A/N: *Hangs head in shame* Okay, so I sincerely apologize for this delay in updating. I had so much to study for school. So finally, here's my next chapter. Oh, and here's a fanfic recommendation for you guys: The Tutor by ItzMegan73. It's really good, so go check it out!

By the way, have you guys seen Rob's Vanity Fair and his and Kristen's Harper's Bazaar photo shoot? I totally loved them both!

Here's a shout out to some new readers: Narnia dreamer, C-U-Next-Tuesday (interesting username lol!), bundycal, KT Holmes, campcathryn, AnthonyMasen, dazzled-by-you-forever, .x, Twifan 1986, erina-s, SycaTress, hillyjmalts, ktluvsTwilight, StarSongs, young4life, SurpriseEnding, mglenn, Melee03. Seriously, you guys have no idea how happy it makes me whenever I get these notifications saying somone had put this story on alerts. Thanks to you all!

Much love to my amazing Beta, Mariana75. Feel better soon!

Edward

The only window in my office room, overlooked some of the corporate buildings of Manhattan. I could see Wall Street as well as the site of the World Trade Center. At the far distance, I could see the tip of the Empire State Building. I remember when I first moved to New York, I had been awed by the beauty of this city. Grand Central Terminal, Rockfeller Center, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square – all the usual New York City landmarks had impressed me, like it had on millions of people who had embarked upon the city before me. I still remember my frequent visits to the art galleries, concerts and pubs, where random underground alternative bands played. I was still doing my master's degree from CUNY back then. While my classmates spent their weekends partying and drinking, I took the time to roam around the city aimlessly.

Angela and I got married in the winter of 2004. We were both 25 years old by then. I had a steady job, my master's degree was complete and Angela was done with her interior designing course. At first, we rented a tiny apartment in Queens. It was a one bedroom flat with no porch or windows with nice views but we both loved it. We bought some second-hand furniture and decorated the place.

Angela loved cooking. Every night, she would spend ample amounts of time making me a full course dinner. On Sundays she would make roast chicken with vegetables; on Mondays she would go for lasagne, Tuesday nights would mean it was pasta time and so on. A week after our wedding, I had to get myself a gym membership.

She was the one who had taught me how to cook. Now that I've come to think of it, I feel like she already knew that I would have to live without her, at some point.

Three months later, Angela found out that she was pregnant. We weren't planning on having a baby right then, but, nevertheless, when we heard that piece of news, we were thrilled. We had been thinking of buying a new home and so, after receiving those terrific news, we didn't delay that decision any further. Initially, I made some down payment and took a loan for the full payment.

We found a medium sized two bedroom and one bathroom apartment in Long Island City, Queens; it was the ideal setting for our growing famliy. Angela took the time to specifically choose the perfect shade of colours for the walls, the right furniture and all. I stood by her, but was unable to provide suggestions since I had absolutely no clue what in the world taupe or fuschia meant. Once, while we were at a store, Angela wanted some crazy things like magnetic mesh curtains and light emitting wallpapers. She looked back at me with puppy eyes, as if asking for my permission. I had to bite on my lip to keep myself from laughing. She got the message and settled for something less quirky. Yet, when she set her eyes on a particular waffle toaster that was shaped like a type writer, she was determined not to take no for an answer. Yes, Angela was sometimes crazy like that and I loved her all the more for quirkiness.

And then, after we found out about her pregnancy, she stopped gushing over the duvets and Persian rugs. Instead, she put her full concentration on turning the second bedroom into a nursery. She herself painted the walls lime green, a neutral colour, since we both decided not to find out the sex of the baby.

We were planning to move in after the baby was born. But it seemed like fate had something else entirely in store for me. I have never believed in superstitions. However, after the accident, I had wondered countless times if God was punishing me for a sin I had committed in some previous life.

I looked back at my reflection on the clear and clean window of my office room. My eyes looked flat, dead. This city had taught me many things – how to laugh, how to be happy and what it felt like to lose all that joy in an instant. What it was still unable to teach me was how to fill the aching hole inside of my chest.

And then Bella came into my life: like sunlight streaming into a dark, abandoned forest. Her happy spirit, perky nature and contagious laughter started seeping through my gloomy demeanour. I even started having deep, dreamless sleep almost every night. Since I had met her, I no longer had the nightmares – the ones in which that accident keeps playing and playing in a repeatedly infinite loop, much like an old vinyl record that was played in its entirety, yet nobody pulls it from the turntable.

But what's next? What happens now that I have crossed my boundaries with her? Will she ever want to see me again? What if she doesn't? What if she does? How will things be between us now?

At that moment, my Blackberry vibrated inside my pocket. I reached for it and without looking at the screen, I placed the phone on my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, warily, not being in the mood for a phone conversation.

"Edward?" It was Alice.

"Yes, hi. How have you been?" I asked. I hadn't heard from her in two weeks.

"Um, well, you see, I called to tell you something," she said, sounding uncertain.

I waited patiently. She paused for a few seconds before answering.

"So….um, Jasper and I are back together," she said, finally.

I let out a breath of relief. "Jesus, Alice. You sounded like you just admitted comitting a murder," I said, laughing.

"So, you're not mad?" she asked, still sounding hesitant.

"Of course not. You know what's best for you. I am happy for you."

"Hmm, I wonder what brought this change on," she mused, quietly.

I had no idea what she meant by that. She continued, "So, Jasper and I are going out for lunch and I want you to come with us."

I looked at my watch. Lunchtime was still an hour away. "Okay, I will be there in an hour."

Bella

Standing by Michelle's desk, I was looking at a design, trying to decide if it was worthy enough to be used as the background image of a photo shoot for the next issue. There were several others scattered on the desk, all done specifically by Michelle herself, who was currently bent over, critically analyzing them. We couldn't decide which design to pick. Even though my promotion was yet to be finalized, Michelle had been kind enough to start asking me for my suggestions already.

"So what do you think of that futuristic one? The one with all those metallic details? We could even add some outer space-like lighting effects?" she asked, with her eyes glued on the aforementioned design.

"As far as I can remember, Eric is doing some dresses in metallics. May be the models could pose with this background, wearing those dresses?" I asked, unsure. "Or would that be too much?"

"I'll have to show these to Melanie and-" Michelle began saying but was interrupted by another conversation going on nearby. We both turned our heads and found Eric and Olivia, the seamstress, engaged in some intense conversation, with Olivia talking animatedly using her hands.

"He has the most perfect hair colour and…. his eyes….oh Eric, it's like he was seeing right through me," Olivia said with dreamy eyes.

"Let me guess, bronze coloured hair, green eyes, total hottie?" Eric asked, with his eyebrows raised. When Olivia nodded, he sighed and said, "That's Edward, Alice's super gorgeous best friend. Although, I can't fathom how anyone canbe just friends with that hot piece of-"

I wasn't listening to Eric anymore. All that I could think, from that moment on, was that Edward was here, in this office, right now.

I needed a place to hide my face.

"Bella?" Michelle shook me by placing her hand on my shoulder. I looked back at her with horror-stricken eyes. She remained silent, not really trying to understand my sudden change in demeanour. She just shrugged and started gathering her designs. "I'll run that design by Melanie and let you know about it, okay?"

I nodded mechanically and sprinted away from Michelle's cubicle, mentally thanking her for being considerate and letting me go without further questioning. I reached my desk and looked around, hoping to find a hiding place. Never in my life had I dreaded facing a person so much.

It was then, while I was still pondering my best course of action, that I spotted someone with a head full of short black spiky hair stepping out of the elevator. Oh no, this was so not the right time to see Alice. I quickly turned my back on her, swiftly preparing to make my inconspicuous escape; but, she must have spotted me first because she called out my name.

I stood motionless on my spot and waited for Alice to reach me. Then, I slowly turned to face her.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she commented.

I was unable to speak. My words where caught in my throat. It was absolutely ridiculous that I was reacting this way but I couldn't help it.

"Bella? Is something wrong?" she asked, with concern in her eyes.

I bit on my lip. I didn't know how to answer to that question.

Alice sighed audibly. "You are not ready to face him yet, are you?"

That was easy enough to answer. I nodded.

"Really, Bella. You look petrified. He is only human. Yes, he can be scary at times, but at the moment, you are overreacting. It's not rational."

"See, Bella, I have started to predict your reactions by now. I knew you would be too much of a chicken to actually go and talk to him yourself," I glared at her choice of words, but she ignored me, "which is why, I have taken matters into my own hands. I invited him to have lunch with me, Jasper and you."

Fear and rage shook me violently and almost knocked the breath out of me. I couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Alice Brandon! Are you out of your freaking mind?" I finally opened my mouth. My words sounded harsher than I had meant them too, but I was way too furious to take them back. "How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends…"

"We are. And that's exactly why I had to do this. And for Christ's sake Bella, stop being so melodramatic." She crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath. "Now, listen to what I have to say. You two will be with Jasper and me the entire time, so you would have no real reason to feel awkward. You will make small talk with him - nothing major – and that will give you enough time to get accustomed at having conversations with him. When the time is right, you can easily have that talk with him, without feeling terrified."

I thought it through. The way she said those things, she made it sound so easy. Yet, being in the same room as him was still scary-as all hell- concept. I gulped loudly at that thought.

"Are you sure about this? It's just that…I mean, I don't know how he…." I began, but didn't finish my sentence. I looked down at my feet, suddenly not being able to meet her eyes.

"Feels?" she guessed. When I didn't reply, she sighed again. "Bella, when you teach those kids at the orphanage, do you know for sure that all of them are going to turn into college graduates in the future?"

I narrowed my eyebrows, wondering where she was going with this. Nevertheless, I looked up at her and replied, "I don't know how that's relevant to this case, but to answer your question: no, I don't know that for sure. As a matter of fact, I don't even know how many of them will even get the chance to finish junior high…" That thought instantly made me sad.

"But, that hasn't discouraged you from hoping that they will all have a bright future ahead of them, has it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. And then it hit me. She was trying to tell me the same thing that I had told her the other day at the cafeteria. She wanted me to not lose hope, to be optimistic.

Suddenly, I was so overcome with emotion that I felt a lump in my throat. I couldn't believe this pixie-like person, who snapped at me the very first day we met, would also be such a great friend and care so much about me. Without thinking, I stepped forward and hugged her. "Thank you, Alice."

"Um, Bella, you should know that I don't feel very comfortable when people get emotional around me. I hardly know how to handle such situations. Please tell me you are not going to cry," she said, sounding really worried.

I had to laugh at this. I stood back and faced her. She forced a smile and started leading the way. Still feeling uncertain, I started following her.

I quickly grabbed a cup of coleslaw from the cafeteria and dropped it on David's desk. Not bothering to take the elevator, I bounced down the stairs, two at a time. All of a sudden, I started feeling really excited just knowing that every step took me closer to seeing him again.

Alice and I found Edward and Jasper standing at the lobby, not making any conversation. The two were facing away from each other and Jasper looked relieved when he saw us coming down the stairs. Edward's facial expression was unreadable and it didn't change when he saw us approaching.

"Good to see you, Bella," Jasper remarked. I smiled warmly at him. As soon as I turned towards Edward, I muttered a swift "Hi". He nodded once.

With his grey suit and white shirt underneath, he looked breathtaking. I knew that no matter how many times I saw him, I would never get used to the perfection, that was his beautiful face.

"So, you guys know each other, huh?" Jasper noted, nonchalantly. When neither of us answered, he continued, "Let's get going. I'm starving." And with that, he pulled Alice's hand, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started leading her towards the door. Edward gestured me to go first and then followed me.

Once we were outside, Edward offered to give us all a ride, so that we needn't make use of Jasper's car. As we all quickly agreed on that, Jasper and Alice quickly got into the back seat of Edward's silver Volvo. Thus, I was left with no other choice but to sit on the passenger seat, next to Edward. After I got inside the car, I managed to glare at Alice through the rear-view mirror. She smiled back at me sweetly.

The ride to the restaurant was immensely awkward and not at all quiet; it was not exactly silent because Alice and Jasper kept whispering to each other and giggling like teenagers and it was awkward because they were the only ones talking. Neither Edward nor I opened our mouths to say anything.

I tried peeking at him through the corner of my eye. He looked so focused on driving, with his long pale hands gripping tightly the steering wheel, while his eyes never left the road in front of him.

According to Alice's directions, Edward stopped the car at 63rd Street at Park Avenue. As we got out of the car, I noted the name of the restaurant. It was some American Nouveau eatery called Park Avenue Summer.

Alice, Jasper and I went inside while Edward parked the car. The interior was supremely lavish and the décor was impeccably modern with a slight hint of vintage style. It was obvious by the looks of it that the place was really expensive and I momentarily wondered the reason why Alice had chosen this particular place.

The waiter found us a table for four and just like they did in the car, the two lovebirds sat next to each other, leaving the remaining two chairs opposite them for Edward and me. I sat down quietly and didn't even bother to glare at Alice anymore. She noted my expression and sighed. "You know Bella, one day, you'll thank me for this."

Edward came back a couple of minutes later and sat down, as expected, on the chair next to mine. We were handed the menus and began ordering the food. I ordered the salmon tartare for appetizer and a grilled swordfish. Alice and Jasper turned out to be fans of the roasted filet mignon while Edward ordered roasted chicken and pumpkin pie.

Before the food arrived, we settled into a light conversation. Alice said this place held a special significance to her as she and Jasper had come here for their first date. We had a good laugh when Alice shared some of Edward's embarassing childhood stories.

"Remember our eighth-grade math teacher, Edward?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrows. To my utter surprise, Edward's face went a visible shade of pink and lowered his eyes. My lips twitched as I realized he was feeling rather shy.

"It was just a stupid schoolboy crush," Edward clarified, with his head bent down. Alice added, "Just to clear things up, she was a young teacher, fresh out of college."

Jasper and I laughed at that while Edward hissed angrily at her. "Hey, I am defending you, man," Alice said, raising her hands up in defense.

That's when Edward looked up and I thought I saw a hint of mischief in his eyes before he said, "Since we are sharing these kinds of stories, would you like me to tell Jasper one of yours?"

That immediately wiped the smirk off of Alice's face and Jasper looked once at Edward and then back at Alice, in confusion. "Go ahead and tell, as if I care," Alice snapped and stuck her tongue out.

Edward laughed and I turned to look at him, mesmerized by that sound. In response to that, he faced me and said, "Alice was once dared to go and make out with the football team captain, who we all knew also happened to have a soft spot for her. But you know Alice… she would never back down from a dare." He sniggered once and shook his head, but didn't remove his eyes from my face. Why wasn't he looking back at them?

"So she went over to him, making all these gagging sounds, claiming she was prepared to be 'grossed out' and that she was already feeling the compelling urge to puke on that boy's face. However, when she did kiss him, she almost passed out and dropped on her knees. Must have been one hell of a kiss, right Alice?" he said, finally tearing his gaze from my face and smirked at Alice.

It was Jasper who broke the silence. Alice looked really embarassed but Jasper laughed. "It's not funny," Alice complained, but that just made him laugh harder. I stole a glance at Edward. He caught my eye and we both smiled. Gradually, Jasper's laughter and Alice's complaints died down but neither Edward nor I took our eyes off each other. I wondered what expression he saw on my face. Suddenly, as my eyes dropped to his lips, I was reminded of our heated kiss and my breathing hitched. I looked away quickly and saw Jasper and Alice looking at us with a knowing expression. Thankfully, it was then that the waiter arrived with the food. We ate our meals quietly.

After we were done eating, we all commented on how good the food was. Fortunately, I had successful avoided the urge to look at Edward throughout the rest of the time. Jasper paid for his and Alice's share of food. As I was about to open my purse, I felt a hand on my arm and before I could understand what was happening, Edward had already placed his credit card inside the bill folder. The waiter quickly left with it.

"What did you do?" I accused. He looked hurt and confused and I immediately regretted my outburst. After calming myself down, I said politely, "I mean, that was nice of you, but you didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I wanted to. I still owed you a meal. Remember that first breakfast we had? You said that was your treat; this was mine. And now, we are even," he said, with a crooked smile.

I didn't know how to reply to that when he dazzled me with his smoldering gaze. He must have been fully aware of the effect he had on me, for he was certainly taking full of advantage of it.

I heard Jasper clearing his throat and was quickly jilted back to my current surroundings. I could tell both he and Alice were looking at us with curious gazes. I looked away from Edward's face again, feeling embarassed that I was caught ogling at him. Turning my face halfway towards him, and without meeting his eyes, I said, "Thank you."

A/N: So, what do you think?