Christine walked along the street, not wishing to go far, but she needed distance between them and Erik, should he wish to eavesdrop. The words she had for Raoul were for his ears alone. Raoul kept pace with her, not questioning where they were going. When they reached a side street that led behind a few buildings and cut down to the wharf she led them down it. There would be enough people down that way so nobody could accuse her of being alone with another gentleman other than Erik.
"I'm so sorry Raoul, for causing you to worry on my behalf," she began as they tread lightly on the wood planked dock. The ships in the harbor were busy with the usual business of the day, loading and unloading their cargo. This dock was at present empty and she walked toward the end of it out over the grey waters below.
"Christine, I know you say I have no business knowing where you are and what you are doing, and you are right in that, but did you honestly think I could not worry for your welfare when you simply disappeared without an explanation?" Raoul asked.
Christine hung her head in shame. Raoul had a point and she did not want to admit it was cruel to simply leave him like that. She was always fearful of confrontations and she knew had she told him she was leaving for a week, he would have insisted on accompanying her and would not have taken no for an answer. Sweet chivalrous Raoul, always there to protect her with his kind words and good intentions.
Christine stopped walking when they reached the end of the pier and sat down on its weather worn edge, allowing her boots to dangle and swing over the side. "Raoul, so much has happened lately that I fear I cannot do justice to put it into words."
Raoul sat next to her, keeping a respectable distance. "You could at least try so I might understand why you would willingly leave with your purported kidnapper."
"Raoul," she said, shocked, "He never kidnapped me. You know that! I went to him willingly."
"Under false pretenses! How you ever managed to believe he was this mystical Angel is beyond me."
Christine hung her head in shame, "If you had just lost your father and the only person in your world, you would believe quite a lot to feel some sort of connection I'm sure." She addressed him directly, "I explained all this to you weeks ago at the masquerade. He brought me to his home to tell me the truth and because of my stupid curiosity in wanting to see his face, he felt threatened that I might expose him or disappear if he let me go back while I was still afraid. He never wanted to keep me there!"
Raoul sat silently, listening to her but not wanting to believe her words.
"Erik confessed everything to me and I've forgiven him for his untruthfulness. Let it be done and in the past. He was what I most needed when I felt incredibly lost and alone."
"And now he is much more to you, isn't he? You say you are courting him?" Raoul choked on the words as if the thought was inconceivable and sickening to him.
"Yes, Raoul," she whispered as she fingered the necklace she had been given as a token of that bond. "He and I have grown very close to one another."
"Closer than you and I?" Raoul pondered. "What of our friendship and our past? Does that mean anything to you anymore? I was under the impression we were courting."
"Did you just assume? You never formally asked me, Raoul," Christine said with some bite.
"Fine," he said, "Christine, I formally request to be your intended."
Christine gave him an exasperated glance, "Well that was romantic." She sighed, "It's a little late for that, Raoul. I'm already spoken for."
Raoul took her hand in his and said, "Then end it. You have the power to do that. Tell him you made a mistake. I know you still feel for me, I can see it in your eyes and if you try to deny it you will be lying." He fervently hoped he was right.
Christine stared at her hand in his, so warm and familiar. He was so annoyingly reassuring in his statement and she knew his words were true. "It's not that easy, Raoul. I cannot break with him when I truly have no desire to do so."
Raoul stared at her a moment, "You're lying right now," he accused blatantly.
Christine got angry with him. "No I'm not! I have no reason to leave Erik and no amount of arguing on your part is going to change my mind."
"No reason except me," he said. His words rang in her ears and she knew there was truth in that simple statement. Hadn't Raoul been what she always dreamed for? Wasn't it her father's dying wish to see her well married to him?
"You can't honestly expect me to believe you find him attractive. You told me what his face looks like under that flimsy mask he wears," Raoul said with a hostile air.
Christine was exasperated, "You have no idea what you are talking about! No, he is not the best looking man I've ever met, but the way a face looks is not the only facet to finding attraction in someone!" she shouted. "Why am I even trying to explain this to you? You've never known what it feels like to be an outcast, unlike him or me."
He blew his breath out and made an expression of revulsion as he imagined his darling Christine gazing upon Erik's face with any emotion other than repulsion.
"I'm sorry Christine, but I think you have been brainwashed into thinking of him as some kind of savior. Ever since you started going on about how he had the voice of an Angel, you've sounded mad," he said, shaking his head. "Perhaps you've forgotten how much you feared him when you came cowering into my arms at the masquerade, but I have not."
"Raoul that was some time ago; you weren't there, so you don't know how much anguish I caused him in taking his mask away when all he wished for was that I never see his greatest shame. His anger was more at himself and he did not know what to do and frightened me with it." She could see she was not getting through to Raoul. "I'm with Erik now, just accept it and move on. We both know you have no shortage of women vying for your attention and I'm sure your brother would be happier if you married better than me."
"There's no one better than you for me, Christine," Raoul exclaimed and he kissed the back of her hand.
Frustrated with her longtime friend, she took her hand back and stood to leave.
"I'm sorry things are different between you and I now," she sad sadly as she looked down at him. "I have to go back. I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have come." She turned and started to walk away.
"Christine!" Raoul sprang up to follow her, "Stop!"
She did, to her shame, and turned around. "Why Raoul?" She no longer had the strength to continue her arguments against his truths. Her hands hung at her sides, a gesture of her resignation in a battle to convince him that she would never win.
Raoul stepped forward and said, "I love you, Christine," as he bent his head low to kiss her.
Christine stood still. She did not kiss him back and it felt so incredibly wrong for Raoul to be kissing her. While Erik's kiss had ignited a spark in her, Raoul's kiss felt strangely ineffectual; almost brotherly. She jerked her head back and slapped him with full force across his face.
"How dare you kiss me! Never do that again!" she spat, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She turned on her heel angry and outraged at his presumption.
Raoul's head reeled from her strike. "Christine, I'm sorry. Please come back," he pleaded after her but she was already striding away towards the wharf.
He stood watching her leave, listening to the water slap wetly against the posts of the dock. A seagull cried overhead. "Please wait," he called out one last time. To his surprise she stopped just at the end.
She turned toward him and he could see tears in her eyes. She ran back to him, closing the distance quickly and threw herself into his arms. "I'm sorry Raoul. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt anybody, least of all you. Please forgive me," she said into his shoulder as she clung to him.
He stroked her hair as he held her to him. Then, to his surprise, she leaned back and looked into his eyes before pressing her lips to his very softly.
"I love you too, Raoul," she confessed in a choked whisper. "Please leave," she pleaded and she tore herself out of his arms and ran away down the dock to disappear around the corner, leaving Raoul bewildered.