Chapter 5

"Darling?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry…"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired…"

"Christine, I know that's not true. If it is, then it's not entirely true. Something's bugging you."

She sighed. "It's nothing much, I swear."

"I still want to know what it is."

"I'm just… curious about a few things."

"Ask me anything, Christine."

"Well… Alright. How much money do you make? I'm not trying to sound like a gold digger or anything; I'm just curious."

He smiled slightly. "Right now, I make around $68,000 a year, but by this time next year, I'll be around $73,000, give or take a few thousand. Besides that, my family is very rich. I have an entire house—practically a mansion—left to me that I could move into anytime. I tried living there once, but it was too big and quiet for my taste. But I'll happily move back into it once I have someone to share it with."

She smiled, knowing that she was the "someone" he had in mind. "What's your family like?"

"My family? Well, I haven't seen them in a few years… They live in Paris now. I was born there, but I grew up here in America, but you already knew that. Anyways, I guess they're pretty normal. My mother is a sweet lady, and my father seems tough, but he's really very kind and generous. They've been married for 30 years. I have an older sister, but she lives in Paris too. She has a husband and a little girl that I haven't met yet. I'm planning to go visit them soon. Maybe you could come with me?"

She sighed. "I'd like to, but I don't know if I could leave Daniel with Meg for that long…"

"We'd be gone for a week, tops. And we could bring Daniel with us."

"We could, but I'm not sure that having him around would be a great idea when I meet your parents for the first time…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid they might not like me if they see that I already have a kid… They might think I'm a slut who's just sticking with you because you have money."

He frowned. "They wouldn't judge you like that."

"You don't know that."

"I'd think I'd know my own parents."

"You might not know if I'm the kind of girl they want for you."

"I honestly couldn't care less about what kind of girl they want for me. I know that you're the only girl for me."

She couldn't help but smile again. "I'm glad. But even if we didn't have those problems, I'm not sure I could get that much time off of work… I'll have to ask. When would we be going?"

"In about two months."

"Then we'll be there on our first annual anniversary."

"All the more reason for you to come with me."

"I don't know, Raoul…"

"C'mon, Christine… It'll be so much fun. I'll take care of everything; the only thing you'll have to do is pack your bags."

She smiled gently as he gently placed his hand on top of hers. "Alright… I'll go to work tomorrow and ask for the time off."

"Perfect," Raoul said before kissing her hand, coaxing a giggle out of her. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

"Well… I know this is very personal, and I know it might be a little early in our relationship to think about this, but I can't help but wonder… If we get married, do you want to have children?"

Raoul nodded. "Of course."

"How many?"

"As many as you want."

She smiled. "Good."

"How many do you want?"

"Well, I don't have a set number, but I'd like to be pregnant two more times. However many come from that, I don't care."

Raoul nodded. "May I ask you a few questions, since you've asked me some?"

Christine nodded. "Of course."

"Alright. What's your family like?"

"Any question besides that…"

"Now I'm interested."

"I know… Can we please talk about that later?"

"Alright. Let's see… How much money do you make?"

"$21,000 a year. After rent, that's barely anything."

"Do you like living in an apartment or would you prefer living in a house?"

"I don't know… Apartment life is fine until we start having kids. I imagine myself in a house, but I don't know if I'd like to live in the suburbs. There's just so much more in the city than the suburbs."

"I agree. I'm a city person, too."

She smiled softly. "I'm glad we agree so often."

"Well, can we agree to head to my place for a glass of champagne?"

She giggled. "Well, since it is Valentine's Day, I suppose we can."

He smiled. "Perfect."

And so, he took her arm and escorted her from the restaurant.

~oOo~

Raoul's apartment was about 1,000 times nicer than hers.

It was definitely bigger and a lot… well, sexier.

Everything was decorated to a very modern, black-and-white scheme. The furniture seemed very expensive and absolutely spotless. Christine found herself gawking over the fact that he had a full kitchen and a small dining room.

He chuckled and took her coat. "Do you like it?"

She nodded eagerly, looking around in awe. "I love it."

He smiled. "Sit down and I'll bring you a glass. Or you can look around. I don't mind."

Christine chose the latter option.

She explored the living room first, and had just discovered the balcony when Raoul approached her, two champagne flutes in hand. He smiled as he gave her one of them. "I see you've discovered the balcony."

She nodded and smiled back at him. "Mm-hm. May we go outside?"

He chuckled. "We could, but it's currently snowing, darling."

She looked outside again. "Oh. Yeah… Let's stay inside."

He smiled and led her to the sofa. "So, about your family…"

She sighed. "Oh yeah… You wanted to hear about them…"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, they suck."

"How so?"

She sighed. "Remember how I said I was in college to become a therapist?"

"Yep."

"Well, I went to that college on a full scholarship, which was great because my parents couldn't afford to send me anywhere. Anyways, since they were so poor, they were depending on me to become a therapist and start making above minimum wage to help support them. When I got pregnant and had to drop out, they kind of disowned me. They wouldn't even let me come back home. I still talk to my sister occasionally, but that's it. Honestly, I don't really care. They obviously never loved me, even when I was a kid, so I don't love them. I just missed them a lot before I met Meg, because I didn't have anyone to talk to or to ask for a little help. But it's okay, really. I'm better off without them. I'm better off without everyone I met before I got pregnant."

"Good for you. Some people need to be forgotten."

She nodded. "Yeah. The whole post-Daniel time period has been really great. Best 2 years of my life, really."

"What's been the best part of the last two years?"

She smiled. "Meeting you. And getting to raise Daniel."

He chuckled. "I'm honored to be on the same level as Daniel."

She giggled. "I'm honored to have a man like you."

He grinned. "You deserve someone so much better than me, Christine."

"No, I don't. You're perfect. Like literally perfect. You're everything I hope for from a guy in physical form."

Raoul felt a twinge of guilt. He wasn't really perfect. He was just doing what she said she wanted on her blog.

"Thank you, but I am not perfect," he murmured, scratching his neck.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're perfect!"

"Well, you see… Y'know what? Let me get you another glass of champagne." Before she could even respond, he had already taken her glass.

"Okay… But do you have any wine? I'd like something stronger than champagne."

"I have tons. My family is in the wine business. I'll get you a glass of my favorite."

Raoul did pour her a glass of his favorite wine, but, almost coincidentally, it was the strongest wine he owned. He wasn't trying to get her drunk; just relaxed enough so that she wouldn't kill him when he told her that he'd found her blog.

He brought her the glass with shaking hands. "Here you go…"

"Ah, thank you, darling."

He watched and she lifted the glass to her lips.

This was wrong. He couldn't do this to her.

"Don't drink that," he said, knocking the drink out of her hands.

"Raoul! What's going on?!"

He sighed. "Christine, I have something to confess."

"It better be that you have random arm spasms."

"It's not."

"Then what is it?"

"I… I found… I found your blog," he admitted with a sigh.

She stared at him for a moment, not quite comprehending what he'd said.

"Y-You what?!"

"I found your blog. That's why I'm not perfect. I've never really been the perfect guy; I've just been reading what you put on your blog… I'm really sorry, Christine. I only did it because I love you and I want to be with you forever and I know that you'll only settle down with the perfect guy. I just wanted to be that guy. I understand if you hate me and want to break up, but I'd like you to stay with me tonight so I can try to make it up to you. Because I love you, Christine, and I never want to hurt you or anger you or anything, even though I'm pretty sure I just fucked everything up pretty badly."

She continued to stare at him, and he looked at the ground.

"How long have you known?"

"Since the first time I babysat Daniel… So about nine months."

"How the Hell did you find out?"

"I went to use your computer to order pizza and the website was still up."

There was silence again.

"You have twenty-four hours to make it up to me, Raoul. Twenty-four.

"I'll do it."

"Then I'd get on it immediately."

[REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D I'll love you forever! 3]