Disclaimer: I guess I forgot the disclaimer in all my chapters, so I let you know I do not own The Phantom of the Opera, nor all its characters, that right belongs to Gaston Leroux and him alone.
Melody opened the door, only to find Phillipe at the other side of the door( just like she suspected). "Hello Melody," he said after she opened the door. "Come in," Melody offered. Phillipe entered the little apartment and smelled that there was something cooking. "Oh, do I come on a bad time?" he asked while looking towards the kitchen. "No, not at all," Melody responded sarcastically.
"Do you want me to come back some other time?"
"Not really, I mean, you already came and I don't want to make the journey worth nothing. Besides, now I can invite you to stay for dinner so I won't have to have dinner alone"
"Okay then. If you insist, I will join you for dinner"
"Good, but I don't promise you it'll be good, or much."
"Mademoiselle, if your cooking is as good as your singing, I'm sure you can compare to the best chef's in all of France"
Melody rolled her eyes at his attempt to complement her. However she still was curious why he decided to show up, she thought it best to ask him during dinner. Involuntary, she let her mind wander to the previous time they had dinner together, that time they had a real conversation. Phillipe noticed the little twinkle in her eyes. "What are you thinking off?" he asked her. "Why do you even think I'm thinking about something?"
"Because you have that little twinkle in your eyes."
"What little twinkle?"
"The same twinkle you had in your eyes when you were looking at those buildings, remembering what your father taught you or when you were looking at Paris when we were at the Butte de Montmarte," he said matter of fact.
"I have a little twinkle in my eyes? And nobody ever told me? I'm so upset right now," she said with mock sadness.
The both laughed a little and Melody offered Phillipe to sit down, mostly because it would take a while until dinner will be ready. She offered to make some tea in the meantime, but Phillipe said she shouldn't bother. They sat there waiting for one another to start a conversation. But none of them spoke until Melody glanced at a clock, noticing that dinner would be ready any minute. "I'm going to set the table, you will stay here and wait until I call you. Don't touch any of my stuff," she warned him before she went off to the kitchen.
Phillipe was amused by the way Meldoy could react differently in just a few minutes. They were talking and laughing just a few minutes ago and now she, again, was very protective of her personal properties. Although warned, he couldn't help it to wander in her living room and look at all her stuff. There were some drawings there, and he wondered if Melody made them. Going through the drawings, he saw one drawing of a woman who looked a lot like Melody. But before he could grab another drawing, Melody got in the room and yelled at him "What do you think you're doing? I warned you not to go through my stuff"
Phillipe hadn't seen her this angry, but there was also another emotion shining through her eyes… fear. He didn't understand why she feared him looking at the drawings. Before he could say anything, Melody grabbed the drawings away from him, and noticed he only saw a few, the drawing of her mother was one of them. Luckily, he hadn't seen the picture of her father. She didn't knew what to say if he recognized the infamous Phantom of the opera.
She wasn't ashamed to be the daughter of the Opera ghost, but she didn't want to endanger her father by letting anybody, especially a nobleman, know who he really is. "I'm sorry, I know what you said, but I couldn't help myself. I didn't thought it was this important to you," he said sincerely.
"You should be lucky I don't kick you out after this," she said to him venomously.
"Or throwing daggers at me, more accurately this time," he joked, not knowing if it would worsen her mood or if she would relax a little more.
Luckily for him, she didn't got any angrier, but she didn't became less angry with him. Oh great, all the progress we had made, gone because I couldn't help myself from looking at her stuff, Phillipe thought. "Follow me," Melody told him. So that was exactly what Phillipe did.
Arriving in the kitchen, they just stood there, Phillipe afraid he would get her angrier if he did something other then what she told him to do and Melody waited until he would take a seat. When he didn't, she told him he could and only after a few seconds, he indeed was seated. Melody just rolled her eyes.
"What?" Phillipe asked.
"Why did you take your seat after I specifically told you you could?"
"I don't want to upset you even more by doing things on my own accord again"
"If you just had listened to me, this wouldn't be happening"
"I know, and I'm really sorry I didn't listened to you"
"You know, this is like the second time you apologize for your behaviour in merely a week"
"Before we drop this subject, who was that woman in one of those drawings?"
"Nobody of your interest"
"Your mother??"
Melody didn't say anything. She didn't want to lie anymore, but unfortunately, by not saying anything, she gave him his answer.
"Why are you so protective of your family?"
"Because they are nobody's business, okay? Now learn to live with the fact you are never getting any information about my family."
"Are they dead? Is that why you live alone?"
"No, they aren't dead and the reason why I live alone doesn't concern you."
Phillipe didn't want to make things worse, so he decided to change the subject.
"You were really amazing today in class, I don't think I had ever heard anyone sing that song that beautiful."
"Thank you," was the only thing she said. For a couple of minutes nothing was said anymore. But then Melody's curiosity came back.
"Why did you come this evening?"
"Because I wanted to talk with you"
"About what?"
"Just some small talk, I know I could have done that at school, but I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable by my constant presence."
"That's why you didn't talk to me at all"
"Yes, I do think that your friend doesn't mind it when I don't talk to you."
"Katerina doesn't seem to like you, what on earth did you do to her to deserve that. I mean, she seems very understanding, so my logical conclusion is that you did something to hurt her."
Phillipe seemed to recall the time when he met Katerina. She indeed was very understanding and didn't want to cause any trouble. She acted friendly around everybody, even around him. The first few months she even talked to him on a regular basis. But it all changed after he spread some rumors about her. The funny part was that he didn't start the rumors, no, he had heard them from some acquaintance. That acquaintance had chosen a good victim to spread the rumors. Phillipe used to like gossip about people, and when Katerina heard he had spread some rumors about her regarding a dubious affair with one of her family members, she was furious. She didn't talked to him and even acted venomously towards him.
However Phillipe didn't started the rumors, he was responsible for spreading them, he felt guilty. There wasn't anything he could to make it up to her, she wouldn't let him get close to her anymore. He really felt sorry now for losing a friend.
"Well, let's say that some false rumors were spread about her and unfortunately I spread them."
"You spread rumors of her, no wonder she doesn't like you."
"Yes, but I didn't start them, but she doesn't believe me. No wonder she doesn't actually."
"Yet, you spread them, you shouldn't have done that."
"I know, guess I have to live with it now"
"Maybe if I talk to her you can sort things out"
"Nah, I don't think so. She'll probably think I asked you to explain it to you and become even more angrier with me"
"I'm still going to try it, whether you like it or not."
A few moments passed, and neither of them had something interesting to tell. Suddenly Melody remembered Jean-Jacques and his relation to Phillipe.
"You never told me Jean-Jacques was your cousin."
"Well you never asked it, did you"
"Poor boy, he likes Katerina a lot and now she know he's your family. I wonder if that change anything for her."
"It probably will, maybe that's the reason he never told"
All of the sudden, a knock on the door was heard. Melody was the most startled of the two, for it could only be her parents knocking on her door. She got up and went to the door. Unfortunately for her, Phillipe noticed that she had paled a bit. Curiosity took the better part of him, although he knew what had happened the last time that occurred (and it was just half an hour ago). Against better judgment, he stood up and tried to see who was knocking on the door. Unknown to him, he hide in the exact same place Erik had hidden yesterday evening.
Melody opened the door and the first thing she saw was her mother's face, covered in a huge smile. Melody wondered why Christine smiled like that and invited them inside. Christine looked around, still with the same smile on her face. "You've done a lovely job on decorating. It looks really homely." "Thank you," Melody answered. She noticed that her father was looking suspiciously. She then looked at him. "Somebody's here?" he asked her, while stepping back into a shadowy corner of the small apartment. "Oh, yes there is. Phillipe is here. He's probably still in the kitchen." When she had said that both of her parents looked at her. "He stopped by to visit me when I was preparing dinner and I invited him to share dinner with me," Melody explained.
"Well, why don't you get him here, so we'll meet this boy," Christine proposed. When she had said that Erik looked venomously at her. Christine seemed to understand that that wasn't the best idea she had, but she really wanted to meet this boy. But she had no chance to change her mind, Melody was off to find Phillipe only a second after she uttered her words.
Melody didn't even know why the idea that her parents would meet Phillipe excited her this much. An even greater mystery to her was why she was this quick to find him. Okay, I don't think he would make the association with the Opera Ghost, that was 20 years ago. And if father hides a little bit in the shadows, Phillipe might not even notice the mask, Melody hoped.
Alone in the room, Erik glanced over to his wife. Of all her ideas, this was the most stupid idea ever. "Okay, I admit, it wasn't the smartest move to make," Christine said when she noticed her husband's glances. "but it seems she is happy that we meet, did you see how fast she run to find him?"
"Yes, I've seen. And although I'm happy for her, I'm afraid that my past is going to affect her future."
Christine saw the hurt in Erik's eyes when he told her that, it reminded her of the hurtful look in his eyes when she had torn off his mask all those years ago. "If it's meant to be, he'll have to accept you as part of her life. If he doesn't I'm afraid her temper will flare up and she'll probably don't want to see him again until he accepts it. She loves you enormously and I don't think anybody will be able to break your bond," she said.
In the meantime, Melody had asked Phillipe if he wanted to meet her family. He had chuckled a bit. "First, you tell me that your family isn't my business and now you want me to meet them?"
"Well, what can I say, I have a complex personality. Besides, my mother really wants to meet you."
"Shall we go now?" he asked.
Melody nodded and guided him into the living room, where her parents were awaiting his arrival.
A/n: here it is, the next chapter. Enjoy, read and review please.
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