"Christine! Christine, open the door this instant!" There was a loud banging on my dressing room door, and I recognized it as Raoul immediately. I stumbled to the door and pulled it open. He rushed in, not even greeting me first. "Shut the door, Christine," he commanded in a stern voice.

Obeying him, I closed it. "Where the Devil did you go Christine!? I leave for five minutes to get my hat, and then you vanish. For a whole day!" He was seething. Until this moment, I was unaware how long I was gone and I didn't even think about how worried Raoul would be when he realized I was gone.

"Well…" I stammered. I knew he would never believe me about my Angel, but the thought of lying to my sweet Raoul made my stomach hurt. "Remember how I told you the Angel of Music was paying me visits? And teaching me how to sing?" I asked, hating how my voice trembled when I said it.

Raoul laughed. "Yes, Lotte, I remember you saying something about it. But what does that absurd story have to do with your disappearance?"

I clenched my jaw. "It's not absurd, Raoul. Do you want to hear what happened, or not?"

He nodded, and I continued. "Well, last night I found out he wasn't an Angel. In fact, he's a man. Just a normal man," I said, leaving out the part about his face and the fact he lived under the opera house and the fact he had a wedding dress for me. "He sung to me, and I spent the night with him."

Raoul leaned forward and out his hand on my forehead. "Are you feeling alright? Do you feel feverish at all? Making up stories about an Angel teaching you to sing is one thing, but saying you actually met him and spent the night with him is completely different."

I pushed his hand away. "I'm not sick, Raoul! And I'm not making this up! It really happened! I knew I shouldn't have told you! I knew you wouldn't believe me!" My voice cracked, and the next thing I knew, tears were running down my face as Raoul wrapped me into his arms trying to comfort me.

"Shhh…Christine, it's okay. I believe you. You're not making this up. Just stop crying," He said, rocking me slowly back and forth in his arms. I knew he didn't believe me. I knew he was just trying to make me feel better.

He led me to my bed, and sat me down. "You need to rest. You'll feel better in the morning, I promise." Saying this, he stroked my arm. My hurt arm. I flinched, and he took notice. "Christine, what is this?" He rolled up my sleeve, and saw my purple, swollen arm. He gasped.

"Who hurt you?! I demand you tell me! Christine, you can't just let yourself be abused and make up stories about an Angel to cover the person responsible for this. Tell me what happened, now!" He sat next to me on the bed, and took my hands. "You don't deserve to be harmed like this," he whispered.

"No, Raoul. It wasn't a person who harmed me. I just-I tripped. I was being clumsy. It was my fault." I hated lying to him, but I couldn't tell him my Angel did this to me. He'd demand for me to take him to my Angel, and then probably hurt him.

I could tell Raoul still didn't believe me. He looked into my eyes for a long time, before leaning into me and kissing my forehead. "Okay, Christine. I trust you. Just- Just be careful. I'll let you rest," He silently walked out of my dressing room, and I heard the door shut with a click. I remembered my Angel's orders to get my injury checked out, but I really had to go to rehearse. I pulled my sleeve down to cover my bruises, and went to go rehearse the dance routine for the opera that was being shown this season.

I stumbled through rehearsals, trying to keep my mind off of what happened between me and my Angel. My heart beat faster when I remembered his promise to visit me in the morning. Somehow, I managed to get through rehearsals, and tried to get back to my dressing room at once. But, to my dismay, I was stopped by my friend, Meg.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Meg. She was my best friend. But I had nothing to say to her. I wanted to get back to my dressing room, and sleep until my Angel returned.

"Christine! I heard you disappeared last night. What happened to you?!" Meg called.

I turned around and painted a fake smile on my face. "Oh, Meg, you heard that silly rumor. I didn't disappear, I was in my dressing room the whole time!" I still hated to lie, but I had a feeling Meg's reaction to my story would be like Raoul's.

"But I went into your dressing room," She replied confused. "and you were gone."

My mind raced to think of a reply to her. I didn't know what to say. "Ah, well, you must've gone in when I left to visit Raoul." I'm not sure if she believed me, but she nodded and smiled.

"Well, I got to go. Mother doesn't like me to be out late. See you tomorrow!" And she was gone.

I hurried to my dressing room and quickly changed into my nightgown. I figured the quicker I got to bed, the sooner I'd get to see my Angel. As I crawled into bed, I realized how wrong it was that I was this excited for my Angel to visit me. You love Raoul. You love Raoul. Did I have feelings for my Angel? I was still pondering the question when my eyelids closed and sleep overcame me.