Six months ago

BPOV

"Edward?" I said, "Are you talking about Cullen?"

"Yeah," Mom said.

"Mom!" I said, "I'm not going to marry him!"

"Why not?" she said.

"What do you mean why not?" I said, "I've known him all my life."

I mean, I might not really have 'known' him, but I... knew him!

We have been in the same school since we were kids. He was three year senior to me, and he was one of my close friends' brother. I knew a lot of stuff about him, but it was mainly through Rosalie. I talked to Jasper sometimes, but I couldn't recall if I ever had any kind of serious interaction with Edward. He was always so aloof and didn't care about talking to 'kids'!

And oh yeah, there was a brief period during my teenage years when I had a crush on him, but I doubted if he had ever noticed me!

"Yes... You both have known each other since forever, and that's the best part about it. Esme was telling me Edward finally agrees that it's time to settle down," she said.

"Well, good for him, but I think you should stop this thought right here," I said, "This is not going to happen."

"C'mon Bella! It's so difficult to find a right match in the business families... And you're so picky when it comes to guys... This way you're never going to get married!" She said, "I'm not saying you should marry Edward. But you should get to know each other, and see if it works out."

"Mom... Just stop!" I said.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Edward apologized to me as soon as the arrived at the restaurant, "Sorry, my meeting went on longer than expected."

"No... That's fine..." I smiled.

I couldn't believe this!

I was actually on a 'date' with Edward Cullen!

Initially I didn't entertain the idea of meeting him, but then Edward texted me one day if I wanted to catch up! We didn't exactly have anything to 'catch up' as such, so I kind of figured out where this was heading towards.

I started giving it a serious thought, and it kind of made sense.

He was a nice guy... Young, smart, handsome, successful, and coming from a rich, established business family! He was perfect on paper! He was probably everything I was looking to find in my life partner!

And... This was just a date! Well, it was not even a 'date'! We were just meeting for lunch, that's it! Who said we needed to get married or something!

"So... How is everything?" he asked, "I can't even remember when was the last time we met..."

"Yeah I guess it's been awhile..." I said.

"How have you been?" He said, "By the way, I'm hearing great reviews about your product. I heard you're planning to launch it soon in Asia? That's really great!"

So he had done his 'research' on me!

"Yeah, thanks," I smiled, "The Asian market is going to bring in a lot of new challenges... I'm nervous, but it's going to be a fun ride."

"I'm sure it will go well," he said.

"Hopefully," I smiled.

"Look... I know you must have questions about why I asked you to meet you for lunch out of the blue," he said after we placed the order.

"I think I have some idea," I said.

"That's good. That makes things a bit easier," he smiled, "I'm really bad at chivalry... So I'd really like to talk directly."

"I heard you're thinking of settling down," I smiled.

"Well yeah... I think it's time to settle down," he shrugged his shoulders, "I heard the same thing about you..."

"Yeah..." I said, "I think I'm ready to 'settle down'."

"Good." He said, "I guess we're on the same page to start the conversation on this topic then!"

"I guess so," I said.