Wishing That You Would Be Here

Chapter 27- Questions, questions

(Erik's POV)

I sat down next to Christine, who was facing the Persian man, called Nadir. She had bandaged Nadir's ankle and answered his every question. I was looking at all of this with a frown, but Christine gave me a reassuring smile. 

"So, monsieur Nadir," I started off. "Could you please tell me what were you doing in my catacombs?" 

"Surely." The Persian said. "I have a tendency to get lost wherever I go, and this time, I got lost here." I gave the Persian a surprised look and he continued. "So, I got here and I got caught in that clever trap of yours." 

"Another question: Why did you come to Paris?" I asked. 

"Well," the Persian said "I wanted to see the sights." 

"I find this scenario really unpredictable, monsieur." I said straight away. Christine tugged on my sleeve and whispered: "I have to talk to you." 

"About what?" I whispered back. What could be so important as to interrupt my inspection. 

"Excuse me, I gotta get some water." Christine suddenly said with a smile and went to the kitchen. I went after her and once we were out of the sight of the Persian, she said: "Erik, I think we could bring him up there. His injury is not that bad, that he couldn't walk." 

"Well, I'll be glad when he immediately leaves this place. But, there's one more thing I have to ask him." I said and went back to the place where the Persian was sitting. "So, monsieur, one more thing I need to ask you before you go." I stated, pulling out the strange coil of rope that I took him. "What is this?" I asked 

"It's just some Punjab lasso. I have it just in case someone robbed me." He said. 

"Well, monsieur, we will lead you back up." The Persian wanted to grab the Punjab lasso back from me, but I grabbed him by this wrist just in time. "I'll be leaving this." I said and put the coil into a large pocket that I had in my cape.

"Are you two done?" Christine called, emerging from the kitchen with a tray of cookies in her hands. 

"Yes miss Daaé. I would say we are." Said the Persian and I gave him a death glare. 

We got the Persian into the outer world and we returned back to my home. "Well, at least we've got him off of our necks." 

"Erik, don't talk about other people like that." Christine gently scolded me with a slight giggle. She removed my mask and leaned in closer to me. She hugged me "Now, we don't want the cookies I baked to get cold, do we?" She smiled. 

"Would you like a cup of tea?" I asked and Christine nodded happily. 

I went to boil some water and Christine came to me to get something to drink while I was making the tea. Aeisha came with her and threw herself at my feet, softly purring and rolling around my shoes. "What so you want, Aeisha?" I asked the kitten and she just squeaked and started to roll around my feet again. "Aeisha, are you hungry or something?" I didn't know what to do about the kitten. 

"She just wants you to know how much she loves you." Christine said when she came from behind and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I felt so happy in that moment. I had a small family, who loved me even with my imperfections. I smiled at what a beautiful life I had, I could have never dreamed of such happiness in my life.