Kristoff got dressed and walked out of his room towards the kitchen with a loud empty stomach. He paused for a moment to admire the woman behind the counter as she worked. It looked like she was an expert in her craft, cooking, baking, and cleaning. Maybe she was destined to be a homebody, or a caretaker, either way he was amazed at her speed and grace as she moved with surgical precision throughout the small kitchen.
After a moment, he walked into the open. "Good morning" said the man.
Anna looked up from what she was doing and sent him a warm smile. "Hey there, you like sleeping in or something?"
Kristoff looked at the clock on the wall. "Well it is my day off so... yeahhh."
"Breakfast is almost ready, go sit down." demeaned Anna.
"Oh alright." said Kristoff with a wide smile, his eyes lingered on the girl for a moment before turning around to walk over to the table.
A few minutes later Anna walked over with his plate and hers before returning to the kitchen for their drinks.
"Hey you know you don't have to cook every meal, right?" asked Kristoff, a hint of concern in his voice.
"I know that, but its really the least I could do with you letting me stay here and all. You don't know how much this means to me." said Anna while she looked him straight in the eye.
Kristoff could only smile. "So do you have any plans for today?" he asked with a coy tone of voice.
Anna looked up in thought, only to be distracted by what she saw on the ceiling. "What happened to the ceiling?" she said as she pointed.
Kristoff followed her finger, "Oh, well that is a story for a another day." he said with a lighthearted chuckle.
Anna shrugged and answered his question. "Um, no not really, I mean I was going to look in the classified for a job, but other than that, not really. Why?"
Kristoff looked down at his plate to take another bite before answering. "I was thinking, maybe if you wanted to hang out or something, I know some cool places to go."
"Why don't we just take Sven for a walk? If that's alright with you. I mean I don't really feel the need to go anywhere specific ya know?" said Anna.
Kristoff looked almost disappointed. He glanced at his dog, and nodded in agreement wit her. "Alright, that sounds good."
After breakfast, the two got dressed and ready to go out for a walk. Anna put the leash on the dog, and went out first, with Kristoff following behind her after locking the door. The pair headed off.
At the park, the two had followed the trails for what felt like hours, just engaging in simple lighthearted conversation, neither of them talked about their pasts at all. They just really tried to enjoy spending time together.
"So, do you think you will go back to school?" asked Kristoff.
Anna looked at him, her cheeks flushed a little red before looking away. "I think at some point, I will. But right now I just need to focus on getting back on my feet. The past few years have been really long..." said Anna in a soft and coy voice.
"Ok, yeah that makes sense." Kristoff nodded. "I think you should take your time. The world can wait. You have your whole life in front of you honestly."
Anna smiled at him. "What about you? What are your plans?"
"Me? I already finished school." said Kristoff.
"I know that, I saw your degree on the wall. What I am asking is like, are you going to stay in the apartment forever? What about family? You know what I mean, right?" asked explained Anna.
Kristoff's face fell at the mention of family, it had been years but time was not enough to make it hurt any less. No, those wounds would always feel fresh, for both of them.
Remembering his long lost sister, his only family, Anna immediately knew what she did. "I'm sorry, Kristoff. I didn't mean to upset you." pleaded the young red head.
Kristoff stopped walking and looked at her, soft smile on his face, her reprieve. "Right now, Anna, you and Sven are my family, and that's all I need right now."
Satisfied with his answer, she turned to the bench she used to sit on. "I used to watch you, you know?" said Anna.
"Huh?"
"You seem a lot happier now than you did back then, do you know why that is?" asked Anna.
Kristoff smiled at her seemingly trick question, his clever answer, "Probably the same reason you are too."
At that they both blushed, neither of them really needed to acknowledge that the other made them happy or at least feel better. Both members of the pair felt an emptiness on some level, but together, somehow they fulfilled each other with mere presence alone. It might be for the right reasons or it may be for the wrong reasons, because they are both at different points in their lives, here they were, at the crossroads, together.
Soon they found themselves in an isolated part of the park, walking so close they were almost touching. They could practically feel the magnetism in their hands. A small gesture, he wanted to, badly, but he was entirely unsure of anything at the moment. His saving grace had the answer for him, as if she sense what he was feeling.
"It's alright, here take my hand." said Anna softly, holding out her hand and a smile on her beautiful face.
Kristoff stumbled on his own breath while taking a deep one. He took her hand. Here they are, in a context unknown, hand in hand, the only thing they knew for sure was the feeling spreading from their fingertips, bliss, being lost in the moment, living in it.
After a few more steps, Sven began to growl, pulling the pair from their thoughts and silence.
Kristoff's eyes shot south toward his dog. "What is it buddy?" he looked around, seeing nothing.
Anna's head snapped around to look at Kristoff, fear and confusion painted on her face, she unconsciously squeezed his hand harder. "Kristoff, what's wrong with Sven? What's going on?" asked the young woman with grave concern.
He pulled her closer, "I am not sure, but Sven is sensing something is off. Let's get out of here." stated the blond man.
Out of the deafening silence, Kristoff heard a twig snap. Behind him a masked man had appeared, slowly making his way towards them. Kristoff curled Anna into his chest with one arm and holding and angry and charging Sven wit the other.
In an incredibly loud voice, "You come any closer and you going to have two hundred and ten pounds of problem, buddy. Not to mention one really pissed off dog up your ass." roared Kristoff.
If Anna had not been with him, in all honesty, Kristoff would have just proceeded to fight the man, back then, he had no issues fighting, in fact if anything, a little pain made him feel more alive, but not today. He didn't want to be that man anymore, and the reason was standing right in front of him.
His threat made the masked man stop in his tracks for a moment. But then he spoke up, "The girl." said the man in a muffled voice due to the mask. He pulled a switch blade out of his pocket and flung it open and using it to gesture for Kristoff to send her over.
Kristoff looked down to the red head girl the he had clutched to his chest, "Take Sven and run home and lock the door." said the man in a rather scary tone. Fear sparked within her from his words, and she did as she was told.
As soon as Anna took off running the masked man did too. Kristoff had all the justification he needed to beat the living hell of the other man. Kristoff took off after the man, Adrenalin making him run twice as fast as he normally could. He intercepted the masked mans path, blind siding him. In a wild maneuver the other man had swung around and slashed at Kristoff catching him in the shoulder and cutting him deep despite the layers of heavy fabric that covered him.
Kristoff couldn't feel the wound in the moment, to him all he felt was a snag on his skin and some lasting pressure. After taking a couple of hit from Kristoff, the other man had dropped the knife and lay on the ground helpless. With an eerie calmness, Kristoff walked over and grabbed the collar of the masked man and picked him up with one hand, slamming his back against a nearby tree and suspending him there.
"You are going to piss blood for a week after this." said Kristoff to the man. He stated delivered several of the hardest punches she could to the man's kidney.
After five or six of them, he dropped the man on the ground and kicked him in the chest before walking off, towards home, towards Anna. The thought made him walk a little faster.
He came up to the door and paused for a moment to catch his breath and try to regain his composure after coming down from his adrenalin high.
"Anna, it's me." he said as he knocked.
"Kristoff!" said the girl once she opened the door.
He found himself enveloped in a hug from the woman, despite the pain, he hugged her back.
Anna caught him wincing out the corner of her eye, immediately concerned she asked, "Hey are you alright?" as she pushed herself off of him, to look him over.
"Yeah, I am good. I need a band aid though. Eh, maybe a couple." said the man as humorously as he could.
"What happened?" asked the young woman as she helped him out of his jacket and shirts.
"long story short, I think, I got my point across, I hope." he said with a lighthearted chuckle.
Now that Anna had him down to his bare chest, she could see the full extent and depth of his wound. She let her eyes wonder for a split second, notating that while Kristoff wasn't exactly ripped like superman, his muscles were still very large and firm looking, he was strong like a working man. She shook the thoughts from hear head and once again focused on tending to him.
"Oh my god, Kristoff!" said Anna as she covered her mouth to keep from screaming.
"It's not as bad as it looks, Anna." said Kristoff in an attempt to calm the young woman.
Anna gave him a disbelieving look, "It must be an inch deep at least. You need stitches."
"aw hell no! You couldn't pay me enough to have them come anywhere near me with a needle." said the man as he got up to go to the bathroom, where he kept the medicine box and first aid kit.
"You sit your ass down." hissed Anna as she pulled him back into the chair at the kitchen table.
Her sudden act of violence, however insignificant, stunned Kristoff into silence for a moment. Her face was red with an emotion that he could only assume was anger, still he was confused about the tears he saw building in her eyes.
Anna did her best to hide it, but to him it was clear as day.
"You damn near had your arm cut off and your telling me that your worried about getting stitches?" asked Anna incredulously.
He looked at her with minor irritation, "I don't do needles. Period." said the man with a scoff.
"Your an idiot." she said with a wave of her finger in his face. "Where do you keep the medicine box and stuff?"
"Under the bathroom sink." stated Kristoff.
He watched the woman huff off and fetch it. The sway of her hips took his pain away for a second.
A moment later she had returned from the bathroom, box in hand. She quickly emptied the contents onto the kitchen table.
"Hey don't make a mess, I just needed a couple of band aids." said Kristoff, again with a hint of irritation in his voice. "Why are you crying? I am the one who is bleeding." said the man in a much softer voice.
"Just shut up. My god your stupid." said Anna.
She went to the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels and wet them in cold water, which she then pressed against his wound, holding it there until his teeth were chattering at a satisfactory frequency. Once the area was cleaned and dry, Anna used the included tape to close that gash as best she could before covering it with gauze and bandages.
"You need to keep that arm still for a day so the healing can begin. You also ruined your jacket and shirts." stated Anna.
"I kind of figured as much."
She got right up in his face this time, "When someone has a knife or a gun, you RUN, you don't stay and fight them like a dumb ass, dumb ass."
Kristoff cleared his throat, "Your kind of feisty there aren't ya" said the man with a smile.
Anna stood up and glared at him before going to the kitchen and bringing back a glass of water and some pills.
"Here take thees." offered Anna.
"Oh, gladly, thank you for your help." said Kristoff.
"So... if he was the one with the knife and your still alive, dare I ask what you did to him?" asked the red headed woman.
Images of the fight flashed in his mind, and a smile came to his face. "I just roughed him up a bit, that's all." said the man.
Again Anna gave him an incredulous look. "Whatever. Just go sit on the couch."
Kristoff complied with the younger woman request while she cleaned up the mess on the table. Half an hour later the pills had kicked in while the two of them sat there watching a television show. Anna felt the head of the shirtless blond man next to her sink onto her small shoulder as he faded off to sleep. Soon she too felt a yawn coming on, indicating that she herself wasn't far behind.
so what do you all think so far? i would love to hear your thoughts please.