A/N - So... Terrible, awful, dreadful day. Need to escape. Hence an update.

I'm not really happy with this chapter because I wanted it to be much longer, but I've had this written and tossing around in my brain scanning for new ideas for about 3 weeks now. Anyway, I realized nothing else was coming to me, but I needed to include this chap this way as it's essential to the plot and the secrecy, so here I am biting the bullet and pressing those buttons that are leading you to read this.

Enjoy & please review. It has the high chance of making me feel a teeny, tiny bit better, just like all the reviewers of chap 1 & 2 did (thank you btw). . .

You enter a relationship whole, and leave it only half...

Chapter 3 – How Did We Get Here?

Bella's POV

I stood up from the table and grabbed my handbag before turning to walk away.

After paying, I left the cafe and didn't look back.

I felt guilty for just getting up and leaving like that, but I shoved those regrets and emotions to the back of my mind, trying to focus on the current stresses of work that I'd been fretting about prior to bumping into Will.

Will.

Will, Will, Will. That friggin' guy just kept bouncing back into my mind.

I'll admit it. It was good to see him and know that he was alright, but it just brought back every ounce of hurt and pain that I'd suffered over our unforgettable break up. The re-encounter brought everything back to the surface, re-opening old wounds that I mistakenly thought had healed over. I thought that enough time had gone by, and when I agreed to catching up over lunch, I thought that I would be okay.

I hadn't expected to just bump into him like that, and my mind & heart had been left a wreck of nerves.

Oh goodness, then there was the inner-guilt. That guilt clouded my thoughts and I was having difficulty distinguishing whether hiding my present life was really as bad as my guilt was making it out to be.

Why was I still dwelling on him? Will cared. I knew that. He knew that. The waiter serving us knew that. Maybe it was because he does care that I stopped myself from saying anything. Just because he cares, it doesn't mean I'm able to trust him. Especially not after just bumping into him after all that time.

Of course I had Dan now, and I loved him and I was grateful for that, but Will was still such a big part of my past and how I got to where I am today. It's not that I still loved Will, but as I said to him, I did still care about him. I always will, and with our history, it's only natural that I would. Back then, we were everything to each other. Our worlds revolved around each other.

Looking back to the past from where me & my messes are in life right now, it's hard to believe that things used to be so perfect.

#

I walked through the company's office, headed for my own office, that I shared with my partner whom I worked on campaigns and design projects with.

I opened the door and straight over to my desk, ignoring Amy who looked up from her draft logo sketching that she had been working diligently at before I entered the room. I didn't see her watching me as I sat down at my desk and hold my head which fell into my cupped hands.

"You okay Bel?" Amy Reed, asked softly, pushing a lock of stray blonde hair away from her eyes, still looking up at me from her work.

"Yeah I'm fine" I said as I lifted my head up and started randomly clicking away on my computer.

I searched through the hard drive for some clue of something that would help jot my memory to what I had been busy & stressed with before my lunchbreak. I honestly couldn't remember for the life of me what it was.

Ha! I had to email the advertising from mine and Amy's latest campaign to my boss.

I found the file and sent the email which would determine the funding for our newest project. Feedback from this would then in turn decide the financial balance we had to play with, and the profit we would have to make for not only the client, but also ourselves.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why?" I said in an attempt to play coy as I looked up at Amy.

"Come on Bella! I wasn't born yesterday! You were grinding your teeth. You only do that when we're like a mile behind deadlines, which we're not. What happened?" she said with a serious look.

I sighed and succumbed to my friend's pressure. Talking was good I guess.

"I just bumped into my ex during lunch break" I explained with a frown.

Amy's face scrunched up in pitiful pain. "Hell. That's never fun."

I nodded. "Exactly. Plus it was the first time I've seen him since the break up."

"Ouch. Are you okay?"

My lips attempted a smile. "Yeah I'm fine. Just feeling a little shook up."

As I waited for the email to send and process, I looked at Amy who continued with the logo sketch as she had been, before she looked up at me again with a smirk.

"So... is he hot? What's his name?"

I rolled my eyes with a smile at Amy.

Amy Reed had to be the most boy-orientated girl I knew.

"His name's Will, and yeah... I'd classify him as that."

She nodded. "Mmm, Will. Good name."

I looked at her strangely. "Uh... What happened to Heath?"

She shrugged. "Broke it off. He had an axolotl - called Kevin."

"You dumped him because of his pet?"

"Yup. I gave him an ultimatum and all. It was either me or Kevin."

I stifled my laughter.

"So is your ex single?" she said changing the subject back around again.

"Surprisingly, yeah he said he is."

"Mmm... No chance you're randomly gonna bump into him again, Bella?" Amy said with a smirk, in a way which could be interpreted as a joke, but I knew her better than that.

"I hope not, but you never know. How can you do it anyway?"

"Do what?" she asked as the blondes head pricked up from her sketch again in curiosity.

"Bounce back so easily from guys. I could never be like that."

"I just don't attach myself in relationships... I'm too uncommitted I guess."

"I think I'm the total opposite. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Like I'm surprised I didn't crack completely today. I broke up with Will like a year and a half ago, but everything's still feels so fresh and painful."

"Maybe it's not you so much, but rather your relationship."

Amy's words triggered the haunting echo of the words run through my mind. The bitter words, followed by a final slam of the door as we yelled at each other, on the now second to last day I saw Will...

"If you loved me, then that wouldn't be a problem!"

"If you loved me, then you wouldn't be saying that!"

"Well then maybe I don't!"

"Maybe you're right..."

I shuddered as I returned to the present. Amy was looking at me weirdly and I realized she must've been watching me as I zoned out.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're acting really... odd today."

I nodded with a smile. "I'm fine Ames. I just need to get back to work."

She gave me an uncertain look and nod, while I got up on a mission.

"Coffee?"

"When have I ever said no to that?" she said with a smile.

I laughed slightly as I left the room to collect the elixir of life, which would get us through the final few hours before knock-off at 5.

Amy was a year younger than me, but we were still very close. Although her natural personality and inclination was to approach projects in a laid back manner, she has tried to push herself as she's the youngest in the company, which can rub some others up the wrong way when she's got such a cool, 'she'll be right' attitude. Saying that, she's good at what she does. That attitude plays to her advantage so that she doesn't hurry things, just in order for them to be finished, regardless of the end result.

As for a friendship with Amy outside of work, we go to bars or parties together a fair bit and sometimes she'll tag along with Daniel and I when we go out.

I'd call her a friend, or even a close friend, but just not a close friend who knew everything about me. Not many people do these days. However, I think the privacy was mutual. I was definite that Amy didn't tell me everything, not that I minded overly, just my over-imagination and curiosity kicked in sometimes.

I walked away from the company coffee machine, having produced the two lattes we desired.

Entering the room, I placed one of the disposable cups on the desk in the middle of the room where Amy was still sketching. She thanked me, before continuing to concentrate on the drafted pencil lines she was producing.

I took the other back to my desk and sat down, checking whether my boss had replied to the email I'd sent 20 minutes earlier.

"Oh by the way, I think you got a text."

I snatched my phone off my desk, opening and reading the new message from Dan.

To: Bella
From: Daniel

'Hey babe. I can pick her up. Hope ur havin a gd day... Luv ya xx

I smiled and replied simply to the message.

To: Daniel
From: Bella

K, thanks. Cya 2nite xox

Personally, I'm not one-hundred percent happy with that chapter, but it was overly difficult to write from Bella's POV and keep her secrets hidden, which would undoubtedly have come across in an unfiltered version of her thoughts after bumping into Will. I could've spilled some of the secrets, but nope, I'm evil and I'm wanting an intriguing, mysterious story, which would totally be ruined if I wrote everything Bella really would be thinking about. Sorry. It's for yours, mine and the stories advantage.

Also, I didn't give much away on the Wella breakup either, sorry, but there's an appropriate time and place for everything...

The next chapter will be Zane's POV. Slightly ligher, but still containing a few twists along the way... However, before we face Bachelor Bennett, no doubtedly covering Rikki too, please review this chap and make my day.