The following Sunday, Raoul decided to wake up early to see Christine sing at her church. She had a small solo, a very small solo (about one line), but he still was curious to hear her sing in front of an audience.

Unsurprisingly, Christine carried herself like a seasoned professional. He met her that morning (Christine's mother usually came to the first service, Raoul had come to the second) and hugged her. She, of course, shrugged it off.

"Oh, come on, Raoul. It's nothing, really. Thanks for coming, though."

"No problem, I was curious to hear you sing in front of an audience." In all honesty, he had never truly heard his best friend sing a complete song. Christine was constantly the type who would sing small snippets of songs every day, but Raoul had never really heard her sing seriously.

He thought she sounded good.

"Do you want to go get breakfast or something down the street? To celebrate your great triumph?" he teased and Christine rolled her eyes.

"I just need to get my coat, wait one minute."

Raoul stood awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs as his friend quickly ran to the choir room. He didn't know any of the church people, he hardly ever went. A few people smiled at him as if he was a very cute puppy, probably thinking that he was Christine's boyfriend.

She returned quickly, and he quickly noticed a single rose clenched in her hand, a little note attached to it and Christine grinning to herself like a child with a chocolate chip cookie. Raoul felt a little pang of jealousy. Why didn't he think of anything to give her? He was so stupid!

"So I thought your solo was no big deal," Raoul commented smoothly, eyeing the flower.

"It really isn't. There's just this one F note and it's sort of hard to do, I was having trouble with it and I was nervous about it..."

"Who is that from? Is there some secret admirer I don't know about?" he joked with her, she laughed a bit. At the time, neither of them knew how true his words were.

"No..." Christine said, tripping on her words, "It's from Mr. Montano, he's a nice old man."

"Oh," was his only response, still a bit confused. Still treasuring her little rose, she followed Raoul to his car and they went out for pancakes.

He often felt like they were a couple. Raoul couldn't help but get that feeling, he opened doors for her, drove her around and ultimately spent a lot of his free time with Christine. It was hard to tell if she liked him back. Raoul imagined that she would tell him if she had a crush on someone, they were definitely that close. He sighed. At least Raoul could enjoy being her friend.

Christine, in her usual (but somehow adorable) fashion, had realized she left her phone at the church. Raoul waited for her in the parking lot as she dashed into the church, leaving her coat and gift behind.

The rose sitting beside him seemed to taunt him. Raoul just couldn't help but thinking Mr. Montano had not given her the flower at all, that Christine had some secret lover and she knew all about his crush on her. Raoul could just see Christine and some mysterious, handsome man laughing at him and his unrequited love.

He had to read that note.

Raoul untied the note from the flower with shaky fingers. If she returned and saw him reading her message, Christine would be furious. That was the last thing he wanted.

Dear Christine,

I know you do not think this one small solo is any sort of accomplishment, but I also know that you were still nervous. As expected, you were absolutely lovely and you make proud everyday.

Yours,

The Angel of Music

What?

Thoughts racing, Raoul quickly tied the note back on and attempted the elegant bow it was in before. It looked good enough. She would never know he read it.

The Angel of Music. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, it sounded so familiar. The Angel of Music. It sounded to him like a lost friend. Then, it hit him.

Raoul was transported to the hot summer nights in Christine's attic, where Mr. Daae would read them stories of his homeland, Sweden. Christine, always the musician, loved the story of Little Lotte. He could barely remember the story, but it was about a sweet little girl who was protected by the Angel of Music.

A million theories swarmed through his head, but none of them were probably true. It was so strange. The Angel of Music seemed to him like a real person now, someone that loved Christine like her father did before his death. Raoul missed Mr. Daee and his violin, he was such a nice man...

Two voices met his ears, through the car window slightly rolled down. Raoul recognized the first person as the leader of the church (the priest He couldn't remember what they were called in Protestant churches.) and some other woman.

"I'm telling you, we have some kind of trespasser in the church. The ghost."

"I don't know..." the woman trailed off. The man seemed adamant.

"I know! Did you not read the note? It was signed by a ghost! There is someone in this church!"

"Well, I believe you," the woman assured him, "But people would think we're crazy."

"We have to tell someone, the police? They'll take care of it."

Raoul could barely focus on their words. This church was way too weird. And where was Christine?!

A couple of moments later, she returned and ran quickly to the car.

"I'm so sorry! I saw someone there and they just kept me talking forever."

"No big deal, it was only a few minutes."

Christine looked down to her seat, realized the flower was sitting in the car the entire time and hurriedly grabbed it. Raoul could tell that she was nervous he had actually read her note.

Suddenly, he began to feel bad about reading her letter. No matter who it was from, Raoul had no right to read into her private life. Almost instantly, he felt bad, wishing that he had never opened it.

With only small conversation, Christine went home and Raoul was left to his thoughts.

Whoever said life is stranger than fiction was absolutely right. All at once, Raoul Chagny felt jealous, betrayed and confused. Who was this angel? He just hoped that it wasn't some secret boyfriend. Christine would tell him. If there ever was someone, Raoul would be the first to know. Well, besides Meg Giry, maybe. What if she had already told Meg? What if she was going to tell Raoul that very morning, but decided not to.

He felt like his head was going to explode and the throbbing of his brain did not subside at all when his brother came through the door alongside his father.

They both were loud people, Raoul considered himself to be an honest introvert. He liked partying and having fun, but it eventually wore him out. To his surprise, Mr. Chagny was not his usual, cheery self and looked a bit angry.

"Everything all right, Dad?"

"Oh, that dumb minister from that church is convinced they have some unwelcome trespasser."

Raoul's father was the Chief of Police in town and therefore was met with almost every issue.

"Dad!" Raoul's brother Phillip exclaimed, a bit shocked with his put down of the man.

"Well, I have more important things to do," he huffed. Raoul didn't even think of it until he realized it was Christine's church.

"What do you mean, an unwelcome trespasser? Is that even possible in a church?" he asked, curious and trying not to show too much interest.

"They think someone is actually living in the basement of the church."

The words rocked him. Raoul wanted to fall out of his chair. He just heard the minister and some other woman talking about the same theory! Hopefully, Christine was well out of harm's way.

"Are you serious? How would that even be possible?" Raoul continued, not caring if he sounded too eager.

"I don't know. I think these people might just be imagining things," Mr. Chagny admitted.

"Maybe God has sent an angel to watch over them?" Phil joked, but it still unnerved Raoul. The Angel of Music, someone living in a church, maybe it somehow all connected...

"Or a ghost!" Phil teased again, bringing Raoul out of his thoughts. Shaking his head as if to reassure himself, he excused himself from Phillip and his father to finish up on homework.

However, as he was in his room, it was definitely not the history essay he was doing. He had to research the Angel of Music.

The little story was one Raoul very dimly remembered. It was one of the less common fairy tales he had heard only from Christine's father, probably Scandinavian but by no means famous. The story of Little Lotte and the voice that sang songs to her in her head came back to him as he read the online poem.

Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing...

Vaguely, Raoul remembered calling Christine Lotte, because she loved the story so much.

But loved most of all, when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music.

As he read and his childhood memories flooded back to him, Raoul felt a little pang of mourning in his chest for Gustave Daae. He was such a good, kind man (despite being a bit odd) and Christine was absolutely heartbroken when he died. She wouldn't leave her a room for three days.

Raoul was not one to believe in ghosts, but perhaps the Angel of Music was Christine's father, somehow comforting her from beyond. Could that be possible? It was scary to think about.

He pondered the idea further. Quirky little Mr. Daee, if anyone were to come back to the grave, Raoul thought affectionately, it would be him...

Thank you for reading everybody! I'm sorry I haven't been as good at updating as I used to be, I'm still moving in and everything. Hopefully, I'll get in a chapter this weekend, but no promises. Also, is anyone else angry about all the 25th anniversary videos of Les Mis on Youtube being taken down for copyright? Literally, most of them are gone and I love the video of the Original London Cast singing with the 2010 Cast. :( Anyway I hope everyone loved the movie, at least (going to see it for the fourth time!)

Please review, it makes my day!