DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT

A/N: I'M BACK! Hoping this is a better version that the first.

Chapter 1: A Day in the Life of Bella

BPOV

"Get him here. Now." were the first words I uttered this Monday morning.

Angela, my friend-turned-Executive Assistant nodded knowingly as I passed by her desk to my office.

She no longer was as fazed as she once was the first instances she saw me in this grim, menacing, irate mood. I am in this state at the beginning of the work week as I am about to put someone in their place. Someone I once coached, helped, and trusted. It stung, considering you only wanted the best for your team, yet business is business.

I can be a good mentor as long as you do your due diligence. Unfortunately, some people tend to forget that others cannot just clean up other their shit all the time.

Andrew Johnson, my Senior Director of Sales for International Conglomerate Accounts is one of them. He managed to nearly fuck up a multimillion dollar bid we have worked tirelessly on for six gruelling months. Again.

As I was placing my bag on my desk, my phone rang, slightly breaking my inner thoughts. I smiled when I saw the caller and put on my AirPods.

"Good morning, Mr. Masen," I greeted.

The man on the other end of the line clicked his tongue, "Good morning to you, too, kiddo. But what did we say about calling me 'Mr. Masen'?"

I smiled, "You know, 'Mr. Masen' doesn't make you sound like an old fart." I answered back, grabbed the cup of black coffee sweet Angela prepared for me and walked to my floor-to-ceiling windows. "It's just me addressing you professionally. You know me." I said as I looked at Chicago's renowned skyscrapers.

"Wow. Good morning, indeed." He pretended to sound wounded.

"You should take it as a compliment." I snickered and took another sip from my cup.

He clicked his tongue again and said, "But dear, you're forgetting that it is 'Doc-tor Masen' - not 'Mis-ter Masen'. You should do your homework, kid."

This has been an inside joke between him, his wife Esme, and me. I met the pair back when I was still a college sophomore. We had this Entrepreneurship Week and one of the events was a contest on presenting a global case study on innovation, science and technology, and research and development on brand and marketing strategies for advertising, marketing, and PR agencies. Coincidentally, we had a paper for our Brand Management and Marketing Communications course on a similar topic. Our lecturer thought I did well enough for it to be submitted to the contest. He asked me if he could send it in, which I easily acquiesced. I never thought that my paper would be something of that value and nearly forgot about it until I was called to present it in the symposium, another event they had for the week-long commemoration.

I agreed, thinking that it only students and faculty would be there, at most. There were also only few extra credits given out for the week-long event, so I assumed that there would only be a few attendees. However, the cosmos had other plans then. Lo and behold, naive me did not think that several renowned businessmen and women will be invited to the very same symposium. I was usually disinterested in extra curricular activities due to laziness and that was where I slightly regretted it - I thought I should have, at least, read the schedule of activities for the Entrepreneurship Week.

I was a wreck at first.

There were about a hundred fifty people then and I hated being in the spotlight. I never would have imagined being in a situation like this. I never dreamt that far in that stage of my life - I only focused on my academics, reading books in my free time, and my part-time job at the library. I knew I wanted to be successful but my view or dreams of the future were still quite a blur. I also am not very great with public speaking but I know I worked hard on the presentation and practiced. However, I thought that it was only mediocre, which made me overthink every single detail of my work.

My presentation was about to begin and someone from our faculty was doing the opening remarks. I couldn't think straight. I felt my pulse getting stronger and faster by the second. I felt warm and flushed. I was shaking and felt like my legs were about to give out. I started feeling stifled and felt like heaving.

Then I heard a man clear his throat. I did not even notice him stand beside me.

"Nervous?" said a man, probably in his late 40s. He was tall, lean, and handsome. Very handsome. He had blue eyes that were the shade of the ocean and blonde hair. He was quite pale yet he looked fresh.

I only managed to slightly nod, frazzled by his presence and everything else that was about to happen.

He gave me a smile. "Me too. I'm about to be up in that podium. I still get the very same jitters even if I've done this a thousand times". I just stared at him, trying to comprehend what was happening. I was more focused on things turning out badly than even listening to him.

He then put his hands on my shoulders and made me face him. He looked me straight in the eye, "I'll let you in on a secret - I do this little trick to calm me down every time. You wanna give it a go?" He asked.

I nodded robotically.

"Okay, it's a fairly simple but reliable breathing technique. Stand flat on your feet, keep your back straight, shoulders square, and close your eyes." Surprisingly, I cooperated with this stranger and did what he asked me to. "Great!" he encouraged, "now I want you to take five deep breaths - but each breath you take, do it slowly." Again, I did what this man said and surprisingly felt a bit better.

"Thank you." I said as I opened my eyes. "It helped a bit," I said, trying to maintain my breathing.

He gave me another warm smile, "That's great to hear. Tell you what, don't doubt yourself and only think about you in this moment. You'll do great. I can feel it, kid." then he walked off to the stage, onto the podium.

I barely listened to what he was saying, trying desperately to calm myself down. I took deep breaths, again and again, and I could feel myself becoming a lot more relaxed than when I first saw the sea of people there. Once the man finished talking, I saw that he looked my way and gave me a wink. I was apparently introduced by this person and had to be pushed by someone from the backstage for me to actually walk out, into the stage.

The man stepped back, whilst clapping, along with other panelists. I gave him a small nod, a response to his gentle yet warm smile, and proceeded to face the audience.

I took another deep breath and started my presentation. I stuttered the first few sentences of my spiel, but as I went through it, I felt the adrenaline. I felt the passion. I felt the drive. I thought then, I wanted to be doing something like this as a career. I was proud of the work I put into my paper, that eventually led me to speaking in front of my peers and executives in the industry. I thought maybe, I was getting a clearer picture of what I wanted for the future.

And that event was an epiphany for me.

I finished my presentation without fuzz. I was buzzing with excitement and I was truly proud of myself. It went so well that I was offered by Mister Masen himself a placement in his company. I took it without hesitation.

In my first few months at the company, I kept calling Carlisle 'Mr. Masen', only to find out eventually that he was a doctor by profession - and still is. He only had to take over the company as his father requested. Hence, the inside joke I mentioned earlier.

Carlisle coached and mentored me until I was able to work for the company full time after graduating. I literally started from the bottom under their graduate placement program and worked my way up to where I am now. Because I had a great mentor and worked hard, I was able to grow into the professional that I aspired to be. I saw firsthand from Carlisle how great of a doctor, businessman and leader he is, that it motivated me to be a fraction of what he is. I reaped what I sow, and I am now the Country Director for Masen Corporation. One of, if not the youngest, executives within the conglomerate and within the industry. At 28, I am proud to say that I have worked my ass off and deserve to be in this position.

Of course, I will always be grateful to Carlisle and Esme. If they declined to participate in the symposium, I wouldn't have met them. I am also always grateful to them for treating me like their own. Through the years, they never hesitated to spend time with me outside work, share their knowledge or check on me. How lucky I am that we were able to form this relationship.

"… you sure about this?" Carlisle asked, breaking me from my trip down memory lane. I heaved out a breath. "Yes, Carlisle. Unfortunately, I'm certain about this."

"Very well," he replied. "I trust your judgment and I know where you're coming from. Don't beat yourself up, kid - I know you; this isn't your fault. You can only guide him so much. You've done your part and you're doing well."

I bit my lower lip, a habit of mine, apparently. I found comfort in Carlisle's words. He always knew when I needed to hear affirmations like this.

I then heard a knock on my door, signalling me to finish my conversation with him. "Thank you, Carlisle. Somehow you always know when I need to hear those things."

"Ah, that's what I'm here for, Bella. And I have 'fifth sense'," he quoted, making me laugh. I made Carlisle sit through Mean Girls with Rose, my best friend, one time to 'educate' him about our generation's slang. He picked up quite well.

I thanked him again for the reassurance before hanging up. As I am bound to face this dreaded situation, I took a couple of deep breaths before letting my visitor in.

"Good morning, Bella!" greeted a very chipper Andrew as he walked into my office. I gave a curt nod to him and looked at Angela, thanking her and signalling her to shut the door. It was uncomfortably silent the few seconds I walked to my desk. I took a peek at Andrew and saw that his smile faltered slightly and his brow slightly furrowed - probably already sensing my mood.

"So we finally fucking signed the deal with the Hoshi Group! Everything signed in black and white! Great news to start the week, right?" he clamped his hands together, expecting a positive response from me as well.

It's not like I'm unhappy about this deal - it was worth millions and worth every penny of the team's blood, sweat and tears. It's this asshole's stupidity and recklessness that I find very disturbing.

"I know," I said as I took a sip of coffee and sat down. "I'd have to congratulate your team personally within the day - could you book sometime with them for me?"

Andrew beamed, "No problem-o! Well it was a very tough deal, you know. The Hoshi Group was ridiculously demanding! But I guess with my leadership and all I was able to win them over." He then sat on the chair across me and took his phone our from his coat pocket. "Boss, are we having it here… or… I should book a place. My treat!" He said as he was busy fiddling with his phone, excitement written all over his face.

I was staring at him in disbelief. I couldn't stomach this son of a bitch. He nearly put our business in jeopardy yet he had the gall to celebrate and take credit for other people's hard work. I know for a fact that he barely had a hand in this bid yet he claims to have perfectly led the team to success. My god. I hate these kinds of pricks.

He went on for minutes about great places for dinner while interjecting how well he did in this bid process. I was losing patience and grew angrier by the second. He looked at me, sensing my irritation, and asked, "Sorry boss - was there something you'd like for dinner…? Is… there something wrong?"

It took me a few second to respond, trying to calm myself despite the anger I felt. "Tell me, what happened last week. How did the final negotiation go last Friday?" I asked sweetly and looked him straight in the eye.

He stammered a bit and I saw his face turn from perky to discomfort. I didn't even bother listening to whatever bullshit he's trying to sell me. It just fascinated me how he can go on and on, as if his bizarre stories actually happened. He probably didn't know that the client called me then, nearly backing out of the contract signing because Andrew misinformed them of a service/platform (i.e. an online events service and platform) that we allegedly provided to one of our other clients.

Turns out the client from the Hoshi Group reached out to a contact of that "other client" Andrew mentioned, to verify if we provided the 'made up' service for them. Well, guess what, that didn't turn out well.

The service/platform is technically existent but the thing is, Masen Corp. is currently under an M&A for the company that invented the software, so we couldn't claim as ours yet. It was in the pipeline to be marketed to our existing clients once the M&A was completed but currently, it has not been deployed. It was a huge deal to the Hoshi Group due to ethics and what Andrew did there certainly did not help us.

I had to save this bid and do some damage control. Imagine my embarrassment when a senior-level employee does not know the scope of our operations, products, and services provided? My. God. How humiliating. To think that I trained this person? I cannot phantom that. And this wasn't the first time he did something like this. Last bullshit he tried to sell to a potential client less than a few months ago, we ended up losing ten million dollars. Oh and I had hell with the Board this weekend for jeopardising the M&A. Again.

"Well, they signed." he shrugged nonchalantly. "They had a few questions about our online events production tools though, which I said we'll be able to provide for them for free within the first two years of the contract. Perks."

Lies. Lies. Lies.

"Don't worry though. That seemed to make them happy enough." he continued to babble about his empty promises that allegedly saved this negotiation.

I couldn't take it anymore and spat, "But why did you use that as a selling point? You know that the M&A isn't done yet. I told you that Thursday evening. Do you know what I had to deal with the the Board and Legal Team because word got out from your 'successful' negotiation last Friday?"

I saw his aghast look.

"And what the fuck, Andrew? What were you thinking when you said it was 'Okay to call Bella. She can tell you more about it, if you don't believe me'. Well guess what, they did because they called your bluff! Jesus."

He stood up in shock, I guess. "W-well… well… they were going to back out. I could feel it. So I had to just bluff a bit and ensure we got it…"

I laughed in disbelief. This was already a done deal even before the final negotiation. The final negotiation was just to iron out a few details but this mother fucker forgot how things went, I guess. However, the exercise was crucial - every single detail has to be well-thought of as it will be documented. You are not to just throw in whatever service or condition you want there - as it might derail the whole process. In this case, Andrew's bullshit was too much that it triggered uncertainty on the client's end. I actually suggested to leave it with his team members but his arrogant ass just couldn't take a hint. That was my fault though - I should have made him do something else but I still had an ounce of confidence in him then.

"… and Amy told be that we can already disclose information on the M&A…" he continued to defend.

That was the last straw for me - another pet peeve of mine is when people throw other people under the bus, especially their team members. I knew Amy, one of his staff members, to be meticulous and she would never give out information as callous as Andrew claims.

"Shut the fuck up!" I said. He tried to argue further but I gazed at him menacingly.

"Leave Amy and your hardworking team members out of it." I said with gritted teeth. "They nearly backed out because they didn't fucking trust us. No - that's wrong. They didn't fucking trust you. I had to clean up your mess all weekend. I was the one humiliated by your antics. I took responsibility for your actions, which you will never learn to do so. Your so-called leadership is taking all the credit without lifting a finger and playing the blame game when you made a mistake. This is not the kind of coaching and mentoring I gave. One of the things I taught you was accountability and it's apparent that you didn't learn anything."

"But Amy said we can already start selling the software! It's not my fault they gave me the wrong info -"

I stood up and pounded the table to get his attention. He stopped talking and stood silently. "You've done enough." I said menacingly. "I gave you several chances because I still somewhat believed in you but you threw it away. You're done. Thanks for your service, but you've done enough."

I sat down and swivelled my chair so my back was facing him. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves. I hated being angry like this. A few minutes passed and he was still trying to argue further, then turned to begging, then took offence that I wasn't listening or giving him another chance.

I then stood up and opened the door, lifted my left arm and pointed his way out. "Please leave."

He still didn't listen and walked to my side. Now whispering pleas for another chance and forgiveness. Empty promises of him to do better, et cetera, et cetera.

"Andrew, get the fuck out or I'll have security come get you." I threatened.

That finally shut him up and once he realised that the entire floor was watching, he ran out of my room and straight to his. He immediately rolled down all the blinds and I closed my eyes for a few seconds.

I hated that it led to this. I never intended for people to be in such situations but shit happens. I counted to five before opening my eyes. I still saw everyone staring in my direction and had to do something. "If you don't stop staring, you're welcome to join Andrew."

With that, everyone scrambled, pretending to do something and I shut the door to my office. I sunk to my lounge chair and kicked my heels off. That was fucking draining for a start.

I'm known to be thorough… okay, and tough. I have a strong personality at work and quite a temper. I expect quality over quantity as well in the output required from my team. I'm not very friendly as well but I'm not a total bitch. I do engage in occasional chitchat with team members, and try to reach out to new joiners and my peers but I always draw the line. I need my boundaries known between work and my personal life - not like the latter is even worth knowing.

Outside of work I only had my immediate family and a handful of friends. My dad Charlie, the Chief of Police in my hometown Forks, Washington, raised me mostly by himself. My birthmother left us when I was seven, claiming that there were better things in store for her outside of our tiny town. I understood then, even at that age, that it would only be me and Charlie. He is more than enough for me.

Despite being a very reserved and meek man, he made sure that I had more than enough and supported me in my endeavours.

Charlie eventually married our neighbour Sue a couple of years ago, gifting me with two step siblings - Leah and Seth. Leah is on her sophomore year in high school while Seth was in his last year in middle school. I love them both dearly and cannot thank them enough for loving me back and accepting me as their big sister.

Then my closest friends, Angela, Rose, Jasper, Alice, and Emmett.

I met Angela Webber when we were both in our graduate placement. We were in different work streams then but found the same interest in books. We have worked together on our way up in the corporate ladder and it was comforting to have at least one person rooting for you at work.

Rosalie Hale and I were roomies since our first year of college. I initially kept to myself the first few weeks we lived together. I was scared of her, to be honest. She looked like one of those immaculately beautiful people in films that would make your life a living hell. She had strong gazes from her icy blue eyes, long blond locks, a statuesque figure. I thought she looked bitchy and best not to cross with her.

Until one afternoon, I was in slumped on our kitchen table, drained from a whole day of lectures and pending assignments. I felt overwhelmed then and was thankful that I had the apartment to myself. Then came Rose a few seconds later. She cursed as she threw her bag on our sofa. She continued to stand behind it and was muttering a string of profanities and something that sounded like "economics was useless". I was startled and frightened. I rushed to pick up my stuff and determined to get out of her way.

I saw her staring at me while doing so and when I passed by her, she yelled, "Hey!"

I stopped in my tracks.

"Why the fuck do you always do that? You always fucking rush off when you see me! Are you just really going to ignore me and not even bother getting to know your roommate? How rude." she said, irate.

That got me. Maybe I was being judgmental. I didn't let myself overthink and turned to her. "Want pizza?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded. We've been inseparable since and thanks to her for calling me out.

Rose has an older bother, Jasper, who hung out with us every now and then. Jasper had the same statuesque built, a slightly golden head of hair, and softer blue eyes. If Rose was feisty and impatient, Jasper was the opposite; he was always calm and collected. What an irony, right. However opposite they were, they match each other well and are very protective of one another. Jasper is an economist, working for a global financial services provider.

And then there's Emmett McCarty. Our big teddy bear of a friend and Rose's love of her life. Jasper met Emmett a couple of years back at a work event, which Emmett catered to. He brought Emmett over to one of our dinners.

Rose was interested the first time they met but made Emmett woo her for sometime. Although she can be very forthcoming, Rose was cautious about getting into relationships. She had her fair share of failed relationships and people not taking her seriously that made her wary. However, Emmett is a true sweetheart. He was patient and understanding. He reassured Rose that she was the only one for him and never pressured her into getting together or doing something she didn't want to. Emmett just made sure that he was there whenever Rose needed him.

Several years later, they are now engaged, and with businesses of their own. Rose has an auto shop and next door are Emmett's diner, pub, and burger joint - he proudly calls himself the "meat master".

And then there's Mary Alice Brandon. Our petite ball of energy who wears her pixie cut elegantly and has this contagious positivity around her. We met Alice two years ago on our way back from a trip to Italy - a girls' trip when I was promoted as the Head of my division and to celebrate Rose and Emmett's engagement. Alice was flying back from Italy for work to visit her parents in Chicago. She spotted the leather jacket I was wearing, which is a vintage piece - it was from my late grandma who tailored her clothes for me. Because of the said piece of clothing, Alice stuck with us ever since.

I don't know how she does it but she has a way of captivating you without her perkiness without overwhelming you. Rose and I were surprised at how we were both sucked in by her presence that we just formed this bond instantly. Later on Alice met Jasper, who both fell head over heels the first time they met and have been together since.

Alice, Rose, and Jasper came from affluent backgrounds but never showed off an ounce of it. I am happy that I have down-to-earth people around me.

After a few minutes of musing, I got up and continued on my day.

Angela came in after a while and sat across me. "Anything interesting over the weekend?" she asked as she took a sip of her coffee. We usually had these casual conversations over coffee in my office. It was nice to have these sort of breaks in between heavy workloads.

I glanced at her and gave her a questioning stare. "You know you'd have heard from Alice and/or Rose, if ever."

She giggled. "I know, I know. Just asking…" then she carried onto our agenda for the week. I was thankful for Angela - having worked with her for years and knowing me personally made our working rhythm seamless. She knew she had to distract me from what happened earlier and work always did that for me. She was also there whenever I needed someone to call me out to get a breather and not take on too much. To be honest, I wouldn't be here without her, too.

Having gone through several long-ass calls, documents, and a hundred signatures later, I hadn't realised that it was already beginning to get darker outside. Right on cue, Angela popped into my office.

"Hey, Cruella de Bella!" she snickered, using one of the nicknames a former colleague coined me when I was in a mood. A monicker that also stuck with our small group. "Are you down the rabbit hole again? Alice has been calling me for hours on end! Can you please, for the love of god, call her back? She went as far as threatening to shave her head." she giggled again.

I rolled my eyes, "I bet she would."

Fishing my phone out from my bag, I muttered, "Shit", and hung my head back. Time surely passed - it was already 6:30 in the evening. I showed Angela my home screen reflecting seventeen missed calls and several messages from Alice.

Angela threw her head back in laughter and shrugged, "That's Alice."

God she's annoying. But we love her.

"I wonder what that little cretin wants…" I mumbled. "Oh and thanks for your patience earlier."

Angela rolled her eyes and patted my hand. "There's nothing to thank - just doing my job. Besides," she flipped her hair back, "if I weren't patient enough, no one else would survive you."

I stuck my tongue at her and we laughed.

"Anyway, you should be off. Get out. Now. Please. You've had a long day!" she reached out to my monitor, threatening to turn it off.

I put my arms out to shield my her, "I was just about to when you rudely interrupted me." I said defiantly. It was her turn to make a face.

Alice then sent me another message, "ANDROS 8PM".

I sighed. "Wanna grab dinner with the crew?" I asked.

Angela shook her head. "Thanks but my social battery is out for the day. However, you should." Before I could even try to convince her, Alice decided to call.

"Get that." Angela sternly said as she got up.

With another sigh, I answered my phone. "I saw your fucking message."

"Alice, don't let her off. Hunt her down or drag her out of the office if you have to." Angela wagged her brows and walked off. I flipped her off.

"Heard that, Bells? See you in a few. Rose and I will get ready at yours." then Alice hung up.

"Right." I whispered. Not like they gave me much choice there. My stomach grumbled, as if siding with my friends. "Fine, fine. Dinner out it is."

I finished writing one email, packed my stuff and left.

I loved walking to and from the office. It served as a little me time. It gives me time to reflect and get lost in my own thoughts and musings. I especially love springtime air - cool yet refreshing.

Since I had a bit of time, I decided to take a bath. I filled my tub with water and my favourite lavender-scented body bath. I needed to loosen up a bit before heading out.

I must have dozed off because next thing I know, I heard my main front door unlock.