He couldn't believe it. She forgave him? And not only that, but she had already known who he was!
"How...?" he began.
"Shhh... Please. It really doesn't matter now." she reassured.
"Please, Victoria, I didn't mean to lie to you, I just..." he was cut off again.
"Wait... Who's Victoria? she asked.
"Isn't that your name?"
Her face showed an expression of amusement. "Oh. Hee hee. Well, you see the truth is, that's not my real name."
Christian looked at her in wonder. "Then, what is it so that I may get it correct next time?"
She chuckled again.
"I must know if you can tell me..."
"It's Loreena."
"Loreena? That...that's beautiful." he said. She shrugged with a grin.
"Loreena,...perhaps you would let me start over?." Placing a hand out, he waited for one of hers to join his. She smiled coyly and her right arm bent forward.
"I'm Christian." he spoke, and ever so gently, placed a soft kiss on the knuckle of her hand.
They spent the rest of that day roaming the Paris streets, highly concentrated in what the other had to say, and Christian realized quite soon that Loreena was nothing like the Victoria she had played. She wasn't cold or sharp-tounged, but rather sweet and kind. It was by listening to her that Christian learned about the sad history and true nature of his new found aquaintence.
Loreena told her story like this:
She was a traveling artist who had been born in the city of London, living with her ruthless family until they abandoned her 5 years earlier at the age of 13. At the time, all Loreena had known was that they'd left her to go to the Americas. She was broke, hungry, cold, and lost.Yet, she found jobs here and there while traveling all throughout Europe in search of other relatives. She had first came to Paris a year ago, about 7 months after Satine's death, and upon meeting Christian, had resided there for 5 months. Not only had she come to Montmarte to find work and paint, but also to become part of the much celeberated Bohiemian Revolution. Her inner most dream had been to visit the Moulin Rouge, and mingle with those of a higher society. Despite these wishes however, she arrived with little money and a flu. She needed more money to find a place to live as well as medicine to cure her illness, but she couldn't raise enough from her art alone. So, she made the choice that by going to the Moulin Rouge, she would become a dancer herself in exchange for payments. Loreena arrived at Montmartre, spending her last few nickles and dimes to board a train, finding the danceclub to be left wrecked and empty. She had not known what to do next.
Living in the Moulin Rouge wouldn't have been her first option, but she was presented with no other choice but to find shelter in it's remains. As the days went on, she managed to steal food and clothing, however, at a cost. Loreena was getting ever sicker by the day. She needed to find another place to live and she thought she could win the sympathy of someone in town to give her help, but she found no one. Except for maybe Christian. She had seen him countless days in the streets returning to a home she knew was empty. But fate took hold of Loreena's life and once she had had her accident and Christian had taken her to the doctor, it was then her life changed forever.
The doctor had tried to find Christian again, but never succesfully did. Feeling sorry for Loreena, the doctor felt it his place to adopt her untill she was either 18 or untill she was well enough to make it back out on her own. The doctor and Loreena had grown fond of eachother much like as if they were father and daughter, forming a realationship that had not been intended. The docotor decided that becausee he loved her as much as he did, she could stay with him for as long as she liked or whenever she liked. After staying indoors for 4 months to fully recover, Loreena had celebrated her 18th birthday that past January, January 10th to be exact, and for a present, the doctor had taken her to London to study art for 3 months. She had just gotten back no more than 3 weeks ago, seeing Christian again a week after.
The whole time Christian had been tossing a question back and forth in his mind that he had wanted to ask Loreena for awhile. He eventually stopped her and asked.
"Why did you come find me again?"
Caught a little off guard, Loreena replied.
"Truthfully,... I don't know. I guess part of it was me feeling so guilty about what I said to you before... I should probably apologize for having been so unkind myself."
She wanted to say more, he could tell, but she was holding back.
Christian walked, hands in pockets, gazing up into the afternoon sky. Loreena couldn't help herself smirk at how handsome he was. He had some stubble on his face, and his hair was a little unkempt, but it was a look that worked for him.
"I forgive you too Loreena." he said.
Loreena meekly smiled, relieved to hear that their conflicts could be put to rest.