Hilda woke up, once again she was on her dark cell. She looked around and Dagger was still there, sleeping on an old blanket on the floor. This time she got up with slightly more energy than usual.

She stretched her arms and legs out, leading to her back letting out a small "snap" as her mattress was rock hard.

"Good morning, boy" Hilda greeted Dagger and looked at her and barked happily to her, signifying happiness.

Then Hilda looked around and still saw those shards that she was supposed to clean up and just sighed loudly.

"Yeah, I know." Hilda said to Dagger, just frowning at the sight of those shards on the attic floor.

Hilda got up and grabbed a bag of dog food that she saved in a cabinet and poured it down in a small bowl. Right as she was pouring Dagger's food, the door was unlocked.

"Hey Hilda, we're having breakfast down in the kitchen today. And we have visitors, so please dress something nice for them." Johanna then walked up a few steps before telling her that there is another visitor for her downstairs before walking back down and closing the door again.

At the first minute, Hilda didn't trust her mother for what just happened yesterday. But for now she rolled her eyes and opened the wardrobe, as usual most of her clothing were designed for men, though that usually didn't affect her in anything. After getting done, she went downstairs with Dagger following her like a royal bodyguard.

Sure enough, when she went down, she saw that Jared was already there at the table, drinking a cup of tea. The breakfast was also much more complete than Hilda's usual meal and the table was plenty with different foods.

"Hilda?" Jared was a little surprised to see her in a coat rather than a corset and then just blinked twice before looking away and drinking his tea.

Hilda just rolled her eyes in response and just looked at him just acting like he's in a pub, then the tea in his cup is now empty due to his constant drinking and just forces himself to look at her.

Johanna was taken aback a little since she was surprised that Jared knew her before she even invited him here but she kept herself standing upright, to not look like a fool again after yesterday.

"So, how did you find my mum?" Hilda then asked Jared about how he got invited before walking to a seat across the table from him and then sitting down to look him in the eye.

"You wear a little….thick," Jared described her clothing, specifically her coat, which he points out as a thick clothing and also suggested that she should wear a corset for her status, "I bet your mum will be disappointed at you for this."

She then looks at her mum and sees her just facepalming herself again over her wearing one of her father's clothes when meeting with a person. She just rolled her eyes at both of them before looking back at him again in the eye.

"Also what happened to your eye?" Jared then pointed the scar that ran from her right cheek up to her eyebrow, making a very horrifying look. "This thing shouldn't have happened to a lady of your status."

Hilda felt a sting of guilt and a flash of memory within her and just widened her eyes for a second before rolling them over for him saying that severe wounds are only for the men.

Before she could even explain, Johanna then walks over and clapped her hands in interruption before making a voice.

"Okay, maybe let's start eating breakfast now. I think Hilda here is a little hungry for some food." Johanna then grabs a bunch of plates for them and then places them right at their seats before handing out spoons and forks to the two.

While they were placing food on their plate using their spoon and fork, Jared then see a little bit of ketchup fall on her coat and then began to speak out.

"Hilda, could you remove the coat? It's gonna be stained with the food." Jared then suggested she remove the coat that she is wearing so that her coat wouldn't be stained by the coat, but the stain was so little and Hilda could see deeper intentions about him wanting her to remove the coat.

She was about to speak out against his suggestion but then Johanna came back with her spoon and fork and heard Jared's suggestion.

"Hilda, I think it is best to not wear any thick clothing while eating, please listen to Jared and take it off." Johanna then backed up Jared's suggestion and then asked her to take it off.

She then looked at both her mum and at Jared and since her other eye is blind for now, she can only see Jared just smirking at her, she then reluctantly accepts, but then told Jared that she only does this because her mum said so.

She then began to remove her coat off from her and as she took it off, he then saw Jared change his face from excitement to disappointment as she took it off and placed it down on the floor. She looked down and saw that she actually wore a thin, white shirt under her coat and was feeling glad that she wore the shirt.

After that, Johanna just awkwardly sat down right near Hilda and began eating breakfast for the entire day, just looking at both Hilda and Jared at the same time.

"So, what did you think of the food?" asked Johanna while staring awkwardly at them, hoping to get a response.

"It's good cooking, mistress." Jared anwer while filling his mug with tea again.

"It's the best thing I ate for the past two weeks." Hilda said with a smirk. "Thanks, mum."

After they said their comments, Johanna then let out a sigh and quickly ate, leaving the table silently in hopes that they would start to talk, which fortunately, they did.

"So, why don't you remove your coat then huh? If you are so worried about mine getting stained…." Hilda said while staring at him with her scarred eye.

"You know very well, Hilda." he said while smirking at her, hoping for a positive response.

"Well I bet you are a fun guy to hang out with…." Hilda then stopped….between all the men, he was the most acceptable out of all of them, he was still a weirdo but he wasn't as explicit as the others….so she decided to quiet down. She couldn't lose this chance.

"So, Hilda, do you have any skills? I mean your mother makes fantastic cooking." Jared said with a small smile.

"Well I am good with dogs… or wolves for that matter." Hilda then gave her response to Jared.

Jared's smile disappeared as he realised that the "dog" wasn't exactly a dog… it didn't affect anything but it made him uncomfortable.

"I-Interesting…." he said while staring at Dagger, who was eating some pieces of ham Hilda gave him. "You let him eat from your plate? Your own food?" Jared then added his confusion about how such a high class woman allowed this wolf to live in the house and allowed it to eat her own food.

"Oh no, I just gave him the leftovers, not all of it." Hilda then responded back while also pouting at him for stating that she dumps her food to Dagger if she didn't like it.

"Oh, I see… Where does he sleep?" he asked, mildly concerned for Hilda as he placed his hands on a triangle over his mouth as he landed it's elbows on the table.

"Oh, I just let him sleep right near me. Just a few meters away, to be a little hygienic." Hilda responded to his question, reassuring him that even though she has these flaws, she still considers herself a little more normal.

After that, Jared then began to finish his meal while also thinking on what to do with Hilda as she also continued her meal throughout the entire morning. After a few minutes of being full and sitting down at the table bored, Jared decides to open up by asking her a question.

"So, Hilda. Do you have any plans today?" Jared asks Hilda, still very tired from eating all the food that Johanna prepared and has just heard the question so she didn't understand it for a bit.

"What?" Hilda asks back, having not heard Jared's question since she was bored and tired. "I didn't hear you back there." Hilda then explained to him why she didn't hear him the first time, which made Jared calm.

"Do you have any plans today?" Jared repeated his question, now knowing that Hilda can hear him now.

"No, do you?" Hilda responded back by telling him that she doesn't plan for anything today and then asking him back if he also had any plans today.

"No, well kind of, I have some friends over. Wanna join?" Jared then answers back, telling her that he has some sort of plans today by going to his friends after eating breakfast with them and then adds it up with him asking Hilda if she should come as well.

Hilda then contemplated on what to do, she still has her friends but, can she even consider them friends after what happened between them for the past couple of years, while she's thinking about it, she then thought about her decision. Should she accept it, well it was a probable good choice, would it even matter? Hilda kept thinking and thinking about this for a few minutes until she finally reached a decision.

Meanwhile while Hilda is thinking about what to say to him, Jared is slowly itching his patience away just to keep his cool down and drinking cups of tea while waiting for her response while Johanna looks at them and smiles as she sees her plan working.

Then, after a few minutes of contemplation, Hilda finally made her decision.

"Yes, I'll love to come." Hilda then finally answered, having stretched out the time for a few minutes which almost made Jared sleep again.

"Oh, cool." Jared then woke up from him about to doze off into a sleep and then gave out a neutral compliment to her decision.

"Alright, when are we going?" Hilda then asks Jared for when is the time they'll go to his friends.

"Maybe...later, let's try that," Jared then responded to her question but then paused for a little bit before continuing with his response, "You could dress up something nice for them, to at least make a good first impression." Jared added, telling her to wear something of the standard for his friends so she could make a good first impression.

"Oh sure, maybe we can start that right now," Hilda was a little excited to join his friend group after shattering hers so she was a little eager to meet them, "Maybe you could come upstairs and tell me if what I picked is a good first impression." Hilda then requested Jared to come judge what she chooses since she was a bit nervous about what she is gonna wear since she mostly wears jackets or coats all the time.

"Sure." Jared then said yes to all of her questions and requests, since he really can't wait.

"Great, can't wait." Hilda then exclaimed to Jared about his reply and then immediately went upstairs and closed the door to begin choosing what she is gonna wear.

As he went upstairs and entered her room, the first thing he noticed inside was the coat of dust everywhere and how everything seemed abandoned for years, but that didn't exactly stop him. He looked into the wardrobe and expected to find at least a single piece of feminine clothing.

But it was all just coats and shirts, mostly masculine with here and there and a feminine shoe at the side.

"Hilda, where do you keep all of your dresses?" he asked, looking through the pieces of clothing in her closet, "Or anything feminine for that matter?"

"Well, I don't really have any dresses…and about the feminine stuff, I never really got around buying it, except the…you know, very exclusive stuff. I guess I just didn't need it, none of the dresses fit me right on the chest anyway so I gave up." Hilda explained to Jared.

After hearing her explanation, it made Jared very intrigued about the dresses and why she didn't choose to wear them. He then grabbed a corset and examined it's size, after examining the diameter and the garter, it showed that this corset was only fit for women around 10 to 13 years old.

He then placed the corset back up and examined the other old and dusty dresses that Hilda still keeps in her closet and they were all approximately of the same size and as Jared placed it back, he then sat down on her bed, thinking very hard about what to do.

Hilda then sees Jared thinking very hard on her bed and sat down with him to talk about what's wrong.

"Jared...why are you acting all worried?" Hilda asks, placing her hand on his shoulder while he tenses up as she lands her hand on him.

"I don't know, it's that…….." Jared tried to make an answer but he paused for a little while until he finally thought up an answer, "It's that my friends are very conservative, they don't like seeing you in that coat or anything in your closet that isn't feminine."

Hilda was a little shocked about his friends and slowly released her hand out of his shoulder. Even though David is a little exemplary of her, she knows that conservative friends are worse than exemplary ones.

"I'm sorry to hear that, are there any other alternatives?" Hilda asked Jared, now wanting to see another way around this problem that Jared just made up.

"Maybe...we can make you wear a shirt over your coat, and we tie them with a belt, then we say it's some Norwegian design and they won't suspect it since they don't recognize it. And then we just fill in the bras with something to make it fit" As he said that, Hilda then fully took her hand away from his shoulder.

"What about that second part?" She said with slight confusion as she didn't understand why would she need a bra for that.

"It's because if you look flat they are going to harrass you, or at least just being called names on." Jared then explained why she needs to do it as he quickly came up with that excuse.

"Well…uhhh, I suppose I can ask my mum for one…" she said, trying to remedy the situation.

"Wait, you don't have your own?" He said in a very honest surprise.

"Look I am as flat as you can get, I never HAD to wear one, since I have no problems with it." Hilda then explains why she didn't have any bras since even though she experienced puberty, she didn't need to get a bra, considering that her chest didn't follow along.

Jared then just made a blank face, looking at the ground to think up something to say since she didn't had any and now he fears that this whole thing is gonna fall apart. Then, he finally thought up an excuse.

"Maybe…..we could stuff that part of your shirt with something in it, like a pillow or a blanket, something I guess," Jared then tried going for that route, considering he has no other option left but it was a very desperate move and he knew it, so he changed course very quick, "Or maybe, you could try asking your mum if she could buy her a pair or borrow some of hers."

Hilda, after hearing all of that, just rolled her eyes in slight shame, and went downstairs to make the most awkward request in human history.

"Hey, mum," Hilda said, peeking in the kitchen like a child, asking their mother to come with them to the bathroom because it's too dark.

"Yes, Hilda?" Johanna answered, confused at why would she peek at the side instead of going upfront to her.

"Can I….borrow one of your bras?" she said while flinching, as johanna almost spilled her tea, but she swallowed it again and just sighed loudly.

"One of my what? Why?" She said in genuine confusion. She never needed them, so why would she ask now about it?

"I don't have any, remember? You said I didn't need them since, well" Hilda tapped on her chest to point it out.

"And why would you need them now?" Johanna answered, still confused about it.

Well…….Jared wants me to fit the standards so his friends won't shame him" Hilda said, visibly done with the question.

Johanna simply nodded, and Hilda left the room, going back upstairs and to her mom's closet to get what she came for, and then return to her room with Jared, still sitting on her bed.

"So, did you get it?" Jared asked, looking up at Hilda's face in genuine curiosity.

"Yeah, and they really do fit her size." Hilda then responded back with an answer and also gave him the bra and as he examined it, the cup size of it is very large.

"Well, I have to say, they are quite bigger than what I thought they would" he said with a smirk running down on his face.

"Oh, stop it you." Hilda playfully gave him a soft punch in the shoulder as he said that, still keeping that smirk on his mouth.

"But anyways, how are we going to fill this in, i'll look ridiculous." Hilda then told him that the bra wouldn't fit and snatched it from his hands before placing them on her chest to let him see why.

"Well, just put it on before you wear the thing. Besides, they're not gonna check, right?" he said with some slight concern and a smirk.

"If they do, they will get a kick in the teeth" Hilda said as she threw the bra on her bed.

The rest of the noon was spent trying to make the disguise look as convincing as possible, with belts, shirts and the filling, until Hilda looked more or less what they expected her to.

"This is getting very uncomfortable…" Hilda said as she stuffed the bra with the cloth until it looked more normal.

"Hey don't worry, they won't look too much into the details, now I say we should start heading to their place…" he said while giving her a hug from behind which made Hilda uncomfortable.

"Jared…." Hilda told to him while he was still hugging her, "Not now."

Jared agreed and took off his arms from her and they both went downstairs, Hilda had a lot of trouble walking with teh extra weight.

As they went to the living room, Johanna looked at Hilda with mild confusion about what she looked like.

"Hilda…" Johanna asks, interrupting them on their way out to the door, "Why do you look like that?" Johanna then asks her question, which made Jared a little nervous before coming up with another excuse.

"I think she'll look great in this outfit, madame Johanna." Jared then came up with the excuse and used it on Johanna, which she agrees and continues on reading the newspaper while Hilda and Jared walk out of the door and close it on the way out.

As they got out of the door and walked towards the place where Jared said his friends would meet up, the sweltering heat of a noon would make the shirt already uncomfortable as it is, heating up the inside to almost such an extent that Hilda tried taking the bra off but with little success.

After walking down a few roads for a few minutes, they finally arrived at the place. Jared then called out for his friends through a whistle and they heard it, they ran to him and Hilda and immediately began asking him about daily activities and who is the woman she was walking with.

A few minutes of continuous questioning and talking happened and it got Hilda really bored, but also quite curious about how Jared seemed to be very comfortable around them.

"Well, i guess we can go ho-" Hilda tried to go home after realizing that they weren't talking about her anymore but was interrupted by someone grabbing her shoulder.

"Don't go yet madame, we have plenty of stuff to do, good lookin" A drunk man came up to her and grabbed her shoulder .

"No thanks, and I think I really should mention that I am underage… so…" Hilda queasily removed his hand from her shoulder, "No thanks."

"What do you mean, you look like a fine lady to be out here, with that blue hair of yours." The drunk man said, pointing out her blue hair while still trying to be sober.

Hilda then leaves the place and goes out to find Jared and his friends and she did find his friends but he couldn't find Jared around with them.

"Hey, have you seen Jared anywhere?" Hilda then catched up to them, panting because she was running towards them and it was a distance to reach but she finally reached them.

"What?" One of his friends said, who didn't hear her from a distance and had just heard a bit of what she said.

"I said," Hilda tried telling them what she said earlier but she was a little too tired to continue but she mustered up her energy to continue her sentence until she arrived with them, "have you seen Jared anywhere?"

The friends finally turned from the corner and looked at Hilda, now tired from running all the way from the corner, made much worse with her outfit and the time today but she still persevered and panted hard before catching her breath.

"Oh, he's just with a friend." One of his friends then answered her question, making her more confused than she already was about who this other friend that Jared had.

She peered into the corner that his friends are on and then saw Jared just making a conversation with Kaisa on the fountain on the local square.

"Well…...Christ, tell him that I am almost passing out from…..exhaustion…..so fucking hot" She said as she tried to stretch her collar to let the heat out and also remove some bits in her clothing to let off the heat.

One of the friends called him over with a gesture, and so he handed her a paper and came straight to them.

Meanwhile, Frida and David were on Frida's place, finishing a couple studies and projects. Frida was now beginning to develop some interest in a detective job, anything other than a wife was good enough.

David has been really supportive towards her in the last months, though he was always there for her since Hilda bullied him… that kinda gave him a new perspective on what it is like to be an underdog.

So their relationship was very intimate recently, with them exchanging small compliments and them giving out gifts to each other once in a while but they never tried to tie the knot, knowing the harsh consequence of having an interracial relationship in these times.

Anyways, Frida is now solving an algebra question in her textbook, along with 5 other assignments given to her due to the system giving minorities harder assignments, and is slowly about to struggle answering each of them. David sees her slowly starting to struggle and goes towards her if he can help.

"Frida…..do you need help?" David approaches Frida, solving the question in a table with a lantern right next to her so she could see the questions more easily.

"Uhhh, sure. Could you give me the solution to this problem?" Frida turned around from her seat to David as soon as she heard his question and looked at his eyes to tell him she's listening.

"Oh...great," David then exclaimed, before starting to be curious about Frida's problem in the textbook, "what's the problem, anyway?" David asked Frida, wanting to know about her problem.

Frida then became interested in him wanting to know about her problems and then grabbed his hand and lead him to her study table and showed him her problems one by one so he can choose which problem they can tackle each other with.

After checking every problem, David then thought about what problem should they go first very hard and it just made Frida happy, looking at him just folding his hand onto his chin while holding it on it's elbow with his other hand, she couldn't help but feel a little blush fall on her cheeks before he finally thought up on where to start.

"Maybe, we could start with math," David then spoke, pointing at her math textbook so she could get where he was going with, "so, do you agree?" David then asked, looking at Frida with puppy eyes, making Frida giggle a little while using her hand to cover herself giggling loudly at him looking like a puppy.

"Of course, we coul-" Before they could even focus on her homework, they could hear his dad talking with a familiar voice, a voice only David knows, one that reminds him of the past, the one that still lingers in his mind.

"Who's that downstairs?" David asks, going down before Frida could even ask him what it was about but he's already at the edge of the corner of the stairs that lead to the first floor, and there she was.

The mother of Hilda, the person who had bullied him, tormented him, almost killed him, scared him, is now there, talking with his dad and her mom in the living room. He then rushed back up, trying to be as silent as possible, and then slammed the door up on the way, then just ignoring Frida on her study table and going into a corner of her room, quivering in fear about what will happen next.

Frida, after seeing him just run from the stairs to a corner of her room, just stood up from her study table and then went towards David, still holding up against his legs in fear and worry over the future, and tried soothing him so he could calm down.

"...David?" Frida asked David, worried over the mental state of David after what just happened, soothed him down by placing her hand at his shoulder and feeling the shiver that is coming from his own body and the intensity of his fear.

"Ye-y-ye-y-y-y-ye-yes?" David says, stuttering his response due to his mind now scrambling to fix it and getting a response to her question, which is already making him be on the edge of breaking down. Frida sees this and is now getting extremely worried over her friend and now sits down with him to talk it out.

"...Mind telling me who did you see down there?" Frida nervously asks, making very careful moves, making sure that her questions didn't break him down further.

"I-i-it-i-it-it-it-it-i-it's," David tries to get it through his mouth but with his state of mind slowly crumbling due to past memories and himself quivering hard in fear, his response stuttered and stuttered until he got a clear word,"it was Hilda's mum!" David then screamed loudly but not at the top of his lungs and then ducked his head in between his legs and quietly sobbed.

After she got her answer, she then became very worried after he ducked down and sobbed and then decided to place her arm around him to help calm him down and try to ask him what happened with her mum.

"...can you tell me why seeing her made you worried?" Frida then asked, again stepping on eggs in here to try and not get him to break down again and get answers.

"Do-d-d-d-do you wanna k-k-know how I got here?" David asks Frida, making her remove her arm and then give a face of curiosity as he then takes his head off his legs and begins to recall everything she has gone through.

"At first, I just want to help Hilda out after that time at the lake and I didn't know that it would end up like this," David then begins his explanation with how it began at the lake when they first met Dagger, "then I was asked about if I could marry my friend in exchange for money with our family and thinking it would help her, I accepted their offer,"

David then forwarded his explanation with a memory about his parents asking him about the arranged marriage and his response, "then, after that, she wasn't the Hilda I know a few days back. I think she worked very hard to kick me out of the house, she hid my items, she then blatantly threw my breakfast at her pet, she then tried pushing me off the bed and also while me and Hilda are going to the park, where we will meet you, she then tripped me over for trying to understand what is wrong with her,"

David then extended his explanation with a memory that Frida could also remember and she nodded on the way while also encouraging him to continue, "then, she tried to drown me in the park fountain and also she almost whipped you in the back while tied to a tree, remember? And then at the way back, I just realized a horrible realization,"

David added more to his story, which is also another memory that Frida remembers well and she encourages him silently to continue and then he starts tearing up a little, "then as I got back, I asked Hilda about the arrangement and realized I just got shat upon by her mother because she used contract tricks where they will accept it anyway and then as I tried making solutions where we both benefit, she then just pushed me near to the fireplace and almost burned my face," David then continued on and he was about to continue but then his mind remembers what happens next and now broke down.

Frida then looked at him. She never suspected the scars were this deep. She went closer to him and gave him a big hug as David began to sob loudly as he also hugged her back.

"It's ok… It's ok…. Everything is fine now… no one is after you…" Frida comforted him with all she can do and David just nodded in her hug while he slowly drains out his remaining tears as they both hugged each other in comfort over their problems in life.