Him.

Chapter VI

The day after Haya arrived, Erik was surely surprised to see that his wife and his old friend were seated in the kitchen talking up a storm over something he had no clue about. It didn't concern him much, but he was amused after a while. At least Philippa was trying.

Erik couldn't tell if Haya noticed or not, but Philippa still hated the idea of her being in their house and around their children. Though being civil, that meant nothing to the actress that Erik knew his wife was. She could easily weasel her way into much of anything, and every once in a while that scared him. Regardless, he still loved her.

Love kind of hurt sometimes, especially when you fall in love with the wrong person. At first, you may not think that they are as awful as they will be one day, you'll obviously think that they care. And as you grow attached, and then as they grow farther apart, bad things happen. It's not guaranteed, but most of the time there is no happy ending. Yet, you still love the person, which causes serious pain. And then that's all, there is nothing more to such an awful situation. Even if the love between both of you is still enough to keep you together past the faults and the awful things you both have done, one will untimely love the other more. Erik just hoped that he and Philippa loved each other enough to stay together. Even past her bigotry and his past.

"Good morning," Erik greeted the pair, smiling at them happily.

"Morning, love," Philippa said and reached up to kiss him.

Erik obliged, trying not to notice Haya cringe and avert her attention to Henri. Erik could tell that Haya favored Henri just a bit more, and that really didn't bother him. He understood, and Haya was just as nice and adorable to Marjory. The little girl smiled brightly and giggled as Henri tried to say a few words Haya had taught him just that morning.

"Papa!" Marjory suddenly exclaimed and reached her hand out to him.

"Yes, darling?" Erik asked her, smiling at the girl and kneeling to her level.

"I done! I play?" She asked quickly, almost jumping from the chair.

"You have not finished!" Philippa scorned her daughter lightly, "Do not let her fool you, Erik."

"Well, it seems like we have a dilemma here," he said with a grin.

"No," Marjory said and turned back to her uneaten food, placing her hands in it and putting some in her mouth. "Hungry," she stated, causing Erik and Haya to laugh, Philippa to simply shake her head with a small smile placed upon her lips.

"So, I thought today you would possibly play for the children and us? I've played a few of your compositions in the past for my darling, but I think if the composer were to play for us that would be a very high honor," Erik suddenly asked Haya, watching as her eyes lit up.

"Sure! I mean, I am nothing compared to your playing, Erik. I'll need a bit to warm up, though. I haven't really composed in a rather long time," she informed them sadly.

"Why?" Erik asked.

Haya looked down at her plate to avoid the gaze she was being given. Erik could see that she wasn't comfortable under his gaze, but he couldn't stop looking at her.

"I... When Philippe began to insinuate that he was to leave me, I stopped composing in hopes that we could salvage our marriage. I wanted to, truly, but by then it was too late. He'd already found someone by the time we were divorced," Haya said hollowly.

"That is awful of him," Erik said suddenly, "leaving you before you had the chance to solve things. At least you can be happy that there were no children involved."