Frozen Hearts

By- An Unknown Foreign Beauty

Chapter 21- Fixer-upper

One month later

Kristoff took Anna to all possible places- hospitals, newspaper offices, police stations, all possible places to find a missing person. But everything turned into nothing but a fruitless effort. There were three FIRS about three missing girls named Anna in the local police record, but none of them matched this Anna's description.

"Maybe we must talk to the television station next after having lunch at Orken's." Anna startled with the sound of Kristoff's voice. He was trying to sound a bit cheerful, but when she remembered what she told Kristoff about their future relationship, she returned her gaze to the copy of FIR she was reading, and said very firmly, "No, I want to go home. I need a bath."

"Alright." Kristoff let out a sigh as he led her to his bike parked outside the police station. Anna knew he was disappointed, but she didn't step forward to make the things up with him. She wished he would do something, something crazy to make her agree to join the lunch with him (God knew, she seriously wanted that to happen), but he didn't. He simply rode his bike and started the engine.

Silently, Anna secured the strap of the helmet under her chin and rode the bike behind Kristoff. It felt really good to wrap her arms around him again, and let his warmth filter through her body. Well, she really liked hugging him, sometimes. Memories of his kisses were still alive in her mind, and sometimes she felt like losing herself.

When she looked at herself, she knew that she loved Kristoff for real. Maybe he was guilty for lying, maybe he wasn't her real fiancé, but she could feel his care for her was genuine. When she tried to think reasonably, she could feel that it wasn't his fault that she lost her memory, or couldn't find her real identity after three months of searching.

God, how much she missed his kisses and his warm hugs! But every time she thought about taking a step to fix things up with him, she stopped. It wasn't like that she didn't love Kristoff or anything. She just didn't want to build castles in the clouds anymore.

As a result their relationship continued falling apart…

Their ride home was a silent one. Neither Anna nor Kristoff exchanged a word when they reached home, nor did discuss any further plan about their next searching place. Kristoff parked the bike in the garage, while Anna made her way to the upstairs. She rang the bell, and the door was opened. Kristoff's grandmother welcomed her with a warm hug, and presented with the question, particularly about romantic romps—to which Anna neither confirmed nor denied; she simply threw away her shoes, and stomped towards the bathroom.

When she was about to close the bathroom door, she heard Mrs. Troll speaking to her grandson who entered the house shortly after her arrival, "What is happening between you two?" Her tone was a bit angry and accusing.

"Nothing." Kristoff reined in a sharp retort at his grandmother's tone, but his voice turned curt. "I took her everywhere she wanted to go. I wanted to take her out for a lunch date, but she simply denied."

"Why? Even this morning you two were in good terms." Mrs. Troll said, noting her grandson's warning tone and tempering her own accordingly, "What happened?"

"I don't know. Go, ask her."

"I'm asking you, Kristoff." Mrs. Troll persisted. "I can expect this little sensible answer from her boyfriend."

"I'm not her boyfriend!And I'm tired of being her friend too." Anna heard him shouting finally. Acid dripped from Kristoff's voice, and Anna could feel that even from this distance. She knew he was angry; there was enough reason for him to be angry. She failed to return the love which he wanted to give. How could she, when she had no clear idea about the feeling? How could she build a future when she had no past?

Lies, and lies….everything was a lie. She couldn't build a life in lies anymore.

Anna quickly closed the door and stepped into bathtub to drown herself in the coldness of the freezing water.

Both Kristoff and his grandmother were startled with the sound of the bathroom door shutting very loudly. Mrs. Troll glanced at the now closed bathroom door and turned her gaze back to her grandson, "See what you have done to her?"

"I've not done anything to her." Kristoff said, throwing his coat and shoes away, "I'm doing everything she asks me to do. It is her who is giving me a cold shoulder. That friends thing is certainly not my idea."

"If so, my child," Mrs. Troll said with a congenial smile, peering at him over the tops of her spectacles, "You are not completely innocent. That fake fiancé thing was certainly your idea."

"I tried to apologize, but she hates me. Now, I'm tired of this conversation." Kristoff growled, slamming the bedroom door very loudly in the old woman's face.

Mrs. Troll sighed. She looked at the bathroom door which was still closed. This conversation was going nowhere as much as she tried. These two were like two stubborn children, throwing tantrum like two terrible four years old. And she was tired of dealing with them.

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Kristoff was starting to wonder whether or not he was going insane.

He couldn't understand Anna now-a-days. She kept too much to herself, bottled her emotions in. She was continuously denying his every attempt of making amends for his mistake. They hardly talked with each other, and Anna kept walking away whenever he tried to fix things up with her. And now they their relationship turned into nothing but a companionship- a companionship that she needed to find her identity. And nothing more. Kristoff could tell that when he looked into her eyes, there was only one focus, one goal, one reason to keep going.

And it had nothing to do with him.

Kristoff kind of had his limits, too. And, finally he lost his temper. He said terrible things about her. As much as he wanted to stay away from her, he was attracted to her more and more. Failed to break her shell, he ended up being angry, hurting everyone in the process.

And he always hurt her more and more. He missed her. He missed her words, and her warm, sloppy kisses. He missed the awkward girl without any memory, dressed in lingerie, mistaking him as her fiancé. He missed her everything.

So an hour later, he finally paused outside the bathroom door, bracing himself for the cold glares and angry words that were bound to pour forth from her the moment she saw him, and then knocked gently, "Anna."

No answer.

He heard the bath water slosh, and there was a faint whimper coming from inside. "Anna, are you alright?" He asked worriedly. When there was no answer from inside, Kristoff flung open the door and stalked inside the bathroom, looking for her, and when he saw her, his eyes almost widened with fear.

Anna was sitting in the bathtub, fully dressed. Water overflowed the tub. The tap was open, and the water was pouring over her head continuously. She didn't move, didn't try to rise her head as the water almost reached to her nose. "Anna," Alarm bell went off inside Kristoff's head, as he rushed near her, and turned off the tap. "God, are you trying to drown yourself?" He said, quickly wrapping his arms around her, and pulling her out of the tub. Both of them landed on the bathroom floor together, completely wet. Kristoff felt Anna shivering slightly, and he held her tight. His heart was beating frantically along with hers, and he could feel her tears soaking his shirt sleeve. Carefully, he freed his one hand from her embrace, cupped her chin, and looked at her. Her wet hair plastered to her face; it was so silky and shiny and was definitely something to behold.

Anna blushed as she noticed Kristoff looking at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked, taking the towel from him. Her tone had a bit of the old Anna shining through, and he chuckled, shaking his head.

"No," he admitted. "You just look incredible."

"Thank you." She smirked, pushing her hair back from her face. Anna gave a soft blush, when she realized that she was completely tangled in his arms.

"What happened to you?" He asked her softly, stroking her strawberry-blonde hair lovingly. Anna closed her eyes. His touch felt so warm against her skin as if it was burning her. She wanted to lean to his touch to feel more, but no, she didn't. The wall of lies standing between them didn't let her to do it.

"I fell asleep." She said in a low voice, finally untangling herself from Kristoff, and taking off her wet sweater.

He wished this moment lasted a bit longer. He'd been trying to pick up the courage to just lean in and kiss her, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw her eyes turned cold and unforgiving like before. It was a stupid thought, because he knew she would never love him back. The wall of lies was so thick, that none of them could break it.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, finally gaining her composure.

"I came to apologize." He said softly, getting up from the floor, and brushing away the water from his wet hair, "I'm sorry for losing my temper this morning. I was not myself."

There was so much guilt in his voice, and finally Anna almost felt herself about to break. It was all too much…the feeling…his voice… Oh, how much she wanted to wrap her arms around him, and kiss him full on mouth. But she didn't. Instead, she remained standing where she was.

"I'm not angry with you for losing your temper. I'm just angry with myself." She said, struggling to keep her voice steady. When she looked up at him, she saw him shudder with the coldness of her voice, and she swallowed and drew a deep breath before she could go on. "Please, let me go, Kristoff, I've to change my clothes."

Kristoff thought he heard her voice break, and his conscience tore at him. "Anna," he began and put his hands on her shoulders. "Please…I'm sorry for all the terrible things I said about you."

"Kindly take your hands…" she paused for another shattered breath, "off me."

"No, you must listen to me." Anna heard his voice trembling with the emotion he was not trying to conceal anymore, "Can't you just forgive me? Can't we become more than just friends, once more?"

Anna felt her control collapsing, and she closed her eyes tightly shut, hot tears began to race down her cheeks. She turned around so he couldn't see that she was crying, and she would rather die than suffer that humiliation. Left with no recourse, she bent her head and wrapped her arms around herself, pretending to keep herself warm.

"No, Kristoff." She gently pushed him away from her way, and headed towards the door.

"But why?" Kristoff felt like he was standing at the edge of a cliff, and he had no way but jump in. He would, happily, if Anna wanted him to do, and forgive him in return. But no, she was the most unforgiving woman in the world.

"I don't know." She clutched her wet clothes together, and stormed out of the bathroom.

Kristoff watched her going, and let out a sigh. This conversion was going nowhere as much as he tried. Nor did their search for her identity. Anna was like a stubborn child, continuously refusing hear any of his apologies. Now he didn't know where their relationship was actually heading.

How long he could go on like this? How could she go on like this? Wouldn't they both turn insane at the end of the year, if they kept going on like this?

Keeping all the questions in his mind, Kristoff turned to pick up the laptop from the bathroom cabinet and realized what she'd been doing. In a page of Microsoft word, she'd recorded facts she'd gathered from Wikipedia, facts that she must have known before, but which she had to relearn. Because of him:

Franklin Roosevelt, 35th president of USA. Born 1882. Died 1945. His father was James Roosevelt. Roosevelt held office during two of the greatest crises ever faced by the United States: the Great Depression of the 1930s, followed by World War II.

After every few recorded facts, she'd tried to list similar facts about herself, but there were only blank spaces where easy answers should have been.

My name is Anna_?

I was born in 19_?

My father's name is_?

My fiancé is_?

Guilt and sorrow raged through Kristoff, and he closed his eyes. She didn't know her own name, or her father's, or the year of her birth. Worse, she didn't know where she really belonged- to him, or to anyone else.

The words on the screen felt as if they were hurting his eyes, and he placed the computer on the cabinet, drew an unsteady breath and turned to leave. He would not lose patience with her again, no matter what she said or did, he vowed. He had no right to feel anger or frustration; he had no right to feel anything except guilt and responsibility. Determined to do everything in his power to atone for the hurt he had inflicted on her with his lies—and was going to wait for her to love him back as long as it took—Kristoff headed for the door.

He would wait if it took her forever to love him back.

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It had been one full month since they broke up. It had been a month since she found out his lies. It had been a month since she was trying to forget him. As much as Elsa tried to forget Hans, she began to wonder whether or not she was beginning to lose her mind.

The ice hotel in the North Mountain in Alaska was almost finished. It was only a matter of time to open it up for everyone. She was working on the ice statues that would be use for the decoration of the hotel, and began spending most of her times in her walk-in-cold ice gallery. Even her employees were beginning to worry about her when she started to fly Florida to Alaska twice in a week. Gerda tried to tell her that she really needed rest in her condition, but Elsa paid no attention to her. She packed her schedules with more and more business meetings and foreign tours.

Everything she did to get rid of Hans. But she couldn't get rid of him.

She found him standing outside her office every morning. His car often got stuck behind hers in the traffic somehow. She angled the rearview mirror, and found him watching her with a longing look in his eyes. Whenever their eyes met, he simply looked away like nothing happened.

She wanted to believe it as a coincidence. But she knew it was not a co-incidence. He was following her consciously, keeping track of her silently.

Sometimes they met face to face. He just pretended to read a newspaper or playing with his smartphone, but deep inside Elsa knew he was there actually to see her again. They didn't exchange a word. Hans used to walk away with Eugene, and Elsa silently got inside the car waiting for her at the door. She didn't look back as much as she wanted to, but she knew he was still watching her from behind.

And then she began to miss him more than ever.

She missed him while attending meetings. She was a rubbish when it came interacting with people, and Hans always covered it for her. He took responsibility of the majority of her workloads- like attending meetings, making contracts, meeting foreign partners. She missed him every time she walked into her office. And finally after three months since their separation, Elsa realized that she was alone.

She was alone when she was woken up by her nightmares. She felt alone when she got too sick with the morning sickness. She cried for him when she finally saw their child for the first time in the ultrasonographic picture. She missed his exquisite green eyes, his charming smile, his breathtaking kisses, his everything. His memory was everywhere she went, everything she touched- inside her head, inside her mind, inside her womb. She couldn't just get rid of him.

No, Elsa shook her head. If she ever wanted to forget Hans, she needed to work harder. She checked her schedule; she was due for the grand opening of "Hotel North Mountain" on Friday.

Her phone continued ringing and ringing on the bedside table. She knew it was Hans. He called her every night. Longingly, she looked at his name shining in the screen as long as the phone rang.

At last it stopped ringing.

Couldn't he just stop bothering her? Why could he not walk away from her life leaving her alone?

Now there was only one way in front of her, if she wanted to get rid of him. She needed to escape from this place.

So finally, she picked up her mobile, and called Gerda.

"Can you please book a ticket for me to Alaska tomorrow?" She told her over the phone, "And make sure that Hans doesn't follow me around."

Review? Faves? Follows?

Voting results: Hans- 11 votes, Kristoff- 3 votes, Elsa- 2 votes, Anna- 0 votes.

Me: Sorry Hans, you are elected.

Hans: for what?

Me: To die.

Hans: (terribly surprised) But I've not even submitted my nomination paper.

Me: Sorry honey, it's too late. (Brings out AK-47, and brushfires) Hey why are not you dead? I've shot you 10 times, you are supposed to be dead!

Hans: (Grins evilly) Sorry honey, (unbuttons his shirts.) I'm wearing a bulletproof vest.

Ok, this is not going to happen. Errors are all mine. Consider them nicely.