her.

She looked a bit beat, but that's probably because she had been working the entire day. As it happened the other day at the orphanage, I noticed she was wearing very little make-up. Since I was sitting that close to her, I was quiet certain about this tiny detail. Today, her hair was not tied in a ponytail, like she usually does. Instead, it fell on her square shoulders and I longed to feel them through my fingers.

I quickly removed my eyes from her face and looked at the scene in front of me. My thoughts were forming a jumble in my head. I was fully aware of the fact that I didn't look at Bella in the same way as I did with other women. However, at the same time, I didn't want to look at her in a different way. I wanted to act cold and indifferent towards her so that she doesn't get the wrong idea. Instead, I was sitting with her, waiting for Alice's photo shoot to start. No, I have to be more careful. I will be nice to her, without being to distant or too close for that matter.

I decided I needed to overcome this awkwardness and begin a conversation. So I just went ahead and said the first thing that came to my mind.

"What is the reason behind the comparison to Bruce Wayne? What's wrong with Peter Parker, or Clark Kent?" I asked her, raising my eyebrows.

She laughed again and my breath caught in my throat.

"I don't know. Maybe because you didn't strike me as a geeky guy," she replied.

I smiled. She was so very wrong about this.

"Well then, allow me to correct you. I was a total nerd at school. The unpopular guy, that was me," I said, pointing my right thumb at myself.

"There's no shame in that. I myself hate being in the spotlight," she said in a whisper.

There, the girl surprised me again. Most people I know loved being the centre of attraction. But apparently, she was not one of them. I asked her why.

"I feel really self-conscious when people look at me for more than two seconds. It's like they are figuring out everything that's wrong with me. Like how my eyes are a little too narrow, how my lips are too puckered and how my teeth are not straight-edged, etc."

I was stunned. I looked at her properly and couldn't match the faults she had just described.

"What made you think you have all these details in you?" I asked, still shocked.

"I have seen myself on the mirror, Edward. I know what my face looks like," she said with a small smile.

I had no reply to that, partly because I was having a slight side-reaction after hearing my name come out from her mouth. And secondly, I had no idea she under-estimated herself so much.

"You are mistaken. I, for one don't think your lips are too puckered or that there's anything wrong with your eyes," I added, facing her directly.

She looked at me with utter disbelief spread all over her face, and I realised, a little too lately, what I've said. I must have made her uncomfortable again. If only I learnt how to keep my thoughts to myself….

Bella quickly dropped her eyes and looked downwards at her feet.

A long, uncomfortable silence followed after that. Thankfully, it didn't last longer as because a few more minutes later, Alice emerged from her dressing room, wearing a knee-length dress covered with some kind of floral print. She had her hair straightened, which made it seem longer than it really was, and she had some make-up on. All in all, it was a complete different Alice.

She caught my eye and I gave her thumbs up sign. She seemed more relax and smiled more confidently. She pouted and glared at the camera while the photographer madly snapped off pictures, throwing in adjectives like "marvellous" and "amazing" after every five seconds or so.

Review please?