Paris and us

Chapter 11

It had been a month since I saw Louis at the exhibition night. He just vanished in the thin air. Was I imagining our encounter? Maybe he didn't exist, like Tyler Durden.

The spring had arrived. Flowers were blooming. Everyone was more hopeful. Hay fever was back too. My ears were itchy and I was sneezing nonstop when a text from Louis arrived. Maybe he woke up from the hibernation too.

Are you free tonight?

"Yeah." I sneezed.

Good. Let's go to see a concert tonight. Meet me at 7:30pm in front of Opéra Garnier

"Ok" I replied.

Concert in The Opéra Garnier. I had to dress up again. Why couldn't we just go to cinema for a movie as a date night, like normal people would do? I should go on Tinder next time to date some normal people. Or maybe they are creeps, they are not normal too. What is normal? Normal is boring.

Classical music Concert. Opéra Garnier. Code: long dress.

I dug out a navy dress from Zara in the closet. I had to iron it. It was 5 pm, I had to hurry up for the shower and makeup in order to arrive on time. Mr Grey was sitting on the toilet seat, quietly judging me.

"Where are you going to whore yourself again? You think you are in Pretty Woman?" Mr Grey looked from up and down.

"What? Mr Grey. It is the Opera House. I have to at least look decent."

"With you puffy eyes, your red nose and your non-stop sneezing, do you think they will let you in?"

"With Louis de Vallois standing next to me, they will even open all the doors for me," I replied.

"Crazy woman. I am going to my warm bed now. I hope they won't kick you out of Opera Garnier. I am not going to pick you home, because you know, I am a cat. And don't forget to leave me some food before you go." he meowed and left my tiny bathroom.

I took metro line 14 and exited at the Pyramides station. As I walked on Avenue de l'Opéra, Paris was in its usual mess. Cars were horning, people were zigzagging on the roads. Most of the people just finished their Saturday shopping trips and headed home, or they just started their Saturday night life in a restaurant or cinema. As I crossed Rue de la paix I could see the Colonne Vendôme on Place Vendôme, where you find all the Haute Joaillerie boutiques and their ateliers. This was literally the Parisian vault for the diamonds, gold, and precious stones. People would walk in the boutiques to spend hundreds of thousands euro to buy some coloured stones and solidified carbon.

I walked up the stairs of the main entrance. Louis was waiting for me. He was wearing a dark grey suits with white shirt today. He opened his arms to hug me and kiss me on my head.

"I am glad you can make it tonight. I was afraid it was too last minute and I had to attend this concert alone," he said, "You looked wonderful tonight."

"You know me, what will I do on Saturday night? Probably eat dinner and fall asleep at 10 pm in front of the TV. I might fall asleep during the concert though, elbow me to wake me up, ok?"

He laughed. "Same for me. I just arrived from Shanghai this morning."

"Why did you come then? Go home and get some sleep!"

"I don't want to stay at home and do nothing. It's Saturday night, I need to go out to change my mind and disconnect from the job."

We passed through the security checkpoint and entered the dimly lit entrance hall. We walked up the grand white marble staircase, which divided into two divergent flights of stairs that lead to the Grand Foyer. The pedestals of the staircase were decorated with female torchères. We continued to walk and entered the auditorium, which was a huge red room. In the middle of the ceiling there was a gigantic bronze and crystal chandeliers. On the ceiling there were painting depicting the opera scenes from 14 famous composers including Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi and Tchaikovsky. It was repainted in 1964. In the middle of the stage there was the huge velvet red curtain. The stage of Opéra Garnier was the largest in Europe. The whole auditorium reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera. Old, creepy, haunted by many ghosts from the past.