"Christine, are you alright?" Raoul put his arm around me as I sat next to him in the carriage while he drove the horses.
"Yes, I'm just... glad it's over, and that I can be with you now", I said, almost choking on the lies I quickly told him.
"Good. I almost feel sorry for that man. He has no where to go now. But you're safe, and that's all that matters", Raoul leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. My heart sank with the realization of his words. He had no where to go! How could I leave him alone, with nothing but a promise that I would come back?
"Raoul... What if we were to take him in? Just for a little while, until he finds a new place to live. He never really has lived in a real home his whole life. Can't we just offer this to him? Don't let him be able to judge the rest of the world as cruel and horrible", I regretted saying this, as Raoul hated that man and knew how he loved me with a deep passion.
"Christine, why? I love you, but why this man? He may have suffered extreme cruelty, but he has also murdered many innocent people. Will you ever forgive him for that?" Raoul sounded surprised, but not angry.
Raoul, I already have forgiven him for that, I thought. "Raoul, please. You were brought up in this world learning the right way, are you going to forget that now? He grew up learning the wrong way, and now we can help him learn by giving him kindness", I pleaded with Raoul. Only I knew how kind the Phantom really could be, but everyone else saw his outward anger.
Raoul slowed the carriage to a halt. He looked at me, and his eyes searched my face. "Christine, suddenly you've been behaving like we were the people that made his life horrible because of his distorted face", he sighed and put his hand on top of mine. "I love you, and I want to give you everything you deserve. We're going to bring home that man, if it's what you really want".
"Thank you, Raoul. I know how hard it is for you to let me do this", I kissed Raoul. After I immediately felt guilty for kissing him when I knew I didn't truly love him.
We soon were back at the opera house, and now it was silent and smelled of smoke. "I'll get him", I jumped out of the carriage without Raoul's help, and then ran into the opera house without his consent. I easily found Erik, and told him the news.
"You're going to be living with us until you find a home. I persuaded Raoul to let you stay with us. Oh, Erik, I'm so happy!" I kissed him.
"Christine, I love you". Erik grabbed my waist and spun me around, just as Raoul had when he proposed to me. Forgetting about Raoul waiting at the carriage, I held Erik's hand the whole way back. When we reached the carriage, I remembered to hide our held hands behind my dress, but never once did I let go, even though I risked letting Raoul see. Erik lifted me into the carriage, not afraid to let Raoul see him touch my waist. I sat next to Raoul in the front, even though I wanted to sit next to Erik with all my heart, and Erik sat in the back, alone. Like he has been his whole life.
I had brought my bags from the opera house, and when we finally arrived at Raoul's home, he showed me to my room. I was anxious to know where Erik's room was, but of course I couldn't ask Raoul without sounding suspicious. "I'll see you in the morning", Raoul grabbed my shoulders and kissed me. When his lips touched mine, I flinched the smallest bit, and I hoped he hadn't noticed. The way he smiled afterwords told me that he hadn't. He left and shut the door quietly behind him.
As I got dressed into my nightgown and began to unpack my things, I though about how sad Raoul will be when he finds out who I really love. He has been such a gentleman the whole entire time... and now I will repay him with this—not returning his love.
I settled into my bed, but I couldn't manage to get to sleep. I just had to see Erik and talk to him about everything so far.
I quietly got out of bed, knowing Raoul was probably in the room right next to me. I knew it would be nearly impossible to find Erik, as I had no idea where his room was. I shut the door behind me and walked around the corridor. I passed by a cracked open door. "Christine!" someone whispered my name. Frightened, I turned around to find Erik leaning out of his room- the room that had it's door cracked open.
"Erik! I'm so glad. I really wanted to see you, and I had no idea where your room could be", I said as Erik let me into his room. Memories flooded back to me when I saw Erik standing there, still in his regular attire: Dressed entirely in black except for a white dress shirt underneath his coat, his white mask neatly in place on his handsome face. I saw his cape draped on a nearby chair. This reminded me of the first time he brought me into his lair, his face and appearance mysterious, his voice the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. Like that time, I was in my nightgown.
"Christine, you know how weird it will be at breakfast tomorrow morning with Raoul", Erik warned.
"I know, and I knew things like that will happen now that you live with us, but it was worth it to be able to see you everyday". Erik took my hands in his hands and led me to the window seat. The moon looked so beautiful, shining brightly amidst all the glowing stars.
"Remind you of something?" As soon as he said it, I knew what Erik was talking about. Raoul and I had been in the chapel at the opera house, and I was confessing to Raoul of how scared I was to help to capture Erik. We were sitting across from each other at a window seat very similar to the one Erik and I were at now; Raoul had been across from me.
"You were there?" I smiled at the thought of Erik watching us then.
"Of course I was there. I had to make sure that boy wasn't going to hurt you. And even though you were crying... you were so beautiful", Erik stroked my cheek. His touch sent tingles up and down my spine.
"I love you, Erik", I finally said. I had been waiting to say that for a long time now. Erik leaned in and began to passionately kiss me. I kissed back, not wanting this moment to stop. I could feel his hands on my waist, gently moving up and down. I pressed tighter against him, feeling his hands wander over my body. We stopped kissing, and I leaned against Erik, and he wrapped his hands around me. He buried his face in my curls, and I loved how my body melded into his, his sturdy body supporting mine. We lay there like that, and I don't remember, but I must have fallen asleep.
I woke up and could see the sun about to rise. Erik's hands were still firmly wrapped around my stomach, and his slow, steady breathing comforted me. But then I remembered. It wasn't supposed to be like this, not yet, and if Raoul found out...
"Erik! Erik, wake up. We can't let Raoul find us like this", I slowly got up and gently shook Erik awake. "I'm sorry to wake you", I said as his eyes shot open.
"Christine? Don't apologize. Do you know how much I've longed to wake up to your voice? Until now I've mostly just heard you from onstage", Erik stood up and lightly kissed me on my cheek.
I gave a small smile. "But all the same, I'm sorry that I let you fall asleep with your day clothes on. Now they're all soiled". I began to straighten out his collar and coat.
"My Angel, don't worry about it. It was worth it. I'm just glad that boy didn't catch us", Erik looked at me with such love in his eyes it made me want to cry with joy. I was happy that, even if we were to be kept a secret, I could see and be with my Erik everyday.
"I don't want to leave you. Not yet. Oh, Erik, I'm so scared to tell Raoul about us, yet I can't wait until... until we can get married", I hesitated at first, but then I realized. This is what I wanted, to be with Erik for the rest of my life and maybe even start a family with him.
"So you do? You do want to get married? Christine, I've wanted this day to come ever since I saw you at the opera house and realized that I loved you", Erik took my hands in his.
"But you do know, I'm going to marry Raoul in a month. It seems like such a short time to tell him to call the wedding off. I don't know if I can do it, but anything if it means staying with you for the rest of my life".
I heard a door slam nearby. "Erik! I think that's Raoul. If he finds us here together..." I trailed off when there was a knock on the door. Erik whispered for me to just stay there, and quickly let go of my hands to open the door. There stood Raoul, a worried look in his eyes.
"Christine? What are you doing here? I knocked on your door, but then you didn't answer and I got worried, so I went in, and you weren't there. How did I know you were here Christine?" Raoul looked so sad when he said the last part, I almost wanted to hug him, but then I remembered that Erik was right there.
"I... Raoul please, it's not what you're probably thinking. We needed to talk about what happened at the opera house. Raoul, it helped so much and certainly lifted a huge burden off my shoulders", I tried to come up with a reasonable story.
"Did you need to confess your love for him? And in a nightgown, Christine? The reason I let him stay here was because I thought I could trust you. Obviously not", Raoul was now starting to get angry.
"Don't yell at her! She's just being considerate, the way you never could! She was telling me about what happened at the opera house, and that the kiss she gave me meant nothing else! Don't you want her to tell me something like that? If you're going to marry this girl learn to trust her first!" Erik stood up for me with his lies, in a way I could never do. The thoughtfulness behind those words, the truth behind them was almost too much to bare.
"Why are you suddenly involved in this conversation?" was all Raoul could think to say.
Erik gently put his hand on my shoulder, and then, remembering that Raoul was standing right there, he quickly withdrew it.
"Raoul, please. Don't yell. He's only standing up for me, something you should be doing", I said, surprising myself with my courage to tell Raoul that.
"It's hard not to yell when you are with that... man, alone. After what he's done to you?" Raoul said, still angry but he had managed to tone his voice down a little bit.
"What, do you think we were making love to each other? Is that it? Well, certainly not. Do you think I could ever forgive her for doing all those things against me? Plotting my arrest and capture, telling everyone about my face that is so 'distorted, deformed, it was hardly a face in that darkness, darkness'", Erik told Raoul, his voice calmer as well. I tried to hide my blushing face from Raoul as Erik mentioned not making love to each other, as last night was the closest thing I had ever gotten to making love to a man, not even Raoul. But then I realized, did he really mean that he couldn't love me after what I did to him? I now realized my mistake, and found out how much I really loved him, but now, I thought about it. It was possible that I loved Erik, and he didn't love me back anymore.
After a few more rough words tossed back and forth between Erik and Raoul, I headed to my room to get ready for the day. I was already nervous about going to breakfast with both of them, but had no idea how the rest of the day was going to turn out. I splashed my face with cold water to freshen myself, and then picked out the prettiest casual dress I had. I wanted to impress Erik today, in case he really didn't love me. My dress was peach colored with a scooped neckline that had white lace trimming it. I tied my long, curly, brown hair back with a peach colored ribbon, then decided to leave it down, and just tied the ribbon in the back.
Just in time, Raoul knocked on my door to escort me to breakfast. I held on to the crook in his elbow as he walked me down the stairs. When we got to the table, Erik was already there. He had on the same clothes as this morning and yesterday, and I saw it was still a little wrinkled from sleep.
All of breakfast I tried not to look at Erik, but he wasn't doing the same for me. He kept trying to catch my eye, and the awkward silence was soon broken by Raoul.
"Christine, my father is going to join us for dinner. He wants to discuss the opera house and having repairs done on it. He believes it should be running again as soon as possible". I had only met Raoul's father when we were children, so it was one more thing to be nervous about for me. Besides, meeting Raoul's father seemed as if it were sealing the deal on our marriage; something I didn't want due to Erik.
The rest of breakfast was spent with Raoul's hand on my thigh: a small gesture but for me, one step closer to marriage. Instead of parting ways at the end of the meal like we probably would have done, Raoul walked me to my room. We lingered outside of my door for a few seconds, and then Raoul began to speak. "Christine, don't ever be alone again with that monster, do you here me? Please, I love you too much for anything to happen to you", at this, he leaned forward and began to kiss me passionately. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Erik beginning to walk around the corridor, but stopped in his tracks when he saw us. With a glare, he left Raoul to, still kissing me, open the door with one hand and take the both of us into my room. He left me screaming in my mind for him to not walk away, to interrupt us somehow, but he did not hear.
Raoul, still kissing me, stumbled onto my bed, and panic rushed through me. He wanted to go this far, this soon? No! I couldn't let it happen. But what was I supposed to say? Raoul had been a gentleman the whole entire time at the opera house, and I knew deep down that if it were Erik kissing me right now, I would have gladly let him go ahead.
I could now feel Raoul's hands unbuttoning my dress, the one I had worn to impress Erik. My dress was now unbuttoned, and Raoul's hands gently pulled it open. I knew I owed this Raoul after all I had put him through, but inside my head I was so angry with letting myself go through with it. I could feel my chest heaving, and my hands breaking out in a cold sweat. Raoul pulled the top part of my dress down to my hips, and I groaned when he began kissing my breasts. Thoughts of Erik flashed through my mind, but Raoul wasn't stopping and I was making no effort to stop him. He quickly pulled off his coat and began to pull my dress even farther down. I winced as I heard myself groan with pleasure.
I grabbed the blanket on my bed and pulled it over my naked breasts in an attempt to slow Raoul down. His shirt was now off, and he lay on top of me, his pants still on but my dress now pushed to the floor.
All of a sudden I heard a knock, far off in the distance, though it seemed. The knocking grew, impatiently, and then the door opened, and I leaped form underneath Raoul and quickly covered myself with the blanket. And who else? Of course Erik was standing at the door, oblivious as to what had just happened until he realized and saw my dress on the floor.