The weather was turning colder with winter surely approaching, and still no letters had arrived. But she at least had the warmth of Kristoff's company and friendship. Things returned to normal between Anna and Kristoff. Both of them knew there was an uncomfortable question mark still underlying their friendship; they hadn't talked about it since the audition. But to Anna's relief, Kristoff hadn't pulled any moves like he did after school that one time. And Anna made sure not to say anything that might indicate interest or that might lead him on. Their friendship was in a grey area, but she liked it how it was now right now and didn't want anything to change.

Anna was sitting in the living room on the floor by the coffee table. She had been knitting light blue mittens for Elsa, who would be coming home for winter break any day now.

She better be coming…

Anna sighed. Elsa had a lot of explaining to do. She was relying on those letters to help her survive this awful time alone. The mail came around noon everyday, and Sylvia always brought the mail in and set it on the coffee table. And every day after school Anna would sift through the letters, hoping there was one for her. But there were none so far.

There had been a bad storm Friday and Saturday, so no mail except for domestic postage could get through on those days. And yesterday was Sunday so there was no mail service that day. So Anna's hopes had been higher for today's mail delivery. But when Anna came back from school today and sifted through the mail, again there was no letter.

It's alright. She's going to be back any day now.

Anna continued knitting as she reassured herself and worked through her thoughts. She didn't know when she'd be coming back, because that's something that Elsa would've told her through her letters. Anna guessed that Elsa would contact her once she landed or arrived home.

She continued to knit in order to avoid the slight stinging in her chest from Elsa's neglect. She didn't meet someone else, did she? I mean, it's great that she's making friends…but what if she met someone more important than me?

Drained out by her anxious thoughts, Anna laid herself on her back and looked up at the ceiling. At least she had Kristoff. She started thinking about him, about his disheveled hair and burly frame. He wasn't bad at all. Maybe if Elsa didn't exist and if they weren't "siblings", then maybeit could happen? She chuckled to herself. The idea seemed almost ridiculous. Kristoff felt like a brother and friend more than anything else. And she was irresistibly fond of Elsa.

Love?

Anna really wasn't sure what the feeling was, but she knew it was the strongest feelings for anybody she'd ever had. She was young, but old enough to know what she wanted. Even when Elsa had been away for a while without any contact, Anna yearned even stronger for Elsa's arms to wrap around her body again. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her chest, imagining Elsa's embrace. But she felt a tinge of disappointment as her own arms around her body further emphasized Elsa's absence. She decided to push the pain out of her head and focus on the present.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling again. Earlier that day Kristoff had excitedly informed her that he had gotten into Galton Conservatory of Music, early admission, with a full scholarship. They were going to dinner to celebrate soon, in about an hour. She would've invited her father, but he was out on a business trip for a couple days.

"I couldn't have done it without you Anna," Kristoff said beaming.

"I can't believe this…full scholarship? That's incredible!"

Anna went in for a hug, but she stopped herself. "Uh..er…high five!"

Kristoff chuckled and gave her a high five. He understood. "Let's go out to dinner or something. I'll treat!"

Anna hesitated for a second giving the notion some thought, but this was a worthy cause of celebration. "No, I'll treat!"

They clumsily high-fived again.

Anna was shaken from her memory when she heard footsteps thudding down the stairs. She stayed silent as she recognized them to be Hans's; his footsteps were lighter than Kristoff's and he walked with a kind of proud gait.

She knew she was out of sight on the floor, hidden behind the couch. Hans was rustling with something in his hand, a piece paper perhaps. He was walking toward the kitchen, and as he neared the couch that Anna was right beneath she heard him smacking his mouth on something. She laid perfectly still hoping not to make a sound as she heard him pour himself a glass of something. The thickness of the liquid made it sound like milk. She heard the trashcan lid open as he threw something away and then the metal lid shut closed with a clang.

As he took the glass upstairs, Anna quietly lifted her upper torso to take a peek. His backside was to Anna now, and he was carrying a glass of milk in one hand and a sheet of paper in another.

When he was finally up the stairs and out of sight, Anna sat up in safety, relieved that she didn't have to interact with Hans. She made it an objective to stay away from him.

Deciding that she'd had enough of knitting today, Anna started to clean up her area. She raveled in the new wool she bought earlier that day, and gathered up the unfinished mittens into one of her arms. She picked up the ripped tags and scraps papers that she'd ripped off the new wool yarn and stood up to go throw the scraps away into the kitchen trashcan.

Anna stepped onto the foot lever and the trashcan lid came up. She brushed the scraps out of her hands and they fluttered into the trashcan. Just as she was about to step off the lever, something caught her eye that made her take a closer look.

Peering closer into the jumble of garbage, Anna saw what looked like a small cardboard box with a few crumpled silver foils littered around it. Under one of the scraps she just threw away, she saw the lid of the small box and one word that further fueled her curiosity.

"-colates"

She reached in and picked up the small lid, which was about the size of her hand. The cover was adorned with decorations and intricate designs that made the box look quite fancy. It was the words on the box that made whole body stiffen.

"Melgeona~The United Kingdom's award winning gourmet Chocolates"

She dropped her knitting material, and the metal needles clattered at her feet. Anna felt her heart thump faster in her chest. Her breathing became heavier as she read the box over and over, rapidly comprehending the information.

United Kingdom. The Royal Academy is in the United Kingdom. Chocolates…she promised to send me chocolates. No…it can't be…

Her mind backpedaled to a couple minutes ago, replaying the aural memory of Hans dropping something into the trashcan and pouring himself a glass of milk.

Milk and chocolate…

A lightening bolt of realization shot through her body as she whipped her eyes toward the stairs.

The piece of paper in his hand…could it be!?

Leaving her knitting material on the floor, she shot up the stairs. When she reached the hallway she saw that Hans's door was slightly ajar. She made up her mind to advance as quietly as possible, tiptoeing silently toward his room. As she peeked in between the small opening, she felt her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

Her jaw dropped open when she witnessed it all. Hans was on his bed lying down on his stomach reading the same piece of paper. She saw him turn it over, but seeing that there was nothing on the back, he folded it up. He pulled his body to the side of his bed toward his nightstand. He opened the middle drawer and pulled out a larger envelope that looked like it was holding other small papers similar to the one in Hans's hand. He inserted the paper into the larger envelope, closed it, then neatly put it back into the nightstand drawer.

Are those all her letters!?

Before Hans got up from his bed, Anna bolted from her position in front of his door and shot her way across the hall into her room as silently as possible. She flew onto her bed and curled into a fetal position. If he looked in it would look like she was napping. She perked her ear upwards to hear him in the hallway. It was difficult to hear with the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.

She heard him open his door wider and start down the hallway towards the stairs. His car keys were dangling. He was going out.

Anna waited for the sound of the garage door closing downstairs. She paused for a moment, then sprung up from her bed and made her way to Hans's room. She slid through the wide opening and bent down near his bed to open the drawer. She found the big envelope and opened it, carefully pulling out all the pieces of paper and laying them on the ground before her. She took one in her hands, but hesitated for a moment. She took a deep breathe in to try to calm herself, but couldn't wait. Hands trembling, she opened the letter.

A small whimper escaped from Anna's throat. She covered her mouth. The writing started to blur from the tears forming in her eyes. It was Elsa's neat and small writing.

Dear Anna,

I miss you. Why haven't you be-

"What the hell are you doing in my room!?" Hans barged in. His voice was angry and frantic. Anna hadn't heard him coming up the stairs. She remained in her position kneeling on the floor, motionless in disbelief. Tears were streaming down her face.

Hans…

She sharply turned around. She'd never felt such fury in her life. She'd never felt so betrayed or deceived. "What the FUCKare these doing in your room?!" She held up the letter in her hand, demanding an explanation. Her eyes were wild with rage and her face was growing hotter by the second.

"What in god's name…I mean, did you seriously…did you seriouslyopen MY mail from Elsa and keep it hidden from me!? Have you been eating MY chocolates?!"Anna felt her hot, angry tears stream down her face but did nothing to wipe them away.

Hans looked at her with a fearful expression. He looked stupid and awkward, just standing there staring at her. His mouth was half open and he was gawking at her without saying anything.

"Well!? You better tell me what the hell is going on, rightnow." Anna was huffing in and out, unable to control her rage. Behind Hans she saw Kristoff peer uneasily in from the doorway. "Anna, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

She couldn't take it anymore. She turned around and picked up all the letters, gathering them into her hands. She turned around and ran out of Hans's room past Kristoff and sped into her room, locking the door behind her. She threw herself on the bed still cradling the letters in her chest. She was crying uncontrollably. She lay in a fetal position for a while, letting herself cry. She couldn't believe Hans did such an evil thing.

When her bawling turned into a mild weep, Anna decided she was ready to read the letters. Hiccupping between sobs, she gingerly opened all of them in front of her in order, putting the ones dated first to the left and the ones dated most recent to the right. She paused to retrieve a tissue from a desk. There was fluid flowing from all over the place on her face. She needed to compose herself and clear her eyes out to read.

She saw that the letters got shorter as time passed by. Elsa had probably been utterly disappointed at Anna for not writing back. Anna couldn't help but feel like she betrayed Elsa even though she had nothing to do with this disastrous situation.

But she kept writing.

Anna looked at the last letter to her right that was dated most recent. It was short and to the point. She picked it up to take a closer look.

Hi all,

I'm returning to Arendelle December 16th. The jet is scheduled to arrive at the gate around 8pm. I hope to see some of you there. Happy Holidays.

Cordially,

Elsa

Anna gasped. Todaywas December 16th. She jumped out of her bed and went to her desk to look at the mini calendar resting on her shelf to double-check.

Monday, December 16th.

She looked down at her unisex watch, the gift from Elsa.

7:07pm.

Anna froze in thought for a moment, taking it all in. The mail had delayed for two days and hadn't come yesterday because it was Sunday. They would've gotten this letter last week, but they got it today.

I have to go meet her at the airport. Now.

She looked down at her jewelry box and grabbed the heart necklace she'd gotten from Elsa. She clumsily tried to latch it around her neck but her fingers were frantic and trembling, so she thrust it into her pocket.

Her eyes darted across her room, making sure she wasn't leaving anything behind. If she took the bus she'd be there well before 8pm. She grabbed her wallet and shoved it into her pack pocket. She sped out of her room, and ignoring Kristoff and Hans who were both still in Hans's room. It was then that Anna realized that when Hans was leaving earlier, he was heading to the airport to pick Elsa up.

I'm coming Elsa. Hold tight.