Christine sighed and pushed back a strand of her chestnut hair, tucking it behind her ear. Stretching her neck side to side, she grimaced at the tightness she found there. Elegantly, she rose to her feet and basically floated across the floor to the window and away from the last minute wedding preparations she was, of course, dealing with by herself as Raoul had seemingly blown her off once again. They were supposed to be going to tour their wedding venue one last time before the big day and yet Raoul was no where to be seen.

Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she tried to let all the annoyances she had boiling inside her fall away but it was not an easy feat. It had been more than a few months since that night at the opera house and without music to keep her occupied, she had wholeheartedly thrown herself into wedding preparations with eager excitement. That excitement however had faded with every decision that needed to be made. They all ended up on her shoulders- Raoul could not be bothered with them as he had more than a handful of new stresses to deal with.

Apparently, the De Chagny family wasn't very happy with their young son. To make such an investment in an opera house with such a grotesque reputation was bad enough. Getting engaged to one of their dancers-turned-singers was significantly worse. The burning down of their investment was just the cherry on top and had been the final straw. The family had demanded thatRaoul part from Christine but when he refused, he was then cut off.

Raoul had seemed to have taken the news relatively well in the beginning. In fact, Christine could think of at least one other person who probably would have ended such adisagreement with murder. Raoul had, understandably,ranted and raved about it to her. Christine knew that it must be stressful;so she had tried her best to be patient and to wait for his perpetual foul mood to pass- it never did.

In fact, he seemed to get angrier and angrier with time. He worried constantly about how they would make money. Christine had started cleaning the boarding house where she was staying to try to help cushion the small sum of money Raoul's father had left him with. Raoul seemed to be determined on drinking and gambling it all away thoughas he tried to drown his sorrows. Christine couldn'tunderstand what was going on in his mind butsimply bit her tongue about it all, not wanting to rise his ire.

Instead, she stuck her nose deep into wedding plans and tried to pull him out of his dark place with them as well. One night after being peppered with constant questions such as:These flowers or these ones?This cake or that one?He sternlytold her that wedding plans were for ladies and that he wished to never againbe asked for adviceon the subject. From then on, she tried her best not to bring it up to him which of course was almost impossible- especially when vendors started asking for payments.

During one of these times earlier in their wedding planning process, Christine had gone to him feebly to ask him to cover for the rest of a bill.

"Always asking for money!" He had stormed as he angrily took his brandy glass to glare out the window.

Christine had swallowed thickly and pressed on. "I'm sorry, my dear. Perhaps a smaller, simpler ceremony would be better for us." She had offered willingly as a way to make him happy. That's all she wanted- for him to be happy again.

"You think I cannot afford this?" He accused her, pinning her with a hateful glare to her spot.

"Of course not , Raoul," she murmured back, fixing her stare on the carpet beneath her. Her brow creased in concentration as her mind raced on how to make this better.

You shouldn't have brought this up, her inner voice condoned.

"What then?!" He shouted, stamping across the room to her.

"I just... I need... I... I... I need money to help pay the vendors, my love," she murmured and looked up at him, trying furiously to blink away the ashamed tears burning in her eyes. He stared at her icily, his eyes roaming over her face in what could almost be described as disgust. "You know I hate asking," she had continued, "but cleaning does not make a lot of money. Perhaps if i were to find a singing j-"

"NO!" He yelled, his alcoholic breath invading her nose as his glass of brandy smashed against the wall behind her.

Christine froze, holding her breath. She didn't move, simply stared at the top button of the shirt he was wearing. Her heart rammed madly in her chest. He had never been this mad before and it truly frightened her.

Raoul ran his hands down his face and sighed distraughtly. "No, Christine," he repeated, softer and with a tone of regret this time. "I just can't allow you to put yourself into any possible danger," he explained softly, his fingers reaching out to caress her cheek. Christine didn't dare move.

Though the authorities assured the public that the Phantom was dead, there had been no proof and that drove Raoul insane. He hated Christine going anywhere without him for fear of the Phantom. He forbade her from finding asinging joband got annoyedeven if he heard hersinging in the privacy of her own abode. After that night, Raoul was significantly more patient with any further talk of money.

Christine pressed her forehead against the glass pane of the window, letting the cold of it seep into her skin as she tore herself from that not so long ago memory. She let out another sigh, her hot breath fogging up the window. Life after the opera house was sorely lacking. There were no more beautiful outfits, no more lights, no more flowers, no more applause, and worse, no more music- at least not music like
he could compose. She was suffocating without the spotlight- without the thrill of her former life. She itched to be active again- to be someone. Now all she was was Raoul's fiancé and she was alone. So alone and miserable in a world without music.