Hello! I have a new Twilight fic here. I think it's going to be a multi-chapter short story, centred around Edward and Bella. Okay I know the beginning of the story looks like one-night stand thing, but really it is not. I swear. It's really about Bella and Edward forming an intimate connection.

UPDATE: Sorry for the false alarm for all those who favourited this story or put it under alert. There is not new chapter. I repeat, there is no new chapter uploaded. Sorry for the mistake, but I realized upon checking that a small part of the story I have meant to post is missing, so I'm sort of re-posting it. Now, there is an added prologue from both Bella and Edward at the front of the chapter.

Enjoy.

Lovers, gratified in each other, I am asking you

About us. You hold each other. Where is your proof?

-Rainer Maria Rilke, Second Elegy of Duino Elegies

Prologue, Bella's Perspective:

I don't believe in true love.

Once upon a time I used to believe in it. But heck, once upon a time I believed in many things, and I have been wrong countless times, and this one isn't any different. There is only one thing I believe in, and that is accepting my fate. When fate tells me something is not meant to be, I take the hint.

So I left.

Alice tells me I act differently now. She tells me it's a very subtle but noticeable change. I laugh, but the laughter does not reach my eyes. I walk, but a sort of listlessness engulfs me. There is an air of slight sorrow about me that she can't exactly pin point, as if I have changed. I shrug it off, or I simply stuff a chip or two in my mouth to fill the silence that will surely ensue.

In a way I know that I am not longer the same as before. I can tell too. And I will never be the same again. Not until my heart starts beating in that pleasant rhythm it experienced only once before.

But I digress. The point is, I don't believe in true love. I cannot believe in true love, especially when reciprocated. Because if I do, this would mean I no longer believe in fate.

If I believe in true love, I would not have moved to Seattle. I would have never left Phoenix with my best friend to take on some job in a foreign city. I would have never left him at all, because I love him from that very moment we met. And still do.

But fate tossed the cards to me in a way I cannot ignore. It was unmistakable—We weren't meant to be.

How else would you explain the fact that I met the love of my life a day before I moved to Seattle? Or the fact that , irony of all irony, he had moved down from Seattle itself?

I love him. But where he goes I am clearly not meant to follow.

Prologue, Edward's Perspective:

The bed feels empty without her around.

I can no longer sleep as before, not without the warmth of her body, or the lovely sweet scent that lingers on her skin. No, sleep is no longer restful. How can it be, without her?

Funny thing is, I have only met her for one night. But then again why should it be surprising? I have waited for her my whole life, the whole twenty over years of my existence just to see her. It is only natural that she would occupy such a big part of my life.

And she is gone now. Without a word, or even an explanation.

Fate is cruel and unkind. If it were anything else but those two qualities, I would not feel such pain and agony as I do now.

Does she feel the same pain I do? This is where my feelings contradict each other. A part of me hopes she does, because that would mean that she loves me. But a part of me also wishes to spare her the pain, because I of all people know how torturous it can feel.

I crave her presence, her touch, and I am slowly going crazy without it. I am a broken man.

I miss her. I do. A part of me knows exactly why she left, but a bigger part of me still don't understand it at all. Why was she so afraid to love me? Why was she afraid of me to love her?

I can no longer live without her. But I tell myself it does not matter. I will find her.

I will find her, and then we will have out happily ever after. I just wish it would be sooner. Every day that passes now is meaningless without her in it, and I too am beginning to become afraid. Afraid that she will turn into nothing but an intangible memory.

Fuck fate. We were clearly meant to be. I came all the way from Seattle to Arizona to find my reason for living, and I got my answer: her. That is enough for me, to know that nothing else matters as long as she loves me.

And I know she does.

I love her. And where she goes I will always follow.

Chapter One

Close your eyes, she commanded herself. Close them, and keep them that way.

It was already early morning. She could tell from the way the warmth coming from the direction of the glass window tingled against her bare skin. The silent ticking of a clock nearby made her even more aware that time was passing all too quickly. Seconds turn to minutes.

She tugged the blanket over her again, trying to delay the inevitable. Nights were always too short and fleeting.

Bella willed herself to sleep again, to go back into her previous deep slumber. Yet, a bigger part of her knew it was impossible—she needed, desired and wanted to see his face again. In the end, she succumbed to her weaker side as she knew she would. She was too much of a coward not to.

Her eyelids fluttered open. She didn't need to adjust to the light either—she had been awake for far too long.

The man beside her was too beautiful for words. The bronze hair she had run her fingers through all night were in an orderly disarray now, but the rest of him remained as she remembered him last night: the fine chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, pale skin and face of a Botticelli angel. Even the lavender lids and slight dark eye shadows did nothing to detract his beauty.

He slept peacefully, Bella noticed, with an expression of tranquility on his all too lovely pale face, and his long lithe body spread across the entire length of the mattress in a relaxed position. She liked that. One of his hands was still wrapped loosely around her waist. She took a minute to admire the pure unadulterated form in front of her.

Immediately she almost regretted her decision. Bella breathed in deeply and finally looked away. Now, it would be even harder to let him go. The pain would be worse.

He had been staring at her the whole night. She was out, with Alice and Angela and a few other friends at some mutual acquaintance's party. Bella didn't even want to go in the first place, but her exuberant best friend coerced her to, insisting that it would be a lot of fun. When she did finally did turn up at the party, her so-called friends decided to abandon her and left her alone at the mini-bar. She was sipping her alcohol-laced cocktail and looking around when suddenly their eyes met.

And she was lost. Just like he was.

His emerald green eyes plaintively showed it as he walked towards her. And then he stopped two feet in front of her. And then, after a pause, he took a large step and closed the gap between them.

The stranger now stood centimeters in front of her. She heard his breath catch, and realized she was doing the exact same thing.

Suddenly the exchange became intimate. Bella felt the change in atmosphere, the wild charge of electricity running through the small space around them. She heard him sucking in the air in, and her own heart lost control of itself, beating erratically. It was a rush she felt only two or three times before, only this time it did not stop.

Her heart had started beating to a new rhythm, with a new sensation and meaning to it. It was beating for him.

"I am Edward," He told her in a whisper, his lovely eyes smoldering. Something in his husky voice told her he felt the connection too.

"Bella," she replied breathlessly, and continued to stare at the lovely man in front of her.

They didn't need to make witty conversations— there was never the need to. Simply, there wasn't a need to impress each other. She just stood there beside the mini bar and gazed at him. He looked right back at her, refusing to break the eye contact. A form of wordless communication passed between them that night that was so lucid and private that words made it vulgar.

And amazingly, he understood.

Somehow they broke the silent conversation in the midst of the loud party. Edward managed to ask her some questions, and she answered them, though sometimes she paused as if hesitant. The bronze-haired man noticed as well, and lifted an eyebrow to ask the silent question.

"I have so many questions for you as well as myself," Bella admitted. "I'm not sure I can answer them." He nodded, empathizing.

She couldn't comprehend. Why did his presence affected her so? How was it that she had fallen in love with this beautiful stranger the moment their eyes met? Were there words to explain the bond and connection between them? And how, she thought with a sudden pang of sadness, could she ever compare to someone so extraordinary, or expect anything in return?

Another spasm of misery hit her as she asked herself the real question: Why did this have to happen now?

She tried to shake off this train of though and turned to Edward, asking him questions this time. He answered them effortlessly. She was surprised at his abandon and forthcoming answers, as if he absolutely trusted her.

"Where did you study?" she had asked. She drank every piece of information about him in, feeling giddy with this nectar.

"University of Washington." He responded. "I moved here to Phoenix a few months ago."

Bella laughed bitterly. The irony was killing her. The timing was impeccably cruel.

"What?" Edward asked, worried.

She looked at him straight in the eye, the pain coursing through her body. This was the answer he needed to hear the most.

"I grew up here my whole life," she said finally, trying to ignore the ache. "And tomorrow, I'm moving to Seattle."

Fate, being the vindictive creature it was, had played the both of them well. She spent the whole twenty three years of her life looking for him here in Arizona while her soul mate was in Seattle. Now, someone flipped the switch. She was going to Seattle when he finally came to Arizona.

They were never meant to crossed paths—it was obvious. She was never meant to reunite with that other missing half that made her whole.

Edward didn't seem to care. Perhaps he didn't felt the same connection as she did. Perhaps she had misunderstood. He just looked at her again, his intense eyes on her.

"Come home with me," he told her simply. Quietly he held out his hand to her.

Bella reacted before she could think. It was her only chance to be whole, even for a while.

"Bring me home," she said, breathing. She slipped her hand into his grasp. The electricity between them intensified at her touch. Their hands fitted perfectly together.

Silently the couple escaped from the loud party. No one noticed them, and they didn't notice them either. They held hands and walked to the road where his silver car was parked. Under the moonlight and weak glow from the streetlamps, Edward looked incandescent.

They held hands through the entire ride to his house, not making eye contact with the other. Edward, she guessed, was concentrating on his driving. She was busy trying to appreciate the way his cool skin felt against hers. His firm grasp was comforting and oddly soothing.

Suddenly Bella heard his melodious voice.

"You felt it, didn't you?" he asked softly. "That connection. That electricity."

"The moment I met you," she answered truthfully. She continued to look ahead of her at the empty streets, afraid that she would start trembling the moment their eyes locked again.

He sighed, satisfied.

"Me too."

He pulled up into a driveway in front of a grey trimmed house and turned off the car engine of his Volvo. Wordlessly he held open the car door for her and took her hand in his again, pulling her to the large wooden front door, where he slipped in the keys and finally turned the doorknob. It opened.

"Welcome home," Edward said as they walked into the house, looking down at Bella with unmistakable passion.

She met his frank gaze and suddenly, she knew what to say. The words to reassure him that she was not drunk or inebriated with alcohol, that she was rationale, that she was intoxicated by his presence. That it was what she wanted.

"I'm home."

His lips were on hers in a second. They were caressing her gently, moving and gliding smoothly with hers. Bella felt the heat flowing through her body from his mouth, and the contact made her respond with even more fervor.

Her heart, amazingly, didn't not increase its pace at the touch of his kiss. How could it? It had been beating at this incredible speed since she met him less than two hours ago. It was already beating for him.

Then all of a sudden it was not enough. It was too slow, and there was this need to go faster and faster. Bella felt his tongue in her mouth, unbridled with lust and love. She kissed him back fervently, trying to convey the same emotions to the man beside her. The warmth, the touch. Everything he did or made her feel intoxicated her, and she was desperately clinging onto his shirt, trying to get even closer to him.

Somehow they ended up in the bedroom without her even realizing. When he finally broke the kiss his green intense eyes met hers again.

"I want you," Edward moaned quietly, emotion deep in his melodious voice. Bella wrapped herself around him, her petite body against his long hard figure.

"As I want you."

One kiss, two kiss, and somehow his lips managed to pepper little kiss all over her. Her trembling hands ran all over his body and hard muscles as she fumbled to unbutton his white shirt. It gave way easily, as did the zip of her dress, and his trousers, and that tiny underwear of hers. His body pressed against hers, desperately trying to close any space between them as they landed on the bed. His hands tangled up somewhere in her long hair, and then freed itself to move down her soft skin, from her jawline to the collarbone. He was now all over her, tracing a map of her with his long fingers, caressing every inch of her body and Bella basked in pleasure at every of his touch which light her body with fire. Then he stopped and turned to look at her silently.

"What?" She asked.

"I love you," Edward whispered in her ear, before kissing her slowly on the forehead.

He then tilted his head back slightly, as if to gauge her reaction. Fear marred the handsome features on his face— had been too forward, too fast? Did she feel the same? That perhaps he misread the signals?

He was wrong. And she knew exactly what what to say, because she felt exactly the same way.

"I love you too," Bella said softly, pulling him back to her warm body.

And from then the night went on.

Bella gazed at Edward again. The way he looked at her last night was… almost in reverence. Now, even unconsciously, he had wrapped his arms around her as if he craved the pressure of her body. He was contented, his angelic face free of any lines. His naked torso was bent as if to complement her shape. Bella only wished she could be the same right now.

Even in retrospect she did not regret what she had done. She never would, she was sure of that. She would never feel sorry sleeping with this angel, or loving him. Last night was the best night of her life, and will forever remain that way.

Just like today will be her worst. Leaving him.

It was painful to think about it. It hurt.

What they experienced last night was beyond special. It was a spiritual connection created by a bond. Bella knew he felt the same. Hopefully though, he didn't feel the same intensity or longing as she did. She didn't want him to in pain—that would be unbearable. He did not deserve it.

Just a second longer, she told herself. She looked at Edward's sleeping form again, trying to take in every detail of his angel face. Every line and indentation of him that made him the person she loved. She wanted this memory—of him, of everything right now—to remain forever clearly in her mind. She would treasure it.

She stared at him for another minute. And then she slipped out of his warm embrace, feeling a twinge in her heart. He looked lonely by his own.

Quickly she gathered the little pile of clothes on the carpet, putting on her shoes and blue evening dress, now wrinkled slightly and tried to smooth it. And then she picked up her neglected purse somewhere on the floor.

She could go now. Heck, she should go now, before Edward wakes up and made this even harder and painful. Bella knew he would try to stop her, like the thoughtful sensitive person he was. But her feet were firmly rooted on the spot, unwilling to move as she gazed at him again.

Clearly she was meant not to be in his world. Why else would he suddenly appear the night before she left for Seattle, after years of waiting for somebody like him? And he had come from Seattle ironically. No, the both of them couldn't exist in the same sphere together.

She was too selfish. Bella knew it the moment the idea went into her head. But because she was only human, only in love, Bella did exactly what she knew would make this worse for him. She undid the clasp from the little silver chain from her neck, and walked back to Edward before leaning down to him

She placed it into one of his outstretched hands. It fell nicely into his palm.

Her only excuse was that she wanted him to carry a part of her. Proof that the soon-to-be forgotten memory was real. That she loved him, and that he loved her back.

Before he forget her.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and kissed him once more.

And then she opened the door and was out of this haunting house, tears streaming down her face. A taxi was waiting lazily along the curb and she quickly flagged it down.

And then she wished for courage to walk out of this world she once lived in, the world that now held the man she loved, the world that she had grown up in her entire life, and go to Seattle.

Please review to support this story! Reviews can encourage me to write faster. I believe the second chapter will be uploaded soon, next week review!

Cheers,

formerlyknownasone