I woke up by the sound and feeling of a body stirring beside me. I opened my eyes to see I was in my lair, a few candles were lit. I frowned. Weren't I supposed to be in the apartment?

As I moved my gaze over to the left, I noticed Christine's body covered with the red, silk of the sheets, her breathing peacefully. I said up a little, and rubbed my eyes. I felt like I was forgetting something…

And then I remembered last night.

I...we...

Realization hit me. How could I forget such a thing? I had stolen her innocence!

I...I...

She wasn't even mine...yet.

I sat up a little more, feeling as if I had to throw up from what I'd done.

As I threw my legs over the bed the first thing I wanted to do was to find some clothes to wear. I got up without making any noise and sought for something to wear.

…

She was awoken by the soft melody coming from the piano. The first thing she noticed was the small aching between her legs. She knew it would go over, according to the gossiping ballet girl.

She sat up and looked over to the empty space next to her. Her stomach fluttered as she thought of last night, and Erik. He had been so gentle with her, yet had also given her infinite pleasure… but she wondered if he had even realized that. When she started to wonder where they had left their clothing she noticed the lovely dress laid out for her on the bed and smiled, leaving the bedroom as soon as she was dressed.

…

She placed a kiss on his cheek. "Good morning, Erik." her hands wrapping around his neck gently, her heart fluttered again. "Erik, what's the matter?" she whispered, when she saw the tears in his eyes. She sat down beside him when he did not respond. "Erik, why are you wearing this?" She whispered more to herself than to him as she tried to take off his mask, but he stopped her, and turned away from her.

"No Christine!" his voice cracked, "I've harmed you enough already."

She frowned. "Of course not. You've prot-"

"No! I've been a disgrace!"

She suddenly understood what he meant.

"Erik, you did not harm me."

"Yes I did."

"No, Erik. You did not. Or else I would not have wanted any of last night."

But he did not give up.

"Christine, I've done something I was not allowed to and it makes me feel ashamed of myself."

He was still turned away from her, his hands clutching at the fabric of his trousers. There was a sound of silence in the air except for the sputtering water. She did not care at all about those stupid rules. She was just happy she finally was his. But perhaps those thoughts came from living as a ballet girl.

"Erik, we don't have to tell anybody about this, right?"

He shook his head slowly.

"So can you tell me what the problem is, then?"

"You don't understand, Christine." he whispered softly.

"Oh but of course I do. I understand how you feel, but you know Erik, it has happened now, and you can't change it anymore."

She kissed his cheek. "Please, Erik."

He let out a sigh, and slowly turned his head to cast a short glance at her. Seeing her happy face surprised him somehow, as did the kiss on his lips. She pulled him close to her, to show him it was alright, and stroke through his hair. After a while she finally felt his hands closing around her waist a little more and smiled.

"I love you so much, Erik." Christine felt his muscles tighten at these words and she kissed him softly in his neck. As she held him in her arms she suddenly remembered something important.

"Erik," she broke away from him to look at his face, "What time is it?"

She looked how he fished his watch out of his pocket with his slender fingers and showed her what it said.

She suddenly had to laugh. "What is it?" he asked. "Have you forgotten it, silly? Meg and Raoul would come today to help arrange things for the wedding."

She chuckled as she read from his features he remembered too now. "How could I even forget such a thing?" he exclaimed as he rose from his seat and started taking things. "Erik, why are you in such a rush? We still have more than an hour."

"Yes, but we still need to get there, to have breakfast, I still have to clean up that mess we left from dinner."

She smiled, and stood from her chair to stop him, laying her hands on his arm.

"Erik, you don't have to hasten."

She looked him deeply in his eyes, and he stared back. Watching her face turn to a smile before she kissed him deeply, feeling that tingle in her stomach again. He responded to her kiss, the feelings he felt this morning vanishing by the second.

…

"There you are, finally!" Christine said after she had managed to get to the door and had opened it. She had not expected they would come together and gave her friend a suspicious look when Raoul was hanging their coats on the hangers and wasn't watching. She knew Meg and Raoul had become friends on the night she had met Erik for the first time, but she sensed something was different now and made a mental note to ask her friend for explanation and perhaps details later.

"In 5 weeks you're getting married already! Isn't time going fast?" Raoul exclaimed as they were sitting around the table with a glass of tea.

"Yes, I know." Christine answered and Erik touched her hand ever so lightly and so fast that Meg and Raoul doubted if it even happened. "So uhm, how is it you want the things?" asked Raoul in a business like voice, "You name it, we've got it."

Christine chuckled and Erik gave her a short glance, feeling nervous from being in such a 'crowded' company with people he didn't know that well.

"You know, Raoul, everything's fine. As long as it isn't too extensive it's fine. Right Erik?"

She looked over to her fiancée with a polite smile, and he nodded in agreement.

"Not too extensive…" he muttered.

Raoul gave them an implausible look.

"What?" Erik whispered.

"You are getting married! You need to celebrate that!" Raoul's voice grew louder.

"It's not much." Erik said, and waved with his hand to increase his words.

"Are you crazy?! It's something special! You get bonded to one another! Something that will happen only once in-"

"Raoul, please calm down." Meg interrupted him, and lay her hand on his, something which caused Erik to notice their closeness too.

"You know, Raoul. If you want it to be special then you send Meg with Christine to find the finest wedding gown they can find, no matter how expensive."

Christine gasped as she heard that she could choose any dress she wanted and Raoul smiled, a little flick appearing in his eyes. "That'll be arranged." He said excitedly, which somehow made Christine laugh and started to write down things on the paper in front of him. His tongue peeking out just a little as he was concentrating on his writing, "Nice...dress...for…Chris...tine…" he whispered as he was reading what he was writing.

"Anything else?" he asked as he looked up from his paper and watched the couple across the table intensively.

"Well, uhm…" Christine started to tangle and untangle her fingers in her each other.

"What about… flowers?" Meg asked, "Surely they must be there."

"Yeah, I like that one." Raoul said and smiled in a different way to Meg than you'd usually expect from friends. Erik frowned and looked at Christine who winked at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking. This gesture made him smile and he made unnoticed expression as an answer, which made Christine smile in return.

"So, since flowers can't be missed on a wedding; what kind of flowers would you like?" Raoul's attention had returned to the fiancées again. Christine looked at Erik who gave a nod. "Roses." She answered. Again, Raoul wrote everything down. As Christine glanced over the table she saw his sloppy handwriting and wondered if he was ever able to read it. Erik soon noticed too and couldn't suppress a remark.

"Well, Raoul. Are you sure we should let you arrange things, 'because I wonder if you'll be able to read that abstract drawing of yours."

His eyebrow raised and a smirk struck his face. They laughed except Raoul, who seemed quite confused. "What? They always told me my handwriting was fine?" which made Erik laugh harder. "Here, let me write, or else I'm scared we might get the worst wedding ever."

Raoul handed him the paper and pen without hesitation and Erik started to rewrite the things Raoul had written. Comparing the two writings would be a piteous loose for Raoul. He watched as Erik wrote with smooth letters and curls in his writing, realizing he was beaten by a mask wearing stranger-like person. As Erik was concentrating on his words, Raoul couldn't help but glance at him and wonder what he was hiding. He looked at Christine too; she probably knew. Though he felt incredibly curious he would never dare to ask about it. That man is not wearing a mask for fun, right? Ran through his mind.

…

"Are you sure this is all you want?" Raoul exclaimed for the tenth time as he put on his coat and reread the paper again. "Yes, Raoul. That's all we'll need."

"But it's so little! I mean, look at the list of people you're inviting. Here! Look!" and he hold the paper in front of the young couples' noses, pointing to what he was saying, "There will only come… like… 6 people... I've even included the priest already! Even the family from my father's side is bigger than that!"

Christine was taken back from those words. "Well, I'm sorry, Raoul. But unlike you, me and Erik don't have any family anymore!" She was nearly screaming the end of the sentence and ended in crying. Erik quickly walked up to his sobbing Angel and embraced her "Christine, calm down. He didn't mean it like that."

He placed a small kiss in her hair when she didn't stop and looked over to Raoul, who was shocked at her sudden outburst. Erik made a face to him which said I-have-no-idea and pulled Christine closer to him, his hands through her hair soothingly.

"Erik, I miss him so much!" Christine cried into his chest and tightened their embrace. "I know, Christine." He whispered softly, not knowing of other words. "But you know he would be very proud of you." He added after a small silence.

Meg stopped Raoul when he wanted to walk up to her and say something. She pushed him towards the front door and gave Erik one last look. He only nodded and she knew it would be best to leave them alone.

They stood there for a while after Meg and Raoul had left. Erik had heard how Meg had started to shout at Raoul after the door had closed and felt sorry for that man. He was only trying his best. He felt Christine still shocking in his arms and tried to hush her. "Come Christine, sit down."

He took her arms and sat her down on one of the chairs. She had calmed a little and was silently weeping now. He made a glass of water and sat down on the chair next to her. "Here, take a sip." He whispered, afraid that too much noise might upset her again. He steadied her shaky hands with his own and she seemed to relax a little by this little movement.

"I'm sorry." She whispered and her eyes lowered to the ground.

"You don't have to tell me." He answered, his comment sounding harder than he had intended.

"I know." She murmured.

"Can you tell me why you collapsed by that remark?" Erik asked. He had talked with her about her father a lot of times and it never seemed a problem yet now… now she was completely in tears.

"I …I think I just… I don't know." Tears were pricking in her eyes again.

"I just wanted him to see me on my wedding day…" She let out a shaky breath.

"Does that sound weird?" she asked, focusing on the glass that was standing on the table again.

He shifted in his chair and reached out to turn her face so his eyes met hers and whispered softly:

"Of course it does not."