Chapter 3

"Erik, I am going to leave now. You should be getting home yourself instead of working late every night." Jean said from the doorway of Erik's office.

"I know Jean." Erik said with his back turned toward Jean as he was hunched over his sketch. He made no move of leaving and Jean finally said,

"Well, goodnight Erik." And he left the building. Erik sat sketching for awhile trying to keep his focus on his work and not on his encounter with Christine a week and a half ago. He wondered all the time about what she was trying to tell him that day at the café. I need to let go of these thoughts. I am engaged to Gabrielle and I love her, I am over Christine. He told himself over and over. Somehow he was beginning to doubt his engagement and then immediately erased the terrible thoughts from his head.

Looking at his pocket watch he saw that it was 8:30. He began packing up his things and put on his cloak and hat. He went outside and began to lock the door when a hand touched him on the shoulder. He instantly spun around ready to hit his attacker when he realized it was Christine.

"Christine!" He shouted.

"What are you doing here!" He asked shouting.

"I came to talk to you. I figured you would be at work late." She answered.

"I am going home."

"Can I come with you so we can talk?" She asked. Erik racked his brain for excuses on how to get out of this, but none came to his mind quick enough.

"Yes, you may come." He answered in a low tone.

They arrived at Erik's townhouse and he led her inside. Lucie, Erik's maid greeted her master and took his things.

"Lucie, please get some wine for me and Mademoiselle Daae. We will be in the study." Erik said. Lucie bowed to her master and walked off toward the kitchen. Christine followed Erik down the hall past the main room into a room with a large cherry wood desk with two matching chairs in front of it and many books on large wooden shelves behind the desk. The room was decorated in dark colors of red and wood. Erik sat behind the desk and motioned for Christine to sit as well. She took a seat in one of the chairs and looked at him.

"Why did you come here?" Erik asked bluntly. He had been waiting to know the answer ever since she walked back into his life so suddenly.

"I was never truly happy after that night at the opera. I left thinking I had made the right choice, but I didn't. I was not meant to be high class. I thought I loved Raoul. But I realized he was nothing but my childhood friend. I wanted something more than this life full of high class and high society. I wanted to be myself and I could never be myself being in the public eye with Raoul. Honestly, I don't know how he can stand it. With you I could be myself and not have to be some first class wife. I felt as if I was in chains, but with you I had freedom to be myself." Erik listened to this explanation not surprised. He always knew that the Vicomte's life was not for Christine. But in a way her explanation angered him.

"Did you expect me to just wait around for you hoping for you to change your mind?" He asked with a sneer and continued,

"I started a life with a new love. We are getting married in 4 weeks and honestly Gabrielle is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know that she is genuinely in love with me. I've achieved my goal to have a normal life with a normal house with a wife inside. Now you come back here and expect me to drop everything and take you back?" This was not what Christine was hoping for. She knew it was probably coming since she saw him at the café, but she kept a little piece of hope in her heart that he might take her back.

"Well, I was hoping that it would work out until I saw you with your fiancée. I knew that it wouldn't be, but I kept a little piece of hope in my heart."

"My dear, you finally know what it feels like to be rejected for another. I don't want to reject you though. I wear a shell, but I don't reject. But clearly Mademoiselle, Madame or whatever the hell you are, it will never be. I do not love you anymore." The last sentence pained Erik to say, for he knew it was a lie. But he could not take the pressure of what was happening. If he was smart, he would stay with Gabrielle and keep Christine as far away from himself as possible. But in a way, he wanted to keep in touch with her, to make her jealous and make her pay for what she did to him years ago.

Tears stung Christine's eyes as he finished his speech. She wanted him to say that he loved her and she wanted him to share a kiss with her just as he had the last night she saw him. She wanted nothing more than for him to sweep her into his arms and tell her that he had been waiting for her, but he did just the opposite of that and now it made her stomach knot.

"We shall, however remain friendly." Erik finally said making up his mind about where this relationship was going to go. At that moment, Lucie knocked on the door and entered saying,

"You're wine master." She handed him two glasses of red wine.

"Thank you Lucie." Erik said as she left the room closing the door behind her. Erik offered a glass to Christine as she stared out the window at the lights on the street. She was embarrassed for how bold and honest she had been with Erik. She wished that she would not have told him that she came back searching for him and his love. Maybe if she wouldn't have said anything things would turn out different than a rejection.

"Let's talk about your new life. You seem much happier now." Christine started to say, but Erik stopped her and sighed.

"Christine, what are you doing?"

"I'm being friendly, if we are to remain nothing more than friends, I would like to talk to you in a friendly manner." She said giving him a weak smile.

"You don't have to pretend with me." He said, "I knew you well Christine, I know you still." He stopped and looked at her face knowing that she wanted some contact with him.

"I am much happier now. I finally am accepted into society. The managers at the opera said that as long as I stayed away they wouldn't ruin me. I went back to architecture and I have started a successful business with Jean D'Astier, a wonderful partner and good friend. Our company is just now starting to become publicly known. I met Gabrielle through Jean's wife and she is the most honest person I have ever met."

"Well, I am happy for you." Christine announced and then continued, "You've really made a great life for yourself. I am happy to see that you are not still hidden in shadows and that you can walk amongst society without a care or a worry." That was where Christine was wrong. Erik hated walking in the daylight; he was still a night creature. He worried aimlessly about what people thought when they saw him on the street or in public places. He hated being a renowned architect because of his wretched mask.

Christine and Erik talked far into the night about their separate lives and what was to become of Erik's life after marriage. The grand clock in the main room struck 1:00 AM and Christine stood up and said,

"I better leave. It's really late."

"Yes, it is late. I'll walk you home." Erik offered.

"Oh Erik, my flat is many blocks from here, I'll take a cab."

"At least let me ride with you. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you."

Outside it took awhile for them to hail a cab at such an ungodly hour of the night, but they finally did. Erik and Christine rode to her flat in silence and when they finally arrived Christine planted a small kiss on Erik's left cheek and told him goodnight as she got out of the carriage. Erik watched as she unlocked the door to her flat and went inside. On the way back home, he thought about what happened with Christine and wished that he didn't love both women. His mind was telling him to love Gabrielle while his heart told him to love Christine. He quickly remembered how he wouldn't listen to his heart when it didn't agree with his mind.

Christine lit an oil lamp and took off her cloak and shoes. She went into her bedroom where she undid her dress and took off the rest of her undergarments. She put on a thin nightgown and crawled into bed. She thought about what happened tonight with Erik and the conversations that were exchanged. He talked so lovingly about Gabrielle and she desperately wished that he would talk that way about her. She needed to think of a way to get closer to him and be around him all the time to a point where he might fall back in love with her and slowly a plan came into her mind.

"Gabrielle." Christine said aloud.