8) A guy like you

The next afternoon Raoul sat in the very first row of the auditorium, fascinated by the scene which was just performed on stage. Usually it was not allowed to watch rehearsals, but he had used his new authority as patron to see what progress the singers made. At least that was the reason he had given M.André and M.Firmin, though he doubted they had actually believed him.

In fact, he had only seized an extra chance to watch Christine. Right from the first moment he had admired the special aura she had whenever she entered the stage. Her normal shyness vanished to reveal an almost superhuman easiness, which even added to her beauty. It had been this aura, not her physical appearance, that had attracted his attention.

Raoul sighed. So far he had not been able to bring to light this easiness in her himself. On the contrary, Christine always seemed to be quite depressed. He partly blamed her past. Though she didn´t speak about it, Raoul had a good idea of how difficult the time after the death of her father must have been. He wished he could have been there to support her, morally as well as financially.

He leant back in his seat, causing it to squeak loudly. Mme.Giry, who stood at the left side of the stage, gave him a stern look, and Raoul tried to sit with as little movement as he could, forcing himself to concentrate on the present. Looking up at Christine, who had just begun an aria, he noticed how pretty she was today. Just like yesterday and the day before… Raoul shrugged. He had every right to have such romantic thoughts. After all, he was in love.

The rehearsal ended some minutes later, and Raoul caught up with Christine before she had even reached her dressing room. "Did you like my singing?", she asked, smiling. "Well, you were… wonderful… amazing… beautiful… fantastic…" Each word was underlined by a kiss. Apparently he didn´t care about the chorus girls´ curious glances. Maybe he even enjoyed them.

Christine´s first impulse was to make him stop. After what had happened in her last singing lesson – or rather, what had not happened – she was certain that it was Erik whom she loved. The logical consequence would be to tell Raoul the truth. She did like him, yet there would never be more between them.

But there would never be more between Erik and her either. Of course she could try to get him away from Meg. The price for it, however, would surely be her friendship to the girl, which was very precious to Christine. She would simply have to live with the thought that the man she loved didn´t return her feelings. The finality of this thought brought tears to her eyes.

Raoul stood rather helplessly in front of her as she started crying silently. "What is it, Christine?", he asked. "Did I do something wrong? Or was it something the other chorus girls or M.Reyer said?" She shook her head. Taking her hand he suggested: "Why don´t I just bring you to your dressing room and…". "No! Meg´s room is … closer.", she muttered. Christine knew she would lose her composure entirely in her own room, where everything reminded her of Erik and yesterday´s encounter. And Meg had already left the opera.

"All right." Raoul led her along the corridor, glad that he still knew from the tour Christine had given him three days ago where the room was. Fortunately the door wasn´t locked. He made the girl sit down on the sofa and took a seat next to her. Tears were running down her face, yet she smiled about his obliging behaviour. Raoul was always so friendly to everybody, and especially to her. "Shall I get you a glass of water?", he wanted to know while he pulled a brilliantly white handkerchief out of the pocket of his vest and handed it to her.

His hand touched hers lightly, and she noticed how warm it was. It was a striking difference to the coldness of Erik´s skin, and somehow this difference was a consolation. "Just kiss me!", she whispered, taking him completely by surprise. He had been sure she would ask him to leave. "Of course, my love.", he said gently, putting an arm around her shoulders while his other hand seized hers. Softly he kissed her lips, then moved to her cheeks to remove the last tears.