Erik's POV

In my dreamless slumber, I had felt the soft, warm, feather-light touch of a kiss upon my forehead and smelled a delicious yet familiar fragrance of vanilla, honeysuckle, and a hint of sweet-smelling argan oil from the North African region of Morocco. There was only one person that I knew that smelled like that:

Evangeline.

Which meant that she had dared to kiss me.

As the scent left the room and the sound of a boat moving across the lake became farther away, I woke up to find myself in my coffin and my room empty of any other occupant.

I bounded out of the room and into the kitchen, but there was no one in sight. Instead, there was a plate of food that was warming on the stove and a jar of honey on the table that was waiting for me. As I gingerly took the now piping-hot plate back to my normal seat, I began to process the kiss that she placed on the visible part of my forehead.

Besides Christine kissing me, no one had ever kissed me before and even with her, it was only because she was trying to save her lover. But Evangeline did.

She kissed me without being forced, without cause, and it seemed as if it wasn't out of obligation!

I couldn't deny that I now have developed certain feelings towards her ever since we became friends. Unbeknownst to her, she has been easing her way into my melancholy heart as each day passed and there seemed to be no signs of stopping.

I felt my heart tighten as feelings of joy, awe, admiration, and a feeling that was unfamiliar and yet unforgettable started to flow out of me via the tears that had suddenly blossomed from my eyes and onto my still-masked face.

Ah, but if the mask was ever off, she would rue the day that her lips were even a few inches away from your accursed head. My thoughts interrupted my moment of happiness as I briefly left the table to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. With the door shut and locked behind me, I hesitantly took off my mask, the cool air around me immediately hitting my face as I placed my gaze upon the monster that replaced my reflection.

It took all that I had in me to not smash the damn thing with my bare hands as I did when I was first introduced to my own wretched visage. I still had the scars from that fateful day, but it had blended in with all of the other ones that littered my body.

If your face causes even the owner to regard himself with contempt, then why should you subject Evangeline to such a disgusting visual?

I quickly placed my mask back on as I left the bathroom, my appetite disappearing as I put my plate in the ice box and took some things out to make her some lunch. After all, she cooked breakfast and she was also cooking dinner, so it was my turn to cook something.

As I cooked, another thought entered my mind.

She has never asked about my mask before. I thought to myself, Plus, she says that she has already known about me, so that must mean that she knows about my face as well. Maybe we won't have to worry about my mask. Maybe she wouldn't be bothered by my face. Would she?

With everything in place, I placed her plate on her side of the table as I then headed back to my room and wrote two notes, one for Madame Giry and one for Evangeline, attached my friend's note to a small gift for the kiss that she gave to me and then left the lair. In exactly five minutes, I was in her dressing room and, after placing her note on the vanity, I left for the catwalks and dropped Madame Giry's note next to her so it landed right next to her cane.

As she bent down to pick it up, I swiftly left the house and back into the lair to await Evangeline.

Evangeline's POV

We had finished with the first half of act one for Lucia di Lammermoor when Madame Giry had all of a sudden declared that the ballet girls were to rehearse for the gala. Robert and Johnathan then told the rest of us that while they were practicing, we would be given a one hour recess so that we could eat and get things done.

Without another word, I made my way down to the costume department. As soon as I arrived, my eyes grew wide at the sight of the endless bundles of fabrics that cluttered this one, tiny room, making me a bit claustrophobic.

"Hello? Is anyone home? I'm here so you guys could take my measurements."

Just then, seemingly out of nowhere, I was met with three older ladies, each one wearing an apron that was packed to the brim with ribbons, tape measures, threads, pins, laces, and needles of every kind and looking at me up and down.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. The women looked as if they were in their late sixties or early seventies, so I started to worry if they were getting a stroke or something.

"Oh, a new woman to dress!" The "leader" of the trio suddenly exclaimed in a French accent, "Brunhilde, you take the measurements of her torso and neck, Regina, you take the measurements of her hips and legs, and I will take the measurements of her height and her arms."

Without another word (and a whole lot of confusion on my part), the three women took out their measuring tapes, their books, and got ready to go.

After a couple of minutes, the ladies were done and Marie (the leader) was shooing me out of the costume room while they got together and started to work.

With about forty-five minutes to spare, I then decided to return to my dressing room so that I could relax a bit.

When I arrived, I sat at my vanity and soon found a golden necklace with a lapis lazuli pendant attached to it with a note underneath the giant gem.

Dear Evangeline,

I hope that you have not forgotten that it is my turn to make lunch today.

Also, I request that you leave for the lair as soon as rehearsals end

for I have an important matter to discuss with you.

Your Obedient Servant,

O.G.

(PTO: I believe that lapis lazuli blue brings out the rich brown of your eyes and skin.)

.

I undid the clasp and hooked it around my neck as I looked at myself in the mirror before I opened the door to my mirror and walk down to the lair, all the while wondering what he wanted to talk about.

A/N: Hello, my fellow Phantom Phans!

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SO!!!!!!What do you think Erik wants to talk to Evangeline about?

Will the Evarik ship sail?

Will Erik's face be revealed?

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