Erik's POV

The following morning, I woke with a pounding headache. Deciding to get out of bed, I dressed myself in my white shirt and black trousers, pulling each of the suspenders up over my shoulders. Afterwards, I placed on my long waist coat and headed down the stairs. Oh, I had to hold onto the wooden banister as I stepped down each one, my head pounding with each step that I took. I knew why I was feeling this way, I knew I had a horrible headache because of the rotten food I had been forced to eat over the past few days. When I arrived in the kitchen, Christine spun around, her smile slowly fading away the moment she seen the pain that I was in.

"Erik," she rushed to my side and patted my back. "Sit, ange…You need to sit down."

Christine pulled out my chair for me and helped me sit. Afterwards, she placed a glass of water down beside me. A few moments later, Gustave came walking into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Christine gasped and went to cover my face, when Gustave hopped up into his chair.

"Mama, you don't have to cover, Mr. Erik's face. I've seen his face before."

Christine seemed confused, but when I nodded, she moved back to the stove. I looked at Gustave and he smiled, a small giggle emerging from his throat.

"Erik, I'm making Gustave waffles. Do you want to try one?"

"I don't think I could muster that," I replied, my voice sounding like a low whisper.

"Erik, you have to eat something. Here, I have just the thing."

I wasn't sure what Christine was talking about, but a few moments later, she placed a waffle down in front of me, but this waffle wasn't just a waffle, for it had chocolate ice cream piled on top of it. I gripped my stomach in agony and groaned. Just the sweet smell that was coming off of it was making me ill.

"Mama, can I have ice cream on my waffles?!" Gustave gasped.

"Gustave, Mr. Erik is sick. He can't have flaming hot foods and that's the only reason why he has ice cream on his waffles. You, young man, will be eating waffles and syrup."

Gustave's excited expression immediately faded away, leaving him looking angry and disappointed.

"Christine, may I be excused?" I asked, gripping my stomach and pressing my eyes closed.

"Erik, what's wrong?"

"I…I think I'm going to be sick."

"Erik, please try to eat your breakfast. I made the ice cream myself, ange…"

Acting as if I were a child, Christine stood behind me and cut my waffles and ice cream with my knife, holding a forkful of it up to my lips. Oh, it I had to eat another spoonful of ice cream I was going to vomit. Just the thought of ice cream made my stomach churn.

"Erik, it's for you… I made this especially for your weak stomach."

And like the loyal man that I was, I opened my mouth and accepted the food. At first, I had thought that I was going to vomit as soon as the chocolaty taste hit my tongue, but instead, I found the flavor quite delicious. Usually, ice cream tore my weak stomach apart, but this ice cream however, was light and frothy…

"Christine, did you make this yourself?"

Christine nodded. "Why? Is there something wrong with it? Oh, I knew it was going to taste terrible. I should have added more cream."

"No, woman!" I snapped, taking back my fork. "Don't you dare add anything else to it. It's perfect the way it is."

It finally felt wonderful to eat something that was delicious and better for my weak stomach. I continued eating every last morsel, savoring its wonderful taste.

"Christine, this is absolutely delicious."

"Thank you, Erik…"

When Christine spun around to continue making breakfast, I pushed a little of my meal on Gustave's plate. The boy smiled and began to devour the ice cream, his lips turning brown from the chocolate.

"You know, Christine," I began, looking down at a spoonful of the chocolaty substance. "I'm not the only one in this world with a weak stomach. This ice cream could be good in my park."

Christine spun around, but she was caught off guard by anger when she noticed that Gustave was eating the ice cream I had given him.

"Oh, Gustave," she whined. "Look at you… Erik, why did you give him that ice cream?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "He stole it from right under my nose, Christine."

Gustave giggled, but Christine didn't seem impressed a single bit.

"He eats too many sweets, Erik. I want this boy to eat healthy every once in a while. Now, he's had ice cream for breakfast."

"Boys will be boys, Christine. Now, on with the ice cream. I think that I would enjoy this recipe, ange… Would you be an angel and let me have it?"

"Perhaps," Christine seductively cooed. "But for a price."

Christine wrapped her arms around my neck, and that's when I motioned Gustave to go get changed.

"But, Mr. Erik…"

"But nothing, child. Get dressed and brush your teeth."

When the boy was gone, Christine pressed a kiss to my cheek, one that I immediately flinched away from.

"Woman, I'm warning you."

"Warning me? Oh, Erik, sometimes I believe you forget who you're dealing with. Anyway, I'll give you that recipe if you take me out to dinner some night in the near future. Say, Sunday evening?"

"Sunday evening?"

"Yes, take me to dinner. We do have to work on restoring my voice come spring, do we not? We could have a nice dinner and come back to do just that."

"I don't know, Christine," I said. "I'm not in the mood to coach your voice, ange…I can't even handle my own voice at times."

"Well, then how about just dinner?"

"We'll see how I feel."

"No dinner, no recipe, Erik… That's my deal."

I sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow night then, Christine."

For the next twenty four hours, my mind was plagued with the thought of who had slashed my throat. Talking aggravated me, which was why I stayed silent. On the night of our supposed dinner, I hopped into the shower to wash up before going out. After pouring the shampoo over my scalp, I rinsed out my head, only to hear the door open and spot Gustave coming in.

"Damn you, boy," I cursed. "Isn't a man intended to his privacy in this house?"

But Gustave didn't go away. He simply plopped himself down on the toilet and looked at his tiny bare feet. The child was dressed in his pajamas, for he wasn't coming out with Christine and I. And yet, here he was, sitting on my toilet and starring at my naked body. Oh, damn him. When I was finished washing up, I turned off the water and reached for a towel, wrapping it around my thin waist.

"I don't like standing in the nude around people, Gustave," I growled, heading towards my wardrobe. "I find it very nerve-wracking."

"But it's only me, Mr. Erik. We have the same things…Though, you have those lumpy things and I don't."

"Be glad, boy," I growled, reaching out for a shirt. "They're more difficult to live with than one would think."

"Mr. Erik," Gustave plopped onto my bed and watched me dress into my finest attire. "Could I come with you and mama tonight?"

"No," I said, staring into my mirror. "Your mama already told you this. Your mother and I have some business to tend to during dinner. It would most certainly bore a child of your age. No, you should stay here and play with your toys."

"I never gets to go with you and mama," he groaned. "Every time you and mama go out, I have to stay here."

"Now, that's not one bit true. Your mother and I have never properly gone out with one another. The only time she and I were supposed to go out was on the night of her performance during Valentine 's Day. That, of course had to be canceled. No, tonight, your mother and I will be having dinner with one another. But, if you stay here and be a good boy, I might have to surprise you with something even better than a boring old dinner."

The boy's eyes widened with excitement. "Really? Oh, what? What is it, Mr. Erik? Please, please, please, please, please tell me!"

"Well, that depends. Could you stay here tonight and behave? If you can't behave, then you obviously won't be able to enjoy the surprise tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" he gasped. "Please tell me what it is, Mr. Erik."

"Well, would you like to accompany me on my interviews tomorrow? Decide who we hire for Phantasma?"

"Would I ever! Oh, that sounds like the best day in the whole entire world. Yes, yes, yes! I'll stay here, Mr. Erik. I promise."

After adjusting my cravat, I spun around to face the boy.

"So, how do I look, Gustave?"

"Um…what am I supposed to say?"

"You're supposed to tell me that I look presentable. I do, don't I? I mean, your mother will like the way I look tonight, right?"

Gustave nodded. "Absolutely. But, Mr. Erik, why do you care what she thinks? Only men who are in love care what the girl thinks…Oh, you must be going out on a date tonight, am I right?"

"Absolutely not, Gustave. This is not a date, I can assure you. No, it's just a dinner between friends. Business, is more like it."

I lifted the boy from off of my bed and patted his behind to get him to scurry out of my room.

"Your mother and I should return around eleven or so, and by that time, I expect you to be in bed and fast asleep. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Mr. Erik."

"If you disobey us, then there will be no outing tomorrow."

I waited until Gustave was in his room before walking down the stairs to meet Christine. Oh, she was beautiful. She was dressed in a beautiful red dress, one that made her seem like an angel.

"Christine," I folded my hands around my back and smiled. "You look wonderful."

Her cheeks lit up red, causing my heart to leap.

"Thank you, Erik…"

"Shall we be off?"

Christine held out her arm and I accepted. I had wanted to take her to a nice café on the other end of town, but instead of the café, Christine tugged on my arm and took the lead.

"Where are we going?" I curiously questioned.

"Someplace nice," Christine began.

"Christine, if I am correct, I believe that it is the man who is supposed to lead the woman."

"Perhaps, but we never follow the rules anyway."

I was curious as to where Christine was taking me, but when we arrived at a small inn, she led me inside to a room lit by candle light. Oh, it was so beautiful and intimate. It was so beautiful that I immediately fell in love with it. We took a seat in the corner where a small table was, a table that was lit by a candle that had been placed in the center of the table.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Love it," I said, taking a seat across from her.

"The reason I brought you here tonight, Erik," Christine began. "Is because I thought you would be uncomfortable sitting in public with your throat exposed."

I nodded. "It's going to take some getting used to, but for now, I'm satisfied with just going to small, intimate places."

Christine reached across the table for my hand and lightly squeezed it.

"Erik, thank you so much for agreeing to come out with me. It means the world, you know…In my heart, I hold strong feelings for you, do you know that?"

I hesitantly nodded. "I…I know, Christine. And it has taken a long time for me to accept it, but my feelings are slowly coming back to me. It may take some time for my feelings to get back to what it used to be, but in time, I know that I can feel the same way that I did in Paris. It's just that I have a lot of scars, scars that hurt me deeply."

"I know, Erik, and I'm willing to wait as long as it takes."

Christine and I ordered our meals and ate in silence. Silence was good, for my throat was still bothering me. To keep the pain away, I ordered a glass of water and a salad. Solid foods were still hard for me to swallow, but lettuce and chicken were easier to take in than a tough steak.

"How is your meal?" she asked me after a while.

I swallowed before answering. "Good. And yours?"

"Really good," Christine placed down her fork and looked my way. "Could we speak for a moment, Erik?"

I nodded. "I thought we were speaking?"

"I'm talking about being serious, Erik. I…I wanted to know if it would be possible for two people like us to take a risk again and love one another? I…I want to be in a relationship with you. I want to be able to sleep in the same bedroom as you, I want to kiss you goodnight, Erik…I…I want to make love to you because you're in love with me."

"Christine," I paused, my heart pounding against my chest. "Perhaps someday our relationship will come to that, but not now, not so soon. To fall in love with you again only to have my heart broken by you once more would kill me inside."

Christine nodded. "I…I understand."

When dinner was over, Christine and I walked hand in hand towards my home. Once there, I unlocked the door and led Christine inside, taking her jacket and hanging it up.

"Would you like some wine, Christine?" I asked. "I was thinking about having a glass before bed."

"Yes, wine sounds lovely, Erik. I'm going to go check on Gustave, I'll be out in a few minutes."

When Christine was gone, I headed into the kitchen and pulled out two wine glasses. As the moments, passed, I began to wonder what was keeping her so long. Though, I waited, never being impatient for a single second. And then, my angel came running into the kitchen, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Christine, what's wrong?"

"Gustave," she cried. "He's not in his bed…Is he out here?"

I shook my head. "No, Christine…What do you mean, he's not in bed?"

"He's not in his room…"

I hurried out into the hall and called for the boy, but he was nowhere to be found. My heart pounded against my chest as I pulled open each closet and cabinet. But it was no use, for the child was gone…

Dun Dun Dun...Please review! I shall update again on Thursday!