Her.

Chapter X

"Do you think he will come?" Haya asked Henry as they sat in the living area, awaiting the man who was practically Haya's only friend, yet they awaited another too. This young woman, however, was not Erik.

Haya's friend was just like her, actually, musically inclined and a piano player, but she was already married to a man who had won her heart years back. They began to court when she was nearly sixteen, and he was twenty.

Both French, Haya enjoyed their company when she went out to town. Her husband didn't go out as often as she did, but unaccompanied travels were most usually just to busy family.

"Father, do you remember when Marguerite is supposed to get here?"

Henry shook his head.

"Blondie will be here when she gets here."

"Do not call her blondie," Haya giggled. Marguerite loved it, actually, and she couldn't help but laugh every time she heard it.

"Oh, relax, Haya. They will arrive when they arrive," he soothed his daughter.

The knock on the door alerted them to a visitor, and in her mind, Haya whispered, finally. She had been so very much anticipating seeing Marguerite as it was forever since they'd last spoke! Ever since Haya had been caught up in Erik anyways....

Haya opened the door and the person she expected to show up was not the one standing in front of her.

"Am I late?" Erik asked her, looking past her to the grandfather clock that was evanescent to Haya.

"N-no, come right in, Erik, it's good to see you," she said a bit more loudly so her father would hear it, but nothing to alarm the masked-man.

"Erik! Good, one down, one to go. Marguerite is coming alone, yes?" Henry asked his daughter as she shut the door numbly.

"Yes," she replied just as she'd shut the door, numbly.

"There's to be another guest?" Erik asked as though he lived there, his voice smooth and nothing out of normal.

"Yes, my closest friend, Marguerite."

Erik raised an eyebrow at his demotion, thinking that with the way she was feeling, he would be her closest friend. Then again, with the lack of reply to her letters he wasn't surprised he was merely a friend.

"Wonderful," Erik replied with faux smile.

"Knock knock!" A voice came from outside their door, the knock following it.

Haya squealed and ran to get her friend from outside, her excitement to see Marguerite never dulled by anything, not even Erik's sudden presence as though he hadn't left.

"Marguerite!"

"Haya!" They both engulfed the other in a hug and kissed one-another's cheeks, smiling brightly.

They stood in the entrance and held their own conversation as Erik and Henry sat in the dining area, still visible.

"How are you, it has been just too long," Marguerite asked quickly.

"Up and down, you know how these things are," Haya replied.

"Does it have anything to do with tall, dark, and handsome?" She asked in her beautiful French accent, looking over at Erik with keen eyes.