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Color of Sunshine

- All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer -

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Chapter 1: Azure Sky

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The ballroom was filled with people. Sweet melody was provided continuously in the evening; it accompanied dancers in the room perfectly. But I should not be there. Esme thought. She was standing by a pillar, looked at the people dancing in front of her. Esme loved dancing, but she wasn't in the mood; actually, she was a bit guilty now.

Her father was furious that she had rejected Charles Evenson's, as her father called, glorious proposal, therefore she cleverly chose to visit her cousins and spend this summer being in Masen's to avoid her extremely angry father. Esme sighed deeply; she would be in Masen's until her father calmed down.

After all, both of her cousins, Edward and Alice, were happy with her visit.

She felt guilty that she had angered her father, yet she did not regret rejecting Charles at all, though; since she was a little girl, Esme had decided to marry a man she truly admired and loved – Until now, that person had not appeared in her life yet.

"Esme."

She lifted up her head, seeing her cousin walking toward her. A good-looking boy with red-brown hair was grinning at her. Esme smiled back at her little cousin.

"Look what you are doing now. You should dance with someone." He frowned playfully.

"Edward, now you sound like my father," she teased. The boy rolled his eyes at her; a small gentle grin appeared on his charming face.

"Just enjoy yourself here, Esme." He gave her a charming, childlike smile, and looked around the room, as if looking for a particular person. Noticing her confusion, Edward grinned in a teasing way. "I've wanted you to meet a friend of mine for a long time."

She frowned. What Edward said was just the same words her father had muttered when Charles was introduced to her. "Wait, Edward, I am not -"

"Ah, I saw him. See? He's over there," Edward said smiling.

She turned and found the man Edward mentioned.

He was a tall, blond man, dressed in the latest fashions. He was talking to a younger man with light blonde hair, but he turned around gracefully as Edward called him from where they were. The blond stranger seemed to be a little confused, however, he smiled when he saw Edward, and he turned his face slightly to look at her.

The first thing came into Esme's eyes was the color of sunshine. She blinked rapidly to adjust the light, and then she now found herself facing a man with ridiculously handsome face. Forehead, nose, cheeks, lips - everything on his face was the best object for a painter to practice drawing. Staring at people was not favorable at all, but she could not help herself staring at him. Without warning, their eyes locked. Esme was shocked to notice how azure his eyes were; they were kind and gentle, yet fierce and blue-color-flame-like at the same time. She even didn't know herself was holding breath, until the man smiled tentatively at her and she gasped inwardly.

She quickly looked away and flushed slightly.

"Carlisle, why are you standing here with that silly grin on your face? Drank too much already? "Edward questioned impatiently, clearly displeased that his friend still stood away from them. He walked to his friend and dragged him toward her. His friend was murmuring something lowly she wasn't able to hear. Edward humphed and rolled his eyes for the reason Esme didn't know. "Come and see my cousin!"

The man, Edward introduced him as Carlisle Cullen, was standing shyly beside Edward, a naturally gentle smile on his face, and his extremely shy manners had already amused her.

"It's nice meeting you, Mr. Cullen," She greeted politely.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Platt,"he said to her in a silken, soft voice. To her astonishment, Mr. Cullen took her hand and pressed it to his lips, making her skin tingle. Out of the corner of her eye, Esme found Edward stare at them with amusement.

She gave him a little, brilliant smile, and Mr. Cullen returned the same favor.

"Edward has told me about you for many times," he said shyly, looking at her in awe. His beautiful gaze made her blush slightly. She turned to her cousin who was smiling innocently.

"I hope you didn't said anything that would make me embarrassed." She glared suspiciously at him.

Her cousin sighed dramatically. "I'm disappointed at you Esme. What kind of person do you think I am?"

"A five-year-old soul in a seventeen-year-old body?" She teased. Mr. Cullen chuckled; his laugh was endearing.

"Edward told me you're a good dancer and painter, and..." Mr. Cullen smiled, then cleared his throat almost awkwardly, he bit his lips shyly, paused for a while. "And charming, which I found it's a truth."

The color in her cheeks deepened. She looked down at the floor; for reasons unknown, Esme felt something utterly indescribable dancing sensuously between them, crawling upon her heart and making her spin. Her cheeks heated, and Esme wondered why. Many people had mentioned her beauty before, but no one made her feel like burning. Edward cleared his throat purposely. The sound Edward made jolted her awake from the dream-like wonderland.

Esme was slightly irritated that the boy was smirking lazily now, his eyes were full of annoying interests.

"Carlisle said he wanted to meet you, and don't you dare chase my cousin like those brainless ones, Carlisle."

"Don't be silly, Edward," he murmured blushed.

"Ah, a teacher should not use 'silly' to describe his student, Carlisle." Edward explained, unable to hide his smirk. "He was my teacher before, a rather good one." He said to her.

"Please don't mention it again; that's the memory I desperately want to forget." Mr. Cullen glared at her cousin. "You were the most difficult student I had never met before."

"My pleasure." Edward grinned impishly.

Just then, a new song had started. Edward excused himself and walked to his partner, a brown hair pretty girl. Mr. Cullen seemed to struggle inwardly for a while, and then politely asked her to spare him a dance. Esme smiled; they danced for the rest of the evening.

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~ ※ ~

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Meeting Mr. Cullen was a lovely memory. From what Edward told her, Carlisle Cullen worked as an interpreter and translator for the Masens to extend business into France. Although Esme hoped to talk with him again, she didn't see him after the ball. Still, Esme enjoyed being here quite a lot, and the thought of meeting Carlisle Cullen once more was fading day by day.

Beautiful sky was above her head, letting sheer sunlight peer out from the cloud and make the little yellow flowers glow happily; it was a wonderful afternoon for people to have a cup of tea outside the house - or for Alice Masen, it would be a nice day to decorate her cousin with a variety of different kinds of dresses and accessories.

Esme loved Alice with all her heart, but when it came to the issue of being Alice's personal doll, she would run away from that little fairy faster than a wild horse running out of a stable. For the peace of her mind, Esme now was trying to climb a tree which is planted in the backyard of the house. She rolled her sleeves up and picked up the hem of her dress a bit higher, confidently taking her first step on the trunk of a tree, and second, and third. The higher she climbed, the broader her grin grew.

"Miss Platt?" Someone said shocked.

Esme stopped and was startled by that velvet gentle voice. She nearly fell from the tree; fortunately she clenched the branch quickly. A sharp tearing sound occurred as she was struggling to keep steady. Esme looked down at the person who called from below, and was startled again.

Her cheeks grew strangely warm. It was Carlisle Cullen.

And the questions were: Why was he here? Moreover, why he chose one of the most awkward time visiting here? And finding her climbing a silly tree!

He was trying to suppress his laugh, she could see that from his trembling cheeks.

"Let me help you." He offered his hand kindly.

"...Thank you," she barely heard her own voice.

He chuckled then, reaching his hand to help her climb down that trouble maker. His gorgeous blue eyes were shinning like two twinkling stars, looking at her with curiosity. She couldn't help but smile back at him. His hand was still holding hers. And it was warm and strong and…...Before Esme could find a word describe that fleeting feeling, suddenly Mr. Cullen drew back his hand.

"Thank you." She said again softly.

He nodded looking down at her; to her confusion, a smirk crossed his handsome face. "If you don't mind, I'm rather curious about what you were doing here."

She bit her lips, not sure if it was proper to tell the truth. But then, as she looked up at him, finding him seem to be highly amused by her strange talent of climbing trees, Esme thought that maybe telling him was not a bad idea at all. She cleared her throat intentionally, to which, Mr. Cullen raised his eyebrows. She giggled at his reaction. Maybe that was one of a teacher's habits, she thought.

"Yes?"

"….Well, I was just….just…." Now Esme wondered why she was stuttering. She never had that problem in front of men, even when Charles in his bad mood. "I was hiding from Alice, and I supposed climbing up a tree would be a good idea….clearly it is not, though." She sighed touching her ruined dress.

He laughed then. "I won't doubt that you and Edward are related anymore; he's good at climbing trees as well, too good. But of course for different reason. He was hiding from me."

"Why?"

"As you have heard before; I was his French teacher. He hated that and tried his best to hide from me. I had to spent much time on finding him before teaching."

A vivid scene of a frustrated Carlisle chasing Edward crossed her mind; Esme couldn't help but laugh at the thought. They walked silently in the backyard until the sunlight became light yellow. Unable to bear the silence anymore, Esme looked up at him, and froze; he was staring at her, looked slightly dazzled. He was twice startled than her as he noticed that she caught his staring.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to stare at you like that," he looked away quickly, a little embarrassed by his own behavior. "You reminded me of the angel painting in Mr. Masen's library."

She was stunned, and lowered her head smiling.

After hearing his shy confession, Esme could not form a comprehensible sentence for the rest of the walk. They came back to the house under the sunset. As a gentleman he was, Mr. Cullen bid farewell to her softly before leaving. Esme stopped him as he was about to turn away.

"Will I see you again?" She asked biting her lip.

Mr. Cullen seemed to be surprised by her innocent question. After several blinks, he smiled weakly at her.

"...Yes, I have some things need to discuss with Edward."

His simple, quiet answer made the butterflies inside her stomach fluster all over again

A/N: Finally! Here comes the time without reports and presentations! I love summer! And yes, I've wanted to write a story like this for a while, please bare with me LOL. It won't be too long though, just one or two more chapters and it'll be finished. Hope you enjoyed it :)