From Present to Past (Phantom of the Opera)

Chapter 14

(Carly's POV)

Some two weeks later after we had moved into our new house, I sat down in my chair near the window and brushed my hair. I was so bored. Then, I heard a knock on the door. I stood up and walked over to the door. Opening it, I smiled. "Good afternoon, Reza. What brings you here?" It wasn't the day for his shot.

He smiled at me. "Papa and I are going into town for a celebration and I wanted you to come with us." He said, grinning.

"You do?" I asked with a smile as I kneeled down to meet his eyes. He nodded quickly. "Would you please come with us?" He said as he smiled as nicely as he could. I nodded and smiled. "I would be delighted to go with you both."

"Thank you!" He hugged me and started to walk away. "Papa and I'll be by with the carriage in a few minutes to pick you up!" He called over his shoulder as he broke into a run towards his house. I smiled and watched him go. I then closed the door and got ready as quickly as I could.

(Nadir's POV)

The carriage pulled up in front of Carly and Sarah's new house and I stepped out, going to fetch Carly. I knocked on the door and waited for Carly to open it. "Good afternoon." She said with a slight smile as she opened the door.

"Good afternoon." I replied as I took in her appearance. She looked beautiful with her hair down. "It sounded like Reza really wanted me to come with you both." She said as I led her towards my carriage.

"He does." I said as I held out my hand to help her into the carriage. "He was quite adamant that you come along."

"I wonder why?" She asked as she took my hand and climbed into the carriage. I shrugged. "Perhaps he didn't want to leave you out." I said with a smile.

"Perhaps so." She smiled as she sat down beside Reza. I smiled at her and the carriage began to go to the town for the celebration.

(Sarah's POV)

I frowned as I looked over the book in my hands about learning Persian. I had been trying to learn it for the past week and was stuck on this one part of it. I stood up and walked out to the garden where Erik was painting. "Erik, would you mind explaining this to me?" I asked as I neared him. The moment I got close enough to see his face, I realized something. He wasn't wearing his mask.

The deformity wasn't really so horrible. The only major thing was the lack of a nose. Otherwise, it was just the face of a thin man with super pale skin under which one could see the blood vessels.

He set his brush down, beside his mask, obviously not thinking anything about it being there and stood up. "Of course." He said as he turned towards me with a smile and took the book from me.

I felt the need to study the deformity, my accursed curiosity getting the best of me. But, I forced myself to act completely normal, doing my very best to ignore the deformity. "This part." I said as I pointed at the section in the book.

He looked at me strangely for a moment and then down to where I pointed. "This is easy." He gave a laugh and then explained it to me.

I scowled playfully at him and listened to his explanation. Suddenly, it all made sense. I smiled at him. "Thank you, Erik." I tucked the book under my arm. "It makes much more sense when you explain it."

"You're welcome." He smiled and then took my hand and turned me towards his painting. "What do you think?" I looked over at it and smiled brightly as I saw the beauty of the painting. "It looks lovely."

"Tha-" He then gasped as he seemed to finally notice his mask laying on the ground. He quickly covered his face and turned from me. I noticed his quick movement and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Erik, it's okay. You don't need your mask around me."