She'd been reading the music theory book for hours. No amount of summaries online or from her university friends could help her properly grasp the theory she was reading over and over again. Christine was becoming ever more agitated and groaned silently in frustration. It would surely help if she could sing it aloud and add some rhythm to the theory. To make it more mnemonic... but also a lot more fun. Then she would easily remember and understand what she was currently reading, right?

Sadly, that was not going to happen anytime soon. The last outburst from Meg (or rather, her polite request 'please can you stop, I am trying to watch my weekly episode of Love is Blind on Netflix') when Christine had sung endlessly for a group project in her room, is not one she'd like to relive. And the ever-increasing stress that Meg endured from her new position at the, according to Christine and everyone she knew, world-renowned Webber Opera House in London, was easily visible in and around her eyes. But also the amount of different, fluffy house slippers she owned and always immediately put on after a day at work was concerning. Christine couldn't imagine the pain she must endure to become pitch-perfect. For herself, but mostly for her mother. Disappointing one's family members is always a problem, anywhere you go.

The thought of family-related topics didn't exactly excite Christine either. Pressure is to be found everywhere, especially if all of a sudden one day you find a whole lot of letters in the mail requesting you to pay back loans and other matters. The death of her father never seemed to be able to leave her thoughts. Both emotionally, but it also showed on her bank account. She'd thought arranging a funeral was a one-time thing, but the costs were becoming incredibly unpayable. She just had to take that loan. But now, they need the money back. Damn banks.

"Please, I just want to study... Stop thinking about this now, Christine!" she silently cursed to herself.

Then, there was a knock on her door. She gasped, afraid she had said it too loud, and now Meg was coming to get her revenge.

"C-Come in, Meg!"

She slowly opened the door, and through the small creak, Christine saw Meg smiling and raising her eyebrows slightly when their eyes met.

"Christine! Sorry for disturbing you. Is this a bad time?"

"No, no, it's fine. What's up?" Christine sat up straight on her bed, motioning Meg to come and sit next to her.

When she plopped down and joined Christine under the warm, fuzzy blanket, she lit up again, "You cannot believe what I managed to get for you! Well- also for me, really!" A slight laugh escaped her lips, "Are you doing anything on New Year's Eve?"

Christine shook her head, curiosity rising at what Meg had to share with her.

She continued, "They've finally given me the invitation to the Masquerade Ball on New Year's! At the opera! And! I'm allowed to bring a date!" Meg grabbed Christine's hands and slightly shook them as if to wake her up, "And I'm asking you to come with me! Doesn't that sound amazing?"

Meg quickly stood up and struck a pose, "The two of us, INRECOGNIZABLE! In a dress and mask that will make us look mysterious and, dare I say... hot?!"

Christine was utterly stunned but laughed at Meg's behaviour. A ball at the Opera? How cultivated is that? It's perfect.

"Oh, my- Meg! That's wonderful! Wow!" but her smile quickly faded when she thought of the next thing, "B-but, don't you want to bring... a guy? Or uhh... your mother?"

Meg looked terrified, "What?! That first one is a joke... and jeez, Christine! I can't bring my mom on a date! Besides, " she fell on the bed again, now laying face down and Christine could barely hear her, "she'll be there already. She's the ballet instructor, remember? MY instructor!"

Christine rubbed her back in comfort, "Aw. It can't be that bad. Look- we'll go together and you don't even have to see her if you don't want to! We'll dance into the night, find some boys to dance with..."

"That sounds wonderful. Ah! I'm so excited!" Meg sat up straight again at the good news, "We'll need to go shopping. Tomorrow, after my practice. Can you come by the opera house? It's a short walk to Oxford Street from there..."

Christine bit her lip. Clothes shopping? With all the money she had to pay back this month? That's going to hurt. But... it's a one-time thing, right? She'll keep that fancy dress for the rest of her life, and she'll be on a budget. It sounded reasonable, in her head.

Christine nodded.

They squealed some more and as the excitement died down, Meg returned to her room, dancing while she closed the bedroom door.

The next day couldn't come sooner for Christine. She hadn't gone out shopping properly for ages, it seemed. The last time must have been... when she bought the black dress for her father's funeral. Even then, that was not a 'fun' shopping trip.

Now Meg will join her. Both will be bringing their best moods to the two-woman party. Christine beamed with joy as she looked for clothing that she was able to wear underneath the dress, but also looking for clothing that isn't complicated to wear. Who knows how many dresses she'll need to try on? They can't go out for that long.

She went for a warm, blue, long-sleeved dress that went perfectly with tights underneath. Her beige winter jacket that reached her knees on top of her dress would keep her warm enough in these cold times. She grabbed her gloves and bag, which only contained an umbrella for now, and went out the door of her shared apartment.

Living with Meg was always an absolute blast. She'd been her best friend for as long as she can remember. They became even closer, almost as close as sisters when Christine moved in with the Girys. It was a no-brainer to move in with Meg in an apartment as soon as they started their studies at the University of London. Of course, a scout had found Meg not long ago and offered her a position at the Webber Opera ballet group, putting a halt to her studies. Christine was enormously happy for Meg but felt a tiny hinge of sadness that they haven't scouted her as well.

Nevertheless, the masquerade ball should at least start up some connections with influential people that work at the opera. Christine was hopeful because apparently networking is key to getting your dream job nowadays. Doesn't hurt to try and talk to some strangers during the ball, then.

Outside of her apartment, she walked to a nearby street where her bus stopped to go towards the opera. The streets were flooded with tourists and Londoners, she could barely make her way through. And that's when she saw the bus at the bus stop. Driving away.

She picked up the pace and shoved some people out of the way, screaming for the bus to stop again. Heck, why did she think that would work?

Giving up, she sighed and looked down at her phone, checking when the next bus would arrive.

25 minutes.

She can't let Meg wait out in the cold like that. And stores are only getting more and more crowded. Plus, she absolutely hated arriving late at meetings and appointments. Yikes.

Christine figured it'd be best to grab a cab for now. Just this time... and it was approaching anyways. She waved to the cab driver and it pulled over, eager to have a customer. She smiled at the cab driver and reached out for the door handle in front of her when all of a sudden she felt something bump her away from the door. No, not something. It was someone.

Christine looked up at the man who pushed her away in utter disbelief.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Christine said to the man with an aggravated tone.

Her expression changed from disbelief to shock when he turned his head toward her. Golden eyes were staring right at her. They almost seemed to glow, living a life on their own. She's never seen anything like it. His dark hair was smoothened out, but the wind made it slightly messier than intended. Dressed in a very expensive-looking black trenchcoat, it's like he came right out of a historical novel. Or was it romance? Or both?

But the odd part was that he wore a mask, covering the right side of his face. If he hadn't been looking at her from the front, she wouldn't have been able to see his expressions or anything for that matter. You would barely even be able to see him talk.

Was there some sort of Comic-Con she wasn't aware of?

She caught herself staring a little too long.

"Excuse me my dear, but business calls. I'm in quite a hurry."

She snapped back to reality and saw him sitting down in the cab, about to close the cab door.

Christine didn't accept this in the slightest. She grabbed the door before it closed, and looked at the man again, now furious. He only looked up at her, emotionless.

"Have you considered that other people also might have some business to attend to?!"

"I think your little shopping trip can wait, mademoiselle. Stores won't be closing anytime soon," he replied, smirking while staring at her clearly empty bag, "Goodbye now!"

He slammed the door shut. She only heard a murmur from the inside of the cab, which was probably him giving directions to his destination. And with that, the cab drove off.

She was too stunned to speak. That... ugh! Where are his manners?

Furiously, she waited for the next cab.

Once Christine arrived at the Theatre, her anger had died down quite a bit. It went from frustration to just pure disappointment. She was glad, as she did not want to ruin the mood for what was about to come: the shopping trip!

Christine saw Meg already waiting outside, waving at the incoming cab. Meg's smile was contagious, and Christine had no other choice but to smile back and wave. She paid the cab driver quickly and stepped out of the car, where she was greeted by Meg with a tight hug.

"There you are! I thought you'd never get here," she said while letting go of her friend.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I missed the bus. And someone snatched the cab I was about to get into afterwards. Some people..."

"That sounds kind of rude."

They turned in the right direction and started walking to the shopping areas.

"Incredibly rude! I let him know, however. But he didn't seem to care in the slightest! Calling me dear and such. Ugh, how patronizing!" Christine clenched her fists at the thought.

"Now now, it's just some random guy who probably isn't right in the head. Or his ego blinds him from seeing others. Or both!"

"Well, yeah. Don't think it's the only thing blinding him, to be honest."

Meg raised an eyebrow, curious at Christine's comment.

"This man, he looked like he was dressed as some fancy ghost! With a mask and all, probably covering up half the things he sees. Is there some sort of event that we don't know of, Meg?" Christine continued.

Meg laughed slightly at the remark, "Ah, Christine! Did this man wear all black and talked like some sort of historical figure, by any chance?"

"Yes! That's an extremely accurate description. H-How-"

"That's Erik! He owns the opera house."

Christine blinked.

"W-What? That egocentric mannequin OWNS the opera house?" Christine blurted out, stunned that Meg knew him.

"Yes! He's quite an enigma, really. Sometimes he just appears out of nowhere and starts criticizing everything if it isn't going his way. It's like he needs his social bar filled up from time to time, but his social skills get in the way and just ends up being, well... rude." Meg looked down as if she was pitying him, "h-he probably means well! Owning and running a place like that must be pretty exhausting-"

Christine cut her off, "Meg, I don't believe someone should get a free pass for being rude to others without a clear reason. He just seems like an ass to me."

Meg shrugged, unsure what to say. Then, Christine turned her head towards Meg all of a sudden, "Wait, is he criticizing you as well? Please tell me, or so I will come over and show him what those three karate lessons from five years ago have taught me!"

She laughed in return and waved dismissingly, "No! No. He hasn't talked to me. He mostly talks with my mother, who then gently rephrases everything to the other dancers."

Christine nodded, relieved that her friend did not have to deal with the mess of the man who was Erik.

They continued walking towards the stores, eventually entering one which was known for being quite cheap. Meg wasn't enthused to enter, as the dresses on the mannequins in the windows didn't look too good. The mannequins' faces also looked quite horrified. Christine had hope, maybe they did look good on them. Besides, it looks good on her bank account if she could buy one here...

Meg and Christine chose some dresses and went to the fitting rooms, each showing and posing slightly with their outfits. There were no happy faces to be spotted during that period. Their expressions were mostly of disgust.

"This is a nightmare, Christine. Please, let's just go to that other store I suggested before?"

"Meg... I checked the prices on that one. I can't afford-"

"Pleeeeease?" Meg clasped her hands together, making a begging motion to her friend, "Look, if you find something, I can pay it for you this time! My treat."

"N-no!" Christine said quickly. She did not want to owe another person, "We can go for you, but I think I'm just going to get this one..."

She raised a cheap black dress towards Meg. She looked at it for a second, and then slapped the dress from her hands, making it land on the floor beside her.

"Heck no. You are my date and I need you to look good so I can show you off to the others. This... would just be embarrassing for us both. You're coming with me, missy."

And so, Christine was dragged out of the miserable cheap store and to a more classy one.

But another problem fell on their shoulders: They loved ALL of the dresses that they tried on from the new store. Now, their main problem was choosing one.

It took a while, a LONG while, but they both eventually chose. Meg chose a short, cheery black dress. It was simple but looked incredibly classy on her. As for Christine, she chose a lighter, white dress that was a tad longer than Meg's. It had black straps at the waist and shoulders to accentuate specific parts of the attire.

Now, the only thing that was left was the masks and other accessories. However, they were so worn out from all the clothes fitting and walking that they decided to buy the cheap feathered masquerade masks from a party store. They still looked good, and honestly, they had no idea where else to buy these other than online (for which shipping would take too long anyways).

At home, they fell onto the couch and groaned, exhausted from the shopping trip. Time to order some pizza.

Hey all! New writer here.

I'll be updating this story in the next couple of days. It's already finished, but I'm going over it all for spelling and grammar errors. Expect updates very very soon!

Let me know if you have any feedback! Would love to hear your thoughts, I'm here to get better at writing etc. (but also been hooked on reading FanFics, I just had to create one of my own!)

Toodles!

- KarriKatina