My primal instinct was to lean deeper into the kiss and put my hand in Erik's dark locks. I quickly stopped myself and gently pulled my face away from his.
Erik sighed and said, "Oh, Emilie! I was so frightened I'd never see you again. I was in so much pain that I did not know if I would ever recover." He smiled and hugged me. He pulled away from me and looked so relieved that it made me feel awful for what I was about to tell him. When he saw my countenance, his face darkened and his smile soon faded away. "What is wrong, Emilie? You look upset. . ."
"Erik. . .there's something I need to discuss with you. I don't know how you will feel about it, but I beg you to listen to all of what I have to say and to please not be rash when I am finished. Please just respect what I have to say."
He looked at me skeptically before slowly nodding his head. "What is it?"
"I'll be blunt; I love you Erik, but not in a romantic way. I love being with you, but we're just too different. We clash too much. That doesn't mean I never want to see you again. . .I still want to be friends with you."
Erik looked almost betrayed. He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed together and said, "But you. . .love me. . ."
"Yes, just not as a lover. . .I just want us to be friends. Does that make sense?"
I could tell that Erik was struggling with his emotions. He looked sad, angry, confused, and slightly hurt all at the same time. "So you love me. . .just not enough to. . .to. . ." His eyes met mine, then looked down at the ring on my thumb. ". . .to be my wife?"
My eyebrows went up in surprise. I hadn't about the ring for very long. I had no idea it was that grand of a gesture. I slowly took the ring off of my thumb and turned it over with my fingers. "You meant this ring as a proposal?"
"Well. . .sort of. I-I gave the ring to you originally because I did not think I could recover from this. . . I honestly thought that I would not make it to the hospital in time. I assumed that if I did make it through this. . .that you would want to. . ." Erik's voice trailed off.
I thought for amoment. I didn't expect this response from Erik. "Is that why you called me your wife earlier?"
"No. I called you my wife that so that doctor would let you accompany me in the ambulance. . .I didn't want to be alone. . ." Erik's face hardened and he practically glared at me when he said, "But I guess I shouldn't have called you my wife, huh? Since it seems I'd end up alone in the end."
I was appalled. "Erik! Don't say that! Can't we just be friends? Is that not good enough for you? Just because I don't want to be your wife doesn't mean you'll be alone!" I found myself getting needlessly angry.
"I just thought that after all we've been through together, you'd want to be more than friends!" He shouted.
I sighed deeply. "Please don't be angry with me, Erik! This is simply how I feel about the situation. Can't you respect my feelings?"
"Well, how am I supposed tofeel, Emilie?" His voice gradually increased in volume. "How am I supposed to feel about this, huh?"
I felt incredibly offended. "Not completely selfish! That's how! You only care for your own feelings! You don't care if I want to be just friends with you. All you care about is me being your wife without even considering how I feel! At least when I tell you my feelings, I don't give you tokens of my affections and try to force it upon you!" I threw the ring at him. It hung in the air briefly before hitting him in the chest, then clattering onto the floor.
Erik looked furious. "A token of my affection? You act like I am trying to buy your love. You were utterly infatuated with me before all of this. What has changed your opinion?. . .This?" He put a hand on his mask.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't be foolish, Erik! Of course it's not your face!"
"What then, woman?"
"It's just. . .you! How you are. How you act. You're too much! Just look how you're treating me right now! If I married you, I would no longer be 'Emilie'. I'd become 'Erik's wife'! I'd always be catering to your needs and moodswings!"
Erik scoffed. "Yes, Emilie. That's what a wife does. Care for her husband. What did you expect would happen if we were to wed?"
"That's not the point! I feel as if I wouldn't receive the same amount of love and care as I'd be giving. Do you realize how unfair that is? I wouldn't mind doing those things for you if you'd just put me first sometimes like I do with you. . .Things just aren't working out between us right now, alright?" I put my face in my hands. "We can't even have a simple conversation without it turning into an argument!" I sighed and out my hands down. "I don't know if I'll ever grow to love you romantically, but right now we should just be friends. I do enjoy spending time with you, but I don't think we should be lovers. Canyou please be my friend, Erik?"
Erik was silent for a long time and the tension in the room grew heavily. Erik looked upat me. "I didn't realize that you felt this way."
"Well, neither did I until I spent some time and fully thought things out. When you were having your surgery, I had a lot of time to think about this."
"I see." Erik paused. "So if you hadn't thought things out. . .you would have agreed to be my wife? And. . .ultimately regretted it later?"
"I. . .I suppose so, yes."
Erik sighed and cast his eyes down. "I suppose I'd rather see you happy. You. . .you mean a lot to me, Emilie. I didn't realize you were sacrificing so much for me. It's my turn now. . .If you wish to be just friends, we can be just friends. I don't think I deserve it though. I am obviously a terrible, selfish person. But. . .if you're willing to try," Erik lifted his head and his eyes met mine. "so am I." He gave a sad smile.
I smiled back and briefly hugged him. I felt incredibly alleviated. Sure, we had another short argument, but I had told Erik how I felt and we came to a conclusion together. The situation could have gone better, but at least Erik and I were still friends. That was what I really cared about. "Oh, Erik. Thank you so much. You're a good man. I'm glad we're friends."
We pulled away from each other and he gave a curt chuckle. "As am I." There was a pregnant pause. "So. . .where do we go from here? I'll go back to the Opera Populaire, but where will you go? I. . .don't expect you'll be staying with me in my home any longer. . ."
"I'll definitely figure something out before tonight. . .I'm really glad we could work this whole thing out, though."
He smiled. "I'm glad you're happy. . .It makes me happy, too." We grinned at each other before Erik asked, "Emilie? Could you do me a favor. . .as a friend. . .and help me back to my home? I'm afraid I'm in a lot of pain and, quite frankly, I am exhausted. It seems that the Opera Ghost is in need of assistance."
"Not a problem, Monsieur." I said with a giggle.
I helped Erik stand and, with a lot of patience, we slowly walked out of the hospital and back to the Opera Populaire. Erik had his arm tightly around my shoulders and gently leaned onto me. Thankfully, no one paid us any attention as we made our way back to Erik's home. I'd hate to have another run-in with a supposed stranger. Once in a while, Erik would give a short cry of pain, but he refused to stop walking. He said he wanted nothing more than to be comfortable in his home and away from the stares of the bystanders walking by.
I could understand why Erik had such cynicism for others, but I could never really imagine how it felt. I couldn't understand how it felt not to be able to trust strangers at all. Or having a hard time even revealing my presence to others. Erik was always hiding in the shadows and behind the mask and he couldn't always reveal his presence or emotions. It must have taken him a lot of courage to be my friend and let me into his home.
"Erik?" I said after several minutes of walking in silence. He grunted in reply. "I. . .just wanted to say thank you."
He looked at me as we walked and raised an eyebrow. "Whatever for?"
"For allowing me into your home."
"I believe you've thanked me for that already."
"I know, but. . .it must have been difficult for you to open up to me and allow me into your personal space. . .I just really appreciate it. Especially after what had happened with my father the first day we met."
"Hm. Well, I suppose I could understand what you were going through and that you needed a place to stay. . ." Erik paused and grunted in pain again. "At the time I assumed you'd only be staying one night, then leaving." He chuckled.
Neither of us spoke anymore until we reached the Opera Populaire. Once there, Erik stopped me from leading him to the front doors.
"Take me to the East side of the building. . .not the front. . ." He was slightly panting from the long walk from the hospital. "There's a secret passage on the East side."
I did as I was told and led Erik to one side of the building.
Once there, Erik asked, "See that one brick that's out of place?"
I scrutinized the wall, but could not find anything out of place on the wall. "No, I don't see anything," I replied.
"Look more closely. It's slightly sticking out of the wall. . .there." He pointed and I could see exactly what he had described. "Please remember this, Emilie. This secret passage leads directly to my bedroom underground so that you don't have to remember all the different corridors and such with all the other passages underground. If you ever want to visit me, you may take this passage to my home anytime. Just make sure no one sees you enter the building from here. I'd hate to get random visitors in my home."
I smiled. "Alright. I won't forget this passage."
After making sure no one was around us to see us enter the secret passage, Erik easily pushed in the brick that was slightly sticking out and a small doorway in the wall slid back to reveal a dark passage. Because the doorway itself wasn't very big, Erik let go of my shoulders so we could enter the doorway one at a time.
Erik stepped inside the passage first and I followed his lead. He turned and pulled a lever on the inside of the passage and the doorway slid shut. "Since you can't see very well in the dark, I can lead the way now." he stated.
"Are you sure? You should take it easy. The doctor said-"
"I am fine, Emilie. I feel better than when we left the hospital. I'll lead theway and rest once we reach my home."
Though I didn't believe that Erik was feeling fine, I let him lead the way anyway. I didn't want to get into yet another disagreement with him, so I let this one go.
It was another silent walk in which we took slowly for Erik's sake. After a few minutes of walking with my hands around Erik's arm, my eyes slowly adjusted to the suffocating darkness. When we stopped, I could see him pulling back a curtain.
The curtain revealed Erik's bedroom just as we had left it this morning. It was hard to believe that just last night we had gotten intimate and had our argument this morning. So much could happen in a day. . .
"Well, we have reached my home." announced Erik with a short sigh. "I am going to lie down and rest for a bit. You are welcome to stay as long as you'd like, dear one. You are also free to leave any time you wish. Just take the passage we came here in and and pull the lever to open the doorway. And don't forget to shut it afterward once you are outside. You're free to visit any time for as much time as you need. I truly appreciate your kindness and honesty, Emilie." He gave me a coy smile, gently grabbed my hand and kissed it. He then released me, stiffly walked to his bed, and lied down. He closed his eyes and immediately began to sleep.
I watched him for a few minutes before walking over to him, taking off his mask, and setting the mask on the ground next to his bed. I kissed his cheek, and finally left the way I had come. I always hated the reasoning behind Erik wearing that thing on his face. It seemed that no matter what Erik thought, his beauty would always be hiding underneath the mask.
A/N: The Epilogue will be posted shortly!