The parts of this chapter written in italics are flashbacks.

CHAPTER 2

Elsa hurried inside the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. She waited for the doors to close and turned around to examine her looks in the mirror behind her.

She was surprised she had actually managed to dress herself decently, given that she'd left in such a hurry. She was wearing a pair of light-blue skinny jeans, tucked into silver-grey, knee-high boots, a purple blouse accompanied by a dark green scarf and a black leather jacket – a gift from Jack – which hugged her form perfectly.

Her hair, on the other hand, was a complete mess so she hurriedly put it into a loose braid. Then she then turned her attention to the dark circles under her eyes and frowned, touching her face gently. Rummaging through her bag, she finally found her foundation and quickly applied some under her eyes. This did not erase the tired look but at least it masked its more visible traits. Finally, she took out a tiny flask of perfume and applied some behind her ears and on the inner sides of her wrists.

She looked at her watch just as the doors of the elevator slid open. Realizing she only had 15 minutes before her class started, she cursed under her breath and rushed towards the exit.

"Good morning, Kai!" she greeted the porter, as she sprinted out of the apartment building.

"Good morning, Miss Elsa! Have a nice day!" the man called after her but she barely heard him.

She ran to her bike, chained outside the entrance of the building, and took her keys out to unlock it. Leaving her bag in the basket in front, she grabbed her helmet from the side of the steering wheel and secured it on her head. Without a second to spare, she mounted the bike and went on the bike lane, pedaling as fast as she could towards the university.

She shivered slightly, when the cold November air brushed against her face. The good thing about it was that the breeze was refreshing. The bad thing was that, judging by the temperature, it would start snowing soon and she wouldn't be able to ride her bike to the university anymore, or anywhere else for that matter.

Elsa frowned at the thought. She could just foresee the conversation she would have with Jack, who would insist on driving her to class every morning and would refuse to hear anything about her using the public transport. That, however, wasn't the only reason why she hated the idea of not being able to use the bike in winter. The main reason why she loved biking was that it helped her clear her mind and have some alone time.

The bike was yet another gift from Jack, who had bought it for her after she had refused his offer to buy her a car. He had insisted that, regardless of its central location, his apartment was still far away from the university and a car would be useful to her. So, after she had dismissed his offer as an unnecessary expense, he'd bought her a bike. It was still an expensive model, but she'd decided to just accept it and enjoy it.

Although biking to class would take her a good half an hour, Jack's apartment was indeed not that far away from the university. At least not as far away as her parents' house used to be.

Her thoughts went back to the house she used to call home. It had been a gorgeous two-storey house located in the suburbs, which had given her and Anna the opportunity to grow up in a safe, peaceful environment. The house had had both a front and a back yard, allowing plenty of space for games and outdoor activities. As kids, whenever the weather was unwelcoming, she and Anna would imagine the house was a castle and would pretend they were princesses – they would wear their old Halloween fairy costumes and run around, supposedly dancing to imaginary music in an imaginary ball room.

Elsa smiled at the memory. Everything had been so simple back then… before the accident…

The smile vanished from her lips. Shaking her head, she let out an annoyed sigh. She didn't want to think about this in the best of times let alone now when she was late for class. Unfortunately, it was too late – the painful memory had already invaded her thoughts.

She had been ten years old and Anna had just turned eight. It had happened on a sunny morning a few days before Christmas…

The sound of small footsteps stirred Elsa from her sleep. She felt the mattress sink under the weight of whom she assumed was her little sister.

"Elsa! Wake up!" Anna exclaimed, shaking her slightly. "There's snow outside!"

"Anna… go back to sleep," she replied in a drowsy voice.

"But it's morning already! I wanna play!" Anna insisted and, after getting no response, she leaned forward and whispered in Elsa's ear. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

At those words, Elsa's eyes shot open and a smile graced her lips. She pushed herself of her pillow and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, earning a happy squeal from her little sister, who jumped to the floor and quickly ran to the door.

The two of them tip-toed downstairs, careful not to wake their parents, as they passed by the master bedroom. Once they reached the door leading to the back yard, they slipped their bare feet into their winter boots and grabbed their jackets before running outside.

They jumped around in the newly fallen snow and made a few snow angles, relishing the fresh morning air. Satisfied with the experience, they started making large piles of snow, smoothing them out to form spheres, which they then used to build their snowman. After half an hour of uninterrupted effort, their masterpiece was complete. They stepped back to examine it and realized that somehow, despite their own size, they had managed to make the snowman quite big. Anna was so excited about it, that she started climbing it. Before Elsa could react, her younger sister slipped and fell to the ground.

"Anna!" Elsa gasped in horror and rushed towards her.

She took Anna in her arms, realizing that her sister had hit her head on a rock underneath the snow. Anna was unconscious and bleeding from a dreadful looking gash on the side of her head.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Elsa shouted with tears in her eyes.

They'd had to take Anna to the hospital, where she had been kept for observation for about a week. Consequently, Anna had spent Christmas – her favorite holiday – in a hospital bed. After the event, their father had forbidden her from playing with Anna outside the house without any adult supervision.

Even to this day Elsa felt guilty for what had happened. Yet she had to admit – every cloud had a silver lining. If it hadn't been for this accident, she would have probably never met Jack.

As she took another turn on the bike lane, she mused how the fact that she was now living with him still seemed rather surreal at times, mainly because it was something she hadn't planned to happen for at least another couple of years. Contrary to her plans, however, it had kind of just happened.

Following the accident, she had become overprotective of Anna. The instinct to take care of her little sister had intensified even more when their parents had died four years later. She still vividly remembered the night when the police officers had appeared at their front door with the news of the car crash.

That night, life as she'd known it had come crashing down and from a sixteen-year-old she had turned into an adult overnight. All responsibilities had fallen onto her – food, bills, the house and, most of all, Anna. Of course, her parents had left them both a considerable amount of money, but that had solved only one of her problems.

Luckily for her, Jack had arrived as soon as he had heard the terrible news. He had just started his second year of university, but had abandoned his studies with no hesitation and rushed to her assistance. He had helped arrange the funeral and deal with all other formalities, from closing bank accounts to sorting through her parents' belongings. He had remained by her side until he had been sure both she and Anna were emotionally stable enough to stay by themselves. After returning on campus, he would give her a call every day to check up on her. If he couldn't call, he would always make sure to at least text her. Thinking back, Elsa realized that it had been about that time when their friendship had started growing into something much more special.

Living in her birth house after her parents' death had been painful for her. Their home hadn't been the same without them and she'd known Anna had felt the same way. However, she had decided they would remain in the house at least until Anna had finished high school.

At the beginning of Anna's first university semester, Jack had suggested it might be a good idea for the younger girl to live on campus. His argument had been that it would help her make friends much easier, which, knowing Anna, would make her very happy. He had said it was time for her to let her little sister grow up. Deep in her heart, Elsa had known he'd been right and despite her reluctance to make such a drastic decision, after discussing it with Anna, they had agreed the house had held too many memories and in the end they had chosen to sell it. It had been time for them move on from the past.

Soon after, Anna had moved to live on campus, sharing a dorm room with a girl by the name of Astrid. She had been happy that her little sister was making her own way in the world.

Just when Anna had been about to move out of the house, however, Elsa had suddenly realized that she herself had had nowhere to go. She had been so preoccupied with making sure Anna found a place to live, that she had completely ignored looking for one of her own. She definitely hadn't wanted to live on campus – too many people for her taste – and it had been too late for her to apply anyway. Staying in the house had been out of the question because they had had to vacate it as soon as possible. When she had shared her problem with Jack, he had smiled and told her it had all been settled the moment she had decided to sell the house. She had looked at him with a question in her eyes and he'd explained that she would simply move in with him.

It had taken this much for Jack to decide the future of their relationship. Yet, while they had been together for nearly three years, Elsa hadn't been convinced that living with him had been such a good idea. One would think their relationship hadn't been going well. On the contrary, it had been perfect. However, in her mind, moving in with him should have occurred only after she graduated and it happening prematurely had messed up her plans. Surely, she had considered living with Jack and maybe even marrying him and having a couple of kids, but she'd wanted to develop herself professionally first. She'd wanted to build a career as an ice sculptor – this had been her dream.

But she hadn't really had a choice.

Of course, Jack had done everything possible to make her feel comfortable. At that point he had already been playing for The Guardians – one of the more successful ice hockey teams in the country – for four years and had also been one of the team's stars, along with Bunny and Kristoff, so it hadn't taken much time for him to become financially stable. That had enabled him to afford the huge apartment they were living in.

The apartment itself was part of a luxurious building, located next to one of the largest parks in the city. Structurally, it was a mixture between a maisonette and a penthouse. The main floor consisted of an open plan kitchen and living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. The living space was bright and tastefully furnished. While the interior design was undeniably minimalistic, it provided for a comfortable and homey environment. Similarly, the bedroom was spacious but cozy, equipped with a king size, bed stands, a wall wardrobe and a make-up desk, which he had added after her arrival. The bathroom, of course, had to be proportionate to the rest of the apartment, which made it quite large. Elsa, pragmatic as she was, thought it was a complete waste of space but secretly she loved the fact that it was big enough to fit a Jacuzzi tub.

In one of the corners of the living room there was a spiral staircase, which led to the upper part of the apartment. The second floor had been a rooftop balcony, which Jack had turned into something entirely different. What used to be a completely open space was now covered with a large glass construction. The improvised room had a special air-conditioning system installed which allowed for a constant subzero temperature throughout the year. This was Elsa's atelier. Jack had designed it for her, so that she could work on her ice sculptures whenever she pleased.

The cold room, as they called it, had already been there, when she'd arrived, which led her to believe Jack had been planning to ask her to move in with him since before he had bought the apartment. The thought had scared her a little. But in the end, everything seemed to have fallen into place and Elsa had started enjoying her life with Jack more and more. Two years later she couldn't imagine living without him.

Suddenly, Elsa realized she had reached the university. Getting off her bike, she quickly locked it to a post. Then she ran towards her classroom.

A/N: I hope you had fun reading :)