Chapter 1

Anna slipped on her gloves as she walked through the park. She shivered and pulled her jacket zipper up as far as it would go, hugging her arms tighter around her middle. She had just gotten off work at the bakery near her apartment. Normally, she wouldn't mind walking home, but lately it had been colder than it usually was this time of year.

As she took the shortcut through the park, she watched the people around her. There was a couple walking on the wooden bridge over the creek. The man had his arms around the woman rubbing his hands up and down her arms, trying to shelter her from the early October chill. A young, teenage girl was sitting at a table listening to music, looking as if she had been crying. Anna's hated seeing such a young girl looking so sad, so when she walked past her, she made sure to smile at the girl, giving a little wave. There was a large man walking a very large dog behind her who seemed to be enjoying all the different smells and people he came across.

Anna was too busy watching the people around her that she didn't notice the tree root that was sticking out of the ground. She stubbed her toe on it and stumbled. She was unable to catch herself and fell into a pile of wet leaves that splashed some mud onto her face and got water in her hair.

Great, Anna thought. Now I'm not only cold, but now I'm all wet.

She brushed off as much dirt and mud as she could and focused on walking home as fast as she could. She was almost at the edge of the field when she heard a deep voice yelling.

"Sven! Get over here. Now!"

Anna looked up just in time to see the large dog she saw earlier, who was much bigger up close, jump up on her. Anna wasn't a very tall person so she was knocked over, on the ground for the second time in ten minutes. The dog started licking her face so Anna turned her head and saw the dog's owner running towards them. He pulled the dog off of her and started apologizing.

"Oh my god. I am so sorry. He pulled away and I couldn't grab him. He's usually not like this. I swear. I just wasn't able to get to him fast enough. I'm sorry. Are you alright? You didn't get hurt did you?" he finally stopped rambling to breathe and ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair.

Anna stared at him for a second before speaking. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just a little dirty." Anna looked down at her bright green shirt and saw mud all over it. The man saw it too and blushed.

"Again, I am so sorry."He didn't really know what else he should say. There were a few moments of awkward silence before he spoke again. "I'm Kristoff by the way. And this is Sven"

"I'm Anna," she said and turned away slightly. "Well...I should get going."

"Oh. Right. And once again, I'm sorry," Kristoff said.

Anna smiled at him and started walking toward her home once again.

She noticed that he was behind her and didn't think much of it. After another minute of him walking behind her she turned around and looked at him strangely.

He blushed again and said, "I'm not following you, I swear. I live over here." Anna noticed that he seemed a little uncomfortable.

"Well then maybe you could just walk next to me instead of behind me, 'cause it's kinda freaking me out," she said blushing slightly as well. After all, he was very attractive.

Kristoff came up beside her with Sven front of him. With him standing beside him she was able to appreciate ho tall he really was. Anna stood at 5'5", and Kristoff had to be at least 6'2". he didn't seem to be too bothered by the cold. He had the sleeves of his red plaid button-up rolled up to his elbows.

He played with his belt loop and a stray string on his sleeve. The silence was growing more awkward by the second. "So what kind of dog is Sven?" Anna asked to break the silence.

Kristoff glanced at her before replying. "Umm...I don't really know. When I was sixteen I found him in a parking lot looking for food.. He was pretty skinny, hungry and really dirty. I took him home and fed him and cleaned him up. My family saw how I took care of him and let me keep him. We've been best friends since." He patted the dog on his side as he smelled the sidewalk.

Anna smiled, picturing a younger Kristoff with a smaller Sven. He would've been a handful.

"That's sweet. I was never allowed to have any pets."

Kristoff noticed Anna's smile drop and decided not to ask.. He noticed that they were almost in front of his house. He was a little bit disappointed as he wanted to keep talking to Anna. He reluctantly came to a stop. "Well, this is my place," he said.

"Oh. Okay. Well...i guess I'll see you around then."

"Yep. See ya." As he turned onto his walkway Sven licked her hand. She laughed softly.

"Bye Sven," she said and patted him on the head. She walked away fighting the urge to turn back around to get one more look at Kristoff.