I woke up to feel warm, steady breathing on the back of my neck. I opened my eyes. I could see that Erik's strong arms were around my waist in a tight embrace. Our bodies were pressed together, his front to my back, due to the small size of the bed, but I honestly did not care. I smiled to myself. Oh, how scandalous I was last night! I would never have dreamed I would have done anything like that with a man I had known for such little time. And with the Opera Ghost of all people. I kept my eyes closed and let out a content sigh as I savored the peacefulness of the situation. Not a sound could be heard save for our breathing.
Just then, I felt Erik's lips graze the back of my ear as he mumbled something in his sleep. I looked over my shoulder to see Erik looking incredibly tranquil with a small smile on his delicate lips. He looked a lot more complacent compared to yesterday when I had found him sleeping while hunched over his desk.
His eyes slowly opened to reveal his warm brown irises. A wide grin tugged at the corner of his mouth as hesoftly said, "Good morning, Emilie."
My smile grew wider. "Good morning to you too, Erik."
We both giggled like children.
Erik took his arms away from my waist and stretched his body as much as he could under the covers. He smiled and gave me a quick peck on the lips then sat up in the small bed. I stretched out my arms as well before propping myself on my elbowsand saying, "So, what shall we do today? Did you have any plans?"
"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I made plans for today before I knew that we were going to do. . .that last night. I was planning on running some errands today."
"What kind of errands?"
He chuckled. "I need to purchase some things is all."
"May I go with you?"
Erik's eyes suddenly grew serious as he looked down at me. "No." he said firmly.
My smile waned. "What? Why not?"
"Like I have said before, my dear, no one knows you are here and I would like to keep it that way. It is also morning which means the people who work here will be up and about which would make things even harder if you accompanied me. . .I just want to keep you safe down here, Emilie." he answered slowly.
"Oh, but Erik, I'll-"
"Please, Emilie. Just trust me."
He pushed the covers away from himself and quickly stood and turned his back to me. He did not say anything nor face me until he had grabbed his undergarments off of the floor and slipped them and his slacks on. He looked around before asking, "Do you know where my shirt is?" I took a quick look around then picked his shirt off of the floor and handed it to him. "Thank you," He slid on the white shirt and started to button it up.
"What am I to do while you are gone?" I asked. "And how long will you be away anyway?"
"You can do whatever you wish. Just be careful." He paused what he was doing to make eye contact with me. "And please don't hide again. I'll only be gone for an hour or two." Erik then grabbed his vest and started putting it on.
"I thought you trusted me." I said quietly.
He stopped buttoning his vest and looked down at me seriously again. "Of course I trust you, Emile." he said.
"Then why can't I go with you?"
He sighed and resumed what he was doing with his vest. When he finished, he sat down next to me on the edge of the bed. "I trust you. It is other people I don't trust." He took his hand in mine. "I couldn't live with myself if you were hurt."
"Why would anyone hurt me?"
"People can be menacing and just horrid, my dear. Sometimes people will hurt you for no reason. I only wish to protect you."
I thought for amoment. "Well, what do you need to purchase anyway?"
"More quills and ink. . .and loads of parchment. . .Maybe a few candles. Things like that."
"That will take you two hours to do?"
"Well, I need to do other things as well."
"Like what?"
Erik sighed and stood up. "Just things, alright, Emilie? I apologize for the fact that you cannot come along, but-"
"I thought you said I could do what I wish." I said as I crossed my arms in front of my still bare chest.
By this time, Erik was crouched down, tying his shoes. "I meant down here." he said without looking up. I huffed and started getting dressed as well.
"Well, maybe I don't need your permission to accompany you." I said in a way that made me feel rebellious.
Erik scoffed as he finger-combed his hair. "Then why, Madamoiselle, did you ask for it in the first place, hm?" I felt stupid for saying that now. "If you truly want to leave this place so badly, then don't let me stop you." Without waiting for a response, he turned, and marched towards the curtain and out of the room.
As I put the white dress on over my undergarments, I shook my head angrily. The nerve of him! He acted like I was absolutely desperate to get out of his home when I really just wanted to spend some time with him. I didn't want to stay down here again while Erik went out. Once I had the dress on and had put on my shoes, I walked past the curtain and out of the room to find Erik securing his mask to his face. I angrily strode over to him and put my hands on my hips.
"Do you want me to leaveyour home, Erik? Is that it?"
"Be quiet, Emile." he growled without looking at me. He grabbed his cloak off of the table and put it around his shoulders.
"Excuse me?"
"You're getting me angry." he warned. "I don't want to get angry at you again." he said through his teeth as he reached for his gloves which were across the table.
A knot of nervousness came forth in my stomach at the thought of Erik angry. . .again. It scared me to see him like that. Even so, I was stubborn and did not want to give him the satisfaction of winning this argument.
"If my presence is unwanted-"
"It sure as hell isn't wanted right now." he snapped.
I stared at him, my mouth agape. "Erik!"
"What? If you want to leave, then leave. Don't put it on me, woman!" he roared. "If you truly wish to stay in my home, then do us both a favor and get the hell out of my sight!" He started furiously writing something down on a piece of parchment.
It felt as if Erik had slapped me. How could such a tiny disagreement turn into this big argument? I had a strong urge to cry, but I did not dare do so in front of him. "Fine," I stated quietly, my voice quaking. "I'll leave."
I ran to the shore of the dark lake and stepped into the boat. It wobbled under the sudden weight and I almost fell into the water. I quickly regained my balance and ever so slowly started rowing myself to the other side of the shore, tears streaming freely down my face. I did not look back at Erik. He did nothing to stop me.
When Erik had taken me to his home for the first time, it was far too dark to see and memorize which passage led to which. Though I was ashamed to admit it, it took me at least three quarters of an hour to finally find the correct exit to the passage because it was basically a labyrinth down here. I had been looking for the exit that lead to where Erik and I had met inside the opera house. Upon exiting the passage, people were scurrying around frantically and, thankfully, no one saw me. It wasn't as busy as the day of auditions, but I did not expect to see so many people running around. I then remembered that Madame Giry had told me that the people who made the cut for auditions would be notified the day after. Surely everyone was informed by now.
Because nobody was paying attention to what anyone else was doing, it was easy for me to slip past everyone and reach the exit unnoticed. I appreciated the fact that I did not run into Madame Giry on my way out.
I silently made my way outside of the opera house. Once there, I slowly walked throughout the city by myself. After walking around aimlessly for several minutes, I came across a bench facing small pond and gladly sat down on it. I propped my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands and sighed heavily.
Why did Erik and I have to argue like that? Everything was going extremely well last night. This argument was all his fault! He should have trusted me enough to let me out of his home. I just wanted to spend the day with him because I enjoyed his company. He thought he could control whether or not I could leave his home. I didn't need his tyranny. I had plenty of that when I lived with Father. Erik shouldn't have gotten so angry with me. If he didn't want me to leave his home so badly, then why did he do nothing when I was making my way across the lake? I sat for a very long time, just thinking to myself.
What was I going to do now? Should I go back to Erik's home tonight? Or would it be wiser to avoid him? If so, how long until he was no longer angry with me? A few hours? A day? I sighed deeply. I barely met this man two days ago and yet I've given him so much of myself. I thought I was finally doing something right with my life. A teardrop slid down my cheek and landed my knee. Could I do anything right?
I sat there for a good part of an hour just thinking to myself. Many thoughts and emotions swarmed through my head and I almost didn't notice when the bench I was sitting on suddenly creaked as someone sat down next to me.
"Bonjour." a man greeted in a gruff voice.
"Hello," I replied without looking up.
There was a short silence before the man said, "Why is a pretty young lady like yourself so glum?" The question caught me off guard. He was being awfully forward. Why did he even care? "Is it because of a man?" He mused.
"Yes." I answered.
"Ah, I see. Men do not know how to treat ladies these days. Such a shame." I remained silent. "If I had a lady as beautiful as you," he continued, "I would definitely apologize if I had hurt her." I halted my thoughts. Did this man fancy me or something? Did he just come and sit next to me to flirt with me? "Are you feeling dismayed because your man hurt you?"
"Well, I don't know if he qualifies as my man, but, yes. He did hurt me."
"Well, I'm sure he feels sorry for what he has done."
"I hope so." I mumbled. I looked at the man's shoes. They were very clean.
There was a short silence between us. I was curious why this man had asked me so many questions. Maybe he was just being friendly.
"Do you have the time?" the man asked me.
"No. I'm sorry Monsieur-?"
"Renard. Claude Renard."
I froze. Claude Renard?
I took my chin off of my hands and slowly looked up at the man to see that the man was Erik. He was grinning down at me cheekily.