The next morning dawned bright and glorious with the promise of the new day. Rose was excited to begin her training with the other ballet girls and could hardly wait for practice to begin.

Begin it did, and Rose soon realized that Madame Giry had been very serious when she said she would not tolerate laziness. She could have a vicious tongue which she used whenever she felt a girl had made a careless mistake, expecting only the best from her ballerinas. Madame Giry had indeed watched Rose closely, and as far as Rose could tell she was so far pleased. Rose had been taking dance from a young age, so she was more disciplined then some of the other girls. Where they would complain about the steps being too difficult, Rose knew to keep her mouth shut and just try for her best. The practice had been grueling, but thoroughly invigorating and Rose felt excellent. She was almost sorry when Madame Giry had told them to take a break and return in an hours time.

Instead of going off to gossip with some of the other girls, Rose choose to stay and practice some of the more difficult dance steps a bit more. While executing one she saw out of the corner of her eye a piano which had been pushed into the corner while the girls practiced. Rose had a great love for music, so she went over to the piano and picked up the sheet of music which had been placed there. "This is so beautiful, I wonder who wrote it? It actually seems almost familiar." Rose started humming the tune and then she felt the urge to sing and the words arose from her throat.

Think of me, Think of me fondly when we've said goodbye

Remember me, once in awhile please promise me you'll try

When you find, that once again you long, to take you heart back and be free

If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me.

She was so into the song that she gasped in surprise when she heard a voice from behind her in French say, "You have a beautiful voice." She instantly spun on her heel to see who had spoken.

He had placed the sheet of music there wondering if she would notice it. Her voice was gorgeous, as pure as he had believed it would be. When she had turned to look at him he it seemed his heart had slammed into his chest and he couldn't breath. She was as beautiful as he remembered, even more so it seemed for she just shined with an inner beauty that was difficult to miss. She had long curly brunette hair that glowed with full red lips and a full figure.She stared at him in surprise, her look weary as she tried to figure out who he was.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Rose thought. "He seems oddly familiar, and what's with the mask?" For her mystery man was wearing a half mask. It looked to be made of porcelain, white porcelain. "Um, thank you," Rose replied in French, she had taken lessons in high school and at this moment was absurdly glad that she had . "May I inquire as to who you are monsieur?" Whoever the man was he was giving her the oddest look, as if he was drinking in his fill of her like she had been gone for a long time. It was odd, yet it didn't make her feel uncomfortable, quite the opposite in fact and she strangely felt the same way, yet she hoped she wasn't looking at him in such an obvious manner. "Forgive me for startling you, I heard you singing and I wished to see who it was. I had never heard your voice before and you caught my attention. My name is David" He made a courtly bow which pleased her greatly, "Oh, get your thoughts under control girl. So he bowed, so what? I'm sure lots of guys here in Paris bow. They probably think it proper manners." Rose smiled, and returned his bow with a courtesy of her own while saying "My name is Rose", This made David smile at her, and she suddenly felt very warm inside. "Oh stop it. Your behaving silly. You can't have a crush on a guy after knowing him less than a minute, no matter how good looking he is." And damn was he fine. He was about 5'10 with black hair "Now why does that look familiar?" and the most gorgeous face she had ever seen. In fact, if it weren't for that silly mask he was wearing he would be absolutely perfect. He had the greatest body she had ever seen, "Good lord, do try to get your thoughts under control!" and the pants he was wearing were absolutely scrumptious. "What are you doing here Mademoiselle Rose? If I am not mistaken I believe you are the new dancing girl. Shouldn't you be off taking a rest with the others?" "How did he know who I was?" "I decided to practice a bit longer. There were a few more difficult steps I wanted to be able to perform a bit better. What are you doing here? Are you one of the actors of something?" "Why would you think that?" David asked in surprise, "I'm just a visitor here. I come daily to the Opera House. I donate frequently so they allow me to wander." "Ahh, A rich guy, shoulda known" "Really? Well, I guess the mask just sorta threw me off. One of those weird things you rich men do I suppose?" David looked shocked, then threw back his head and laughed. "No actually, I am not quite sure what 'other' rich men do." He sobered quickly when he said, "I where this mask for a perfectly good reason.", and left it at that. "Ok, Mr. Gorgeous is weird. Why do I always fall for the weird men?" "I am sorry Monsieur, I did not mean to offend. I was just curious. It's not every day that I see men walking around with mask's on their faces." Rose returned the piece of music to the piano. "I shall leave you now Monsieur, I do believe I should take that break." "Which if you had done you wouldn't be standing here right now having such a stupid conversation" Rose turned her back and began to walk to the back of the stage. "No, wait," David said, "I did not mean to sound so cross. The reason I wear my mask is not a particularly pleasant one and I do not like to discuss it. People always ask me, which I should be used to by now. Please forgive me, do not leave as of yet." He sounded so sorry that Rose couldn't just walk away, no matter how much his manner had upset her, for it had. She had not seen the reason for his being so cross, all she had done was ask a simple question. She had even been joking! She turned around and walked back over to him. "Well, since you asked so nicely Monsieur, I suppose I could stay for a while longer."