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"If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again."

– Flavia

Xander's pov

Time froze for me when Bella placed her lips on me. I have dreamt about this moment so many times, that even though it's happening in reality I am not able to believe it.

I don't wait for her to pull back, and start kissing her back with passion. I am finally kissing her beautiful soft lips, and this is honestly better than all the ones I imagined.

We both get lost into each other for a little while, holding each other tightly, and expressing so many of our feelings through our kiss.

It has pain, happiness, sorrow, excitement and passion.

We separate from each other's embrace when we hear the sound of so many cameras clicking our pictures.

Which makes her scared, I know what she is afraid of. People will write about this in the morning, people will blame her for his death, people will call her names. She starts hiding her face by turning her back to the camera and holding onto my chest.

I rub her back, "Hey it's fine? We decided not to think much about what others say right?" I try to calm her down, but instead she starts to cry even more. "I am such a mess Xan" she whispers.

"No you're not. You are a human being, who is allowed to have emotions. You are the most amazing person I know Bella, and if people can't see that then it's their problem, and not yours." I say and wipe tears from her face. I take her hand in mine and come forward to where the media people are standing.

"I would like to happily announce that we are having a baby girl. I know you all are confused about this, so I would like to inform you that the biological father of this child is my best friend Jacob, but unfortunately he is no more in this world as you all know. I want to provide this girl, the best family environment possible, and give her all the fatherly love she deserves. So that's the reason why me and Bella got married. What I have just told you is the only truth in this story, and I request you not to believe anything else. Bella here loved Jacob with all her heart and soul, we know that, Jacob knew that, and her daughter will know that, and she will continue loving him always, but this doesn't mean that she isn't allowed to feel happy again, so I want to request you all to not spread any kind of rumors about her." I gave this explanation to the media because I felt this was needed to be said. People needed to hear the real truth from us, after this if they decide to believe in rumors it's their problem not our's.

I hold her hand in mine, and take her inside the house.

"Are you okay Ella?" I softly ask her, still worried that she'll start crying.

She only nods and whispers, "thank you". I kiss her cheek and tell her "you don't ever need to thank me for anything, I am always here for you."

"Ella I do want to ask you one thing, please answer me honestly because it's important for me to know. Did the kiss mean anything to you?" I ask her.

She looks at me with anger and hurt filled in her eyes, as if I have done something very wrong. "Meant anything to me? Why else do you think I did it? Do I go around kissing people Xander?"

"No no that's not what I meant by that Bella, you know I would never think something like that about you. But you do know how I feel about you, and I want to know if there is a chance for me Ella, you don't know how happy you made me when you placed your lips on mine. How great it felt to finally be able to kiss you the way I wanted to." I try to explain her my side. I won't ever think lowly of her. I hope she knows that.

"It did Xan, but I don't think we should do this. This is not the reason why we decided to get married, this is wrong, what we did was wrong. Jacob wouldn't have liked it. No it's just wrong." She starts rambling as if she is trying to explain this to herself more than me.

"Jacob is not here Ella, he is gone, forever. I do wish and hope everyday that all this is just a bad dream from which we'll wake up and he'll still be here. But Bella this is the reality, he is no more with us. And you'll have to move on, not for me or him but for your own self." I try my best to make her understand.

Yes I am happy that she has feelings for me, but I am also hurt by the fact that she is trying to suppress them. Finally what I wanted to happen is starting to happen but she is not accepting it.

I understand her fears, I do. I also understand that she has been through a lot.

If given a chance I would give up my own life to save Jacob's but it's not possible. It's hard living without him, but we'll have to, because that's just how life is.

I'll have to make her realize, that she has feelings for me, that she can't escape them. I'll have to win her heart over like I should've done in the starting.

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Thankyou so much for 6k reads guys!! This means a lot to me. 💕