A/N: Sorry this update took so long; I found out I have PCOS last week so I was a bit down. But, I´m on medication now and all is fine again :)

Edward's Job

It's early Monday morning and Edward is imprisoned at his desk for the next few hours. The clock is slowly grinding toward 9 a.m. and he is in need of a strong dose of caffeine. Maybe even something stronger, as he has a meeting with the finance team in one hour.

He sighs in frustration while he answers yet another useless e-mail from Taylor. The head of the finance department was by far his least favourite employee and that feeling was absolutely mutual, judging by the tone of Taylors' messages that he sent him daily.

On a good day, Edward didn´t mind the supercilious manners of his peers, but on a day he hadn´t slept that well, he too let his mind wonder if he was the correct boss to be running the top floor along with Esme. Taylor´s finance team report directly to him, along with the finance team. While corporate and marketing fall under his mother´s wing.

After Edward hit ´send´, he did what he always did when he wanted to escape his desk for a bit; he looked outside his window, to the first ever Esmasen location which was located directly from across the head office. It was closed today due to a repainting of the building, and that small inconvenience started a series of unfortunate events.

He had missed his usual morning americano -triple shot espresso with a tiny dash of sugar to spice things up-, he had a toothpaste stain on his favourite shirt and damn it, Taylor e-mailed him again.

All would be well again if he had his coffee, he was sure of it. So Edward looked at his watch, he looked at his schedule and figured he still had some time left before his meeting to gather a much-needed cup of comfort.

Edward crossed the hallway to his mother´s office and knocked on the door.

¨Come in,¨ Esme answered.

¨I´m getting a coffee, do you want some?¨ Edward said, standing in the doorway.

She barely looked up from the papers in front of her, but a small, knowing smile revealed her thoughts. ¨I´ll pass, thank you.¨

¨Alright,¨ Edward said while he closed the door softly behind him. He greeted the secretary when he left the building and got into his car.

It took him a while to figure out which Esmasen cafe was the second closest to his office. His best bet would be the university cafe. It would be swamped with tourists and students on Monday morning, but he wanted to experience the morning rush anyways.

Jasper laughed at him when Edward told him this little daily habit of getting an Esmasen coffee directly from a shop. Of course, Edward knew Jasper didn´t understand his reasoning behind it. He knew he could just drink the same coffee at his desk. The coffee beans from the machine in the hallway were the same beans used in Esmasen. But he also knew, that it wouldn´t be the same.

Because when his parents divorced when Edward was 15 years old, Esme had to sell Antony out of the company, and cuts had to be made one way or another in order to keep Esmasen open. Times were tough, and Edward had helped his mother out any chance he could get by cleaning the cafe or preparing drinks.

And Edward always knew; when he could afford it, he would always buy coffee from Esmasen any chance he could get.

So he intended to do so.

Edward finally arrived and immediately noticed how busy it was inside. He made a mental note that he needed to schedule a meeting with Mike, head of this location, to discuss hiring more employees or moving business outside. If they could serve a few tables outside, this would mean it´s less crowded inside.

Pleased with this revelation, he noticed his colleague Paul sat at the table in the far end corner and he held his hand up to meet him.

Before he could walk over to his table, Edward´s eyes made contact with the woman directly in front of him. He couldn´t exactly say his eyes were drawn to her, because it would actually be the exact opposite. His eyes tried to ignore her as much as they could.

¨Eddie, hey.¨

Edward swallowed. Jessica had been the worst date his mother had sent him on. The number of useless pictures that were taken of the food had been horrible and she was on her phone the whole time. Well, Jessica was the worst date for sure, but that wasn´t exactly fair as Alice got up to leave before the starters had arrived had been a very, very close second.

¨Hello Jessica.¨

The employee that sat on the ground, writing down the menu items made a sudden movement that caught his attention. She ever so slowly crawled backwards and Edward frowned. She looked quite familiar, but he couldn´t put a name on it.

Her brown hair was tight in a high ponytail, and she tried to hide her face behind it which didn´t work, so she kept her eyes firmly on the ground.

She almost made it back behind the counter.

¨Hello, Edward?¨ Jessica asked whiny. He didn´t exactly pay enough attention to her.

Hearing his name made the woman look up and Edward finally recognised her.

¨Alice?¨ Edward said surprised. He knew why he didn´t immediately recognise her without her make-up, picture-perfect hair and her rather weird dress. That, and the fact she avoided making eye contact with him just a few moments ago.

¨Alice?¨ Jessica quickly turned around to see who Edward was referring to.

¨What are you doing here?¨ he asked.

¨I… I work here,¨ Bella quietly said to Edward´s shoes.

Jessica merely glanced in Bella´s direction, already sure that there was a mistake going on, because there was no way in hell that this rich CEO knew the woman who made her coffee.

¨Can´t you read her name tag? It clearly says Bella,¨ Jessica rolled her eyes and reached for Edward´s arm

¨Oh,¨ Bella said while looking down.

¨Tell me, who´s Alice?¨ Jessica asked again. ¨Come on, Eddie. Let´s get out of here.¨

Edward looked down at Jessica´s hand around his arm. He figured he couldn´t exactly shrug her off, but he didn´t want her hand around him either.

¨Can I speak to you in private?¨ he instead asked Bella.

¨Course,¨ she reluctantly agreed.

Edward gently let go of Jessica, who was not amused. Well, he could solve that problem when he got back. For now, he had bigger questions running through his head.

Bella brought the two of them towards the kitchen. As they walked, her thumb accidentally stroked against the soft skin of his wrist. He felt the contact run up his arm. See? That was why he needed caffeine to function.

¨So, you´re probably wondering why I have a name tag with Bella on it,¨ she said quite a bit too loud for the small space they were in.

He nodded.

¨It´s because I like working here.¨

He nodded again, not sure if he understood that connection and if there even was one to begin with.

¨And that relates to your name, because…,¨ he said, but got quickly interrupted by another woman.

¨Because we can´t have everyone know that Alice Cullen works here, now can we?¨ the unfamiliar woman said. Edward looked closely at her name tag -Angela-.

¨Surely, you don't think daddy would just give me money?¨ Bella asked. ¨No, no. I have to work for it, just like everyone else.¨

Edward recognised this tone from his date from Saturday. He couldn´t shake the gut feeling that someone was messing with him. But he didn´t know why or with what.

Well, maybe that feeling would leave after he had his drink.

¨You´re not wearing the Cullen crest,¨ he finally noted.

Bella looked down at her wrist. ¨No, it's too beautiful to wear at work.¨

Edward looked down at his shoes and made the decision right then and there that whatever would happen, he would let it be. So what if they were messing with him? As long as he could enjoy the ride, he would let it happen.

He gave her his crooked smile and said; ¨Maybe that's why we're matched. Because you like working here.¨

¨Yes, exactly,¨ Bella nodded.

¨In that case, may I have an americano to go, please?¨

¨Only because you´re the CAO. I wouldn´t make it for just some guy from finance or something.¨

Thinking of Taylor, Edward couldn´t help but laugh.