~ The next day, Rosa's birthday ~

Diana POV:

Okay, my little house has gotten clean up, it looks as good as new. But that doesn't matter. Today's the big day, Rosa's birthday, let's do it.

I am sitting in her office, waiting for her to come. I sip on the cup that holds water. She finally comes in, she sees me... of course doesn't seem surprised at all... she knew that I was here already... great I can't even surprise her anymore. Awesome.

"Hey, Rosa," I say trying to sound as happy as I can. Which works... for now.

"Hello, Darling, to what do I owe the pleasure?" She asks me casually.

"So, I got myself a plan, today's your birthday, why don't we go out, I have a great day planned," I ask, knowing that she will say yes.

"Oh? Well, color me intrigued, okay, let me just get ready" Rosa says as she starts to get up, but I stop her.

"No don't worry, I have clothes ready for you. It's on the sofa, I will go out while you dress up, and then we can go" I say and leave the room.

After around 20 minutes, she comes out. I, too have changed, so now we look magnificent, she has a violet dress, that even with little muscle bulges looks amazing, I'd say it even helps. I have myself a silver dress, just the same as hers, we are matching.

Rosa looks at me and nods pleased. I do the same and say.

"Follow me"

As we walk around Arendelle, we come up to the most expensive restaurant, that only the richest of people come to, the only other bar, that can still compete with us. But we will take over, mark my words.

"Oh, how grandiose," Rosa says as we walk up to it.

The waiting boy looks up and asks for our names.

"Diana Frost and Rosa Knight," I say.

The waiting boy checks his paper, nods, and lets us through.

We walk in, we are led to our table and we sit down.

"Quite a place you got us in, impressive," Rosa remarks.

I smile at her.

We wait for the food and wine to come, when they come, we start small talk.

"So, Rosa, how was your day? I can't be the only one that tried to do something extra for you, right?"

"There were a few others, but I declined all other plans, I knew that you would invite me, Elrik told me you pestered him about the date," She says smiling back.

My smile falters a little... Of course, she knew, she knows everything, has to know everything... I sigh slightly and try to continue as if nothing was wrong.

"I am glad that you waited for me to invite you" I try to sound as sincere as I can.

"Well, of course. You're the most important person to me, there's no way I'd decline it or accept anybody else for that matter"

That should sound wholesome and kind to me... but it just doesn't, it's like I am a trophy at this point, if I was truly this 'important' she'd realize that she's going around the things wrong,

getting me a bodyguard? Spying on me, like for fuck sake, it's like I am a trophy, that needs to be watched, my surprise birthday invite wasn't a surprise at all, she didn't keep her day off because she thought I'd spend her birthday with her, she knew about it. That's just... whatever, stop thinking about it, it's her day, control the other emotions.

"Hehe, that's good, so how's the food? You think it competes with ours?" I ask trying to mask my mood and changing the topic.

"It's definitely good, but ours is very close, I think we might be better overall, the service is good, but this is only for the rich, so we will be number one soon enough and with you? It will be easy, you're amazing after all"

Me, me, me, always me, I am so great... My ideas are the best, got to protect me, the Scarlet Angel, the so, so great, Diana Frost, a miracle for Rosa Knight's life. If I was so amazing, then why do you see me so fragile, to be so protected, that I can barely sleep at this point.

Stop thinking, shut down your mind, stay on course.

"Yes, indeed, but without you, we couldn't have done so great, you helped me at the start, so it was only obvious for me to try my best to help you," I say smiling. Fake smiling.

"True, true. But you did more for me than I did for you. But we are great, but let's change the topic, it's not a day for us to speak about work matters, don't you agree?"

"Of course, is there anything you want to talk about?"

As I say this, I see Rosa put down her fork and knife and look at me seriously, the mood changing, tremendously, causing me to do the same. I look at her waiting for something, I am not so sure that I'll like.

And I was right... I hate it.

"So, I heard" Heard my ass, you knew the moment it happened... Ugh. "That your little house was vandalized by somebody, that you got called a bunch of bad names and that your farm was destroyed, is that true?"

Why are you even asking if it's true, you fucking know it already, at this point you just want to hear me saying it.

"Yes," I say stoically, all fake emotions gone, now only the real ones showing.

"Why wouldn't you tell me? Why would you tell Elrik to keep it a secret? This is a serious matter" Rosa asks me worried and hurt because she didn't hear it from me.

Why say anything? Why waste my time saying something? I could sew my mouth and you would know everything, so what's the point? What the god damn point.

I shake my head, that's the only thing I can do because if I start talking, I know that it won't go well.

"Why are you only shaking your head, I asked you a question, Diana, a matter like this? what if it got further? What if you get hurt? This is a serious matter, a very serious matter, so wha-" I can't listen to this anymore, so I cut her off, brutally.

"Why talk? There's no need to, you will know anyway, right?" I say blankly.

My tone takes Rosa aback.

"What?" She says bewildered.

"Why the need to say anything? You got your boy-toy snooping around me all the time, every day, every minute, every second, you know everything there is to know about me and what I do, so answer me this question Rosa, why is there a need for me to say anything? When you will hear it from somebody else? Why is it so important to hear the same thing twice?"

Rosa stays stunned, mouth open, without being able to answer, of course... of course, she can't answer, she's doing it all unconsciously, she has no idea how hard and bad of a time I've had these past weeks.

"I...I..." She stutters.

I wait patiently because I don't want to say more, the more that I would say, the worse it would be, so I won't say anything else.

That is what I thought... but the next words set me off, rubbed me the wrong way, and now I can't stop.

"It's for your own good, you're wildly known, you need the protection, so you need to be watched, I can't have anything bad happening to you"

For my own good? FOR MY OWN GOOD? HAHAHA.

"For my own good? Really? That's your excuse? To spy on me every single moment of my life? For my own good? Is it? Yes for my own good, of course, I can barely sleep, because of paranoia of being watched even while I sleep"

"Nobody watches you while you sl--"

She tries to say something. But I just don't care anymore.

"I can't make myself food, a drink, I can't go for a walk, I can't sleep, I can't go to the loo, I can't do anything, without you having to know about it. I have no god damn privacy, I have no freedom, like I am a bird in a cage, like I am a prisoner watched by the guards that I wouldn't try to escape. Like I am so god damn animal to be watched. I hate it, I hate it, I hate all of it. I said to Elrik, that I have everything under control because of yesterday, that I know who did it, that I can handle it, but no, you just had to bring it up, on a day such as this, a day that was supposed to be special, supposed to be a surprise, but of course, you weren't surprised, because YOU KNEW ABOUT IT. How can I live like this? Please answer me, Rosa, please for the love of God. ANSWER ME!" I scream at the end, that's how angry I am.

"But you need the protection, you need it, I know you do, the time the man tried to force himself on you, I realized, that there will be many more situations like that, so I had you watched, so you could be protected, it was a necessity, how do you not understand that?" Rosa says trying to convince me and probably herself that she's doing the right thing.

"A necessity? How I don't understand? How do you not understand what you're doing wrong? You aren't protecting me, you are ruining me, my sleep schedule is screwed, I have nightmares of being spied on, it's creepy. You are literally worse than the men that want something from me, it's worse than them spying on me. Why? Because it's a person I care about doing this to me, you're not an enemy, you're not somebody I should be aware of doing something bad to me, you're not somebody I should hate. But you are the one that's ruining my happiness, I barely smile nowadays, because I know for a fact, that everything I do, you will know about it, heck, if I smiled 15 times in a day, you'd know that number. So tell me, how is it that you're protecting me? When I should be protected from YOu"

My outburst shuts Rosa down, she's trying to wrap around her head about what I just said, she opens and closes her mouth repeatedly. She finally says that makes me tear up.

"You need to calm down, you're not speaking in your right state of mind. You aren't strong enough to defend yourself, I am just trying to protect you, please understand it, you're important, you need to be protected"

"Important? Rosa... That's not how you show that somebody's important to you, you don't do things like, spying on them and then lying to everybody, lying to yourself that you're doing it for protection... I am not a trophy, I am not a broken toy to be fixed, not an animal to be watched, I am not so very fragile to be defended, I am not a prisoner to be aware of, I am just a girl, a normal girl that just wants to live her life... Why can't you understand that? Why must you drive me to insanity with your misguided way of protecting somebody? I need privacy, I need my freedom back, please Rosa, please listen to me" I shake my head, losing all the rage and trading it for desperation, hoping it will help to drive my point.

"Darling, okay, okay, I will let Elrik stop being your bodyguard, you will be watched less, it's fine, don't worry"

She doesn't get it, she just doesn't.

I shake my head back and forth repeatedly. Trying to shake my tears away, so that I wouldn't cry.

"No, Rosa, I need for you to stop watching me completely, this is not an argument about how much time I need to be watched. It's a talk about you not respecting me as a person and seeing me as a thing that you need to keep tabs on all the time"

"What, no? I see you as a person, but you need to be watched. I don't trust you to be safe otherwise"

It's the same over and over, defended, weak, protected, weak, watched, weak, need... I am sick of it. I am sick of it.

"Rosa, listen to me, stop doing this"

"No you listen to me, I can't stop it. Who knows what will happen"

"You're being overbearing, Rosa, I really don't like this," I say almost breaking.

"If that's how you see it, so be it, but I won't allow anybody to hurt you, I wouldn't forgive myself if something bad would happen to you"

Heh.

"So... Can you forgive yourself then?" I say, making Rosa puzzled.

I take my hand, point it to where my heart is and say brokenhearted.

"Because my heart is hurting right now... and all of this hurt, all of this pain is because of you, you're the one that's hurting me. So I ask you again, can you forgive yourself now? That you won't allow anybody to hurt me... so why is it, that you didn't take yourself in consideration to that 'anybody', because... you are... the one... that hurts me" I say on the verge of tears. Leaving Rosa completely silenced.

"Also, you attacking people for the sake of 'protecting' me isn't a good idea, not only, could you get get into troube. I know you can 'pay' off the guards, the people that you beat up. But money isn't everything. But the biggest part of it... Most people are too scared to approach and talk to me, in fear of what you might do, so even the people can feel it that what you're doing is crazy"

She starts shaking her head at me, trying to show that what I am saying is wrong, trying to pathetically reject my claims while saying "You're young, you're just a child, you need somebody to help you"

Child... So this is what's it truly about...I am done... I give up. My desperation and sadness going away, only bubbling, mad rage is left. I rise from my seat and slam my hand as hard as I can on the table, not feeling the pain, that I know is there, whatsoever and scream the sentence that Rosa needs to hear for her to finally wake up.

"ROSA, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER, GOD DAMN IT"

I look at her with my tears almost slipping out, she looks so brokenhearted, she looks so pained, her own eyes are tearing up. I turn around, I can't let her see me cry and I don't want to see her crying either.

I stand up, to walk away, but I stop myself. I take my satchel. Open it and take out the present that I made for Rosa.

"Here's your present Rosa, I hope you like it. Happy Birthday" I leave it on the table and walk away.

Narrator POV:

Rosa sees Diana walking away, she extends her arm and readies to call out for her to stop, but she stops herself, she puts her hand down and closes her mouth. she looks at the present. Takes it in her hands and opens it.

She sees, a hand-crafted bracelet, with a smooth wood-carved handle and a carved-out stone front, that has a drawing of Rosa and Diana together in a shoulder hug put into it and glass cowering it, that the drawing could stay inside of it, the picture looking forward.

The bracelet isn't the best made, professionals wouldn't even look at it, you could buy something like this with barely any money. At the back of it, she sees the words.

'I love you, Rosa, you're the best' By your favorite girl, Diana Frost.

And just like that, tears flow from Rosa's eyes, and she cries unstoppably, sobs, whining, her heart hurting. Finally realizing what she has done, how bad she messed up, She is... she is...

She, of course, knew about all of this, about her carving wood by hand, about her drawing the drawing... about the stone carving on the front... It took her a better part of two months, getting many cuts and splinters in proccess, but while making it, it was lately the only time she actualy smiled, she was so happy and must've been anxious and nervous to give it to Rosa, because of how it looked. But it was made with patience, carefully and with love. But she ripped that away.

The only thing she didn't know... the words, that's the only thing she didn't know about... All because of her 'protecting' her, she knew of the present for her birthday, the hard work she put into making it, of the surprise that Diana wanted to give her and she had ruined it all, everything, because... She is...

"I am terrible"

The only words to sip through, before she loses herself to the tears and the sobbing, not caring about the people looking at her and at the Diana who has already left, with a bleeding hand... and a much more bleeding heart.

~ End of Chapter 8 ~