*DISCLAIMER* I DO NOT own The Phantom of the Opera, its storyline, or its characters. Please R&R.

I woke up at around 6:30 AM to my alarm. I quickly reached over to my nightstand where I left my phone last night and turned it off. I quickly checked my phone as I did every morning and noticed a notification on the screen.

Text Message from Raul DeChagny

I quickly unlocked my phone and checked the message.

Raul DeChagny: Christine, can we please talk? Please meet me at the café on Main St during lunch.

I quickly read the message and put my phone down in shock.

Raul is my ex boyfriend. He and I dated throughout high school and college. He was a great boyfriend but over time I noticed that he and I were more friends than we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Something about us changed throughout all of those years of dating and the spark that had been there in the beginning began to diminish little by little.

When Mamá passed away, I fell into a great depression… one that still lingers to this day. I quickly found the spark inside of me diminishing. Within a couple of days, I realized that I couldn't drag Raul down with me. I broke up with him straight away and told him that I needed a break from us in order to find myself and learn how to adjust to life without Mamá.

To say that Raul was devastated would be an understatement. He begged me not to break up and asked to try to work through things together. I knew it was unfair to him if I were to have agreed. I quickly shut the idea down and practically gave him an "it's not you, it's me" speech. Raul didn't take that too well but still proceeded to give me my space. That is, until now.

I put my phone away, making sure to reply later when I had the time. I quickly got in the shower and got ready for work. I decided to go with a dark green pleated midi skirt paired with a white long sleeved turtle neck and nude leather pumps. I grabbed the tan trench coat hanging in my closet and put it on over the top. Once I was changed, I grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out the door to head over to work.

I got to work on time and quickly turned on my computer. I went through my early morning checklist and decided to check with Erik to see if he wanted his morning coffee. I picked up the phone on my desk and dialed Erik's extension. He picked up the phone after a couple of rings. "Good morning, Erik. I was just calling to ask if you wanted your usual cup of coffee," I said. I waited for Erik to answer and quickly hung up the phone afterwards.

Erik strangely opted out on his cup of coffee and told me take a day in the office to catch up on any work. He told me that I could leave as soon as I was all caught up and checked in with Meg and Nadir. I quickly began to work on a couple of documents and decided to complete and check each of them one by one.

I was just about to finish my first one when Erik walked out of his office and into the waiting area. "Are you okay, Erik? Did you need something," I asked. He looked up in surprise which meant that he probably wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. "Uh, no. I'm okay, just leaving for a meeting actually," he said. I gave him a confused look, "I don't remember you having a meeting scheduled for today."

I pulled up the calendars on both my computer and cell phone but couldn't find anything. "Don't worry about it, I was just called to it this morning and that's why it's not in your calendar," said Erik. I got up from my chair and walked around my desk. "What time will you be back, I could order something from the kitchen and have it brought up for your lunch," I said.

"That won't be necessary, Christine. Thank you. Like I said before, take the day to catch up on your office work for the week and then check in with Meg and Nadir before you leave for the weekend," he replied. I nodded my head in understanding. "Sounds good, I'll see you on Monday then, Erik. Have a nice weekend," I said. "You too, Christine," he said before leaving.

I finished my work in a matter of a couple of hours. It was almost lunchtime when I picked my phone up and decided to text back Raul.

Me: Work is pretty busy today, I don't think I'm going to have enough time to meet up for lunch. Sorry!

I decided to keep it small and simple, not give too much or too little information and also not give too much hope for a future meeting. After sending the text, I headed down one floor and stepped out onto Meg and Nadir's floor. Meg was sitting at her desk, doing something on her computer. "Hey, Meg!"

Meg looked up from the computer at the sound of my voice. "Hi, Chrissy! What are you doing here," she asked. I giggled and walked up to her desk. "I came up to check in with you and Nadir before I leave for the day," I said. Meg nodded and picked up the phone on her desk to dial Nadir. She talked on the phone for a little bit. "Sounds good, we'll head over there then," she said before hanging up the phone.

Meg and I made our way to Nadir's office and knocked on the door before continuing in. Nadir was sitting at his desk and motioned for us to take a seat on the chairs across from him. "Erik, sent me to check in with you guys before heading home for the day," I said after taking my seat. Nadir nodded. "Ah, yes. Perhaps to talk about the agenda for our trip," he said.

Meg took out four sheets of paper and placed them on Nadir's desk. "Both of you can grab one and Christine you can grab a second one for Erik," she said. I took two sheets of paper and noticed that it was an itinerary. "As you guys know, we are traveling to Ibiza on Monday. I wrote up an itinerary for us so that we show up to the airport on time and arrive in Ibiza in an organized manner," she said.

"We will be heading to the airport at precisely 4:30 AM on Monday. Our flight departs at 6:00 AM and it is crucial that we get to the airport early so that there is no chance of missing our flight. We will arrive at the London Heathrow Airport at around 1:05 PM our time, 6:05 PM London time. There we will have about a 3 hour and 45 minute layover, which means that our departing flight from LHA will leave at around 4:50 PM and arrive in Ibiza at precisely 7:20 PM. Once we arrive we will check into our hotel, we will be staying at the Cas Gasi Hotel. Erik was kind enough to book each of us deluxe suites. Once we are checked in we will head out for dinner and come back to the hotel," she added.

Nadir and I both nodded in understanding. "The first day, Tuesday, we will be getting down to business. We will be heading to Ballesteros-Valdés SRL for a meeting with the CEO and their team of representatives. There we will count on Christine to help translate our proposal from English to Spanish. Once the meeting is done and over with we will have the next day or two of free time which I have left open for us to decide what to do with that free time. On Friday, or as soon as Thursday even we will be called back to Ballesteros-Valdés SRL for another meeting where they will tell us their final decision, where again we will count on Christine to translate. We will be leaving the hotel on Saturday morning, and heading to the airport at precisely 11:00 AM. Our flight will depart at 1:45 PM and we will head back to London for our connecting flight. Our flight from London will depart at around 6:05 PM and we will be back in New York at around 9:00PM," continued Meg.

I ended up leaving work at around 1:00 PM. Once I left the building and made my way to my car I heard my phone chime with a new notification. It was a text message from Dad.

Dad: Sweetie, I'm so sorry to ask you this, knowing you must be exhausted from work. Would you mind taking Bianca for the weekend? I have back to back surgeries this weekend and might end up having to stay at the hospital. Please call as soon as you can. Love you.

Me: Don't worry about a thing, Dad. I got out of work early today so I'll head over to pick her up right now. Love you too, Dad!

Dad: Thank you so much, sweetheart. I'll have some lunch here for you to eat before you head home with Bianca.

With that I drove off in my car and headed to my Dad's house to pick up my baby sister.

I arrived at Dad's house about 30 minutes after. I put the number in for the gates and waited for them to open before driving in. I parked my car in front of the house and headed in through the front door. I noticed my Dad was in the kitchen, wearing his scrubs. "Hi, Dad," I said as I shut the door behind me. He looked up at me from behind the counter. "Hi, Sweetie. I made some lunch, mac n cheese, tomato soup, and grilled cheese sandwiches," he said as he motioned to the table.

I giggled, Dad only knew how to cook a handful of items due to Mamá doing mostly all of the cooking when we were growing up. It wasn't Mamá's usual delicious Mexican meals, but Dad tried to at least cook and that was worth just as much. "I'll take the mac n cheese, and the grilled cheese," I said laughing.

Dad and I ate our lunch together while Bianca sat in her highchair sprawling tomato soup all over the food tray. I giggled at her cuteness as we sat and ate. After finishing our meal, I washed Bianca's hands and the dishes. I went to Bianca's room and gathered her essentials. We said goodbye to Dad and headed to my apartment.