Mon Espion || Phantom of the Opera

Chapter 34 - Hidden Intent

With the holidays finally over, everyone had been busy making various preparations for the annual Masquerade Ball. Since this year the Opera Populaire had two new managers, the cast and crew of the opera house was uncertain of how the ball would actually run, however once the plans were laid out and the decorations were starting to showcase the facade of the exciting night, everyone was beginning to relax, if only slightly. Madame Giry called for rehearsals for the dance that was to take place just before midnight and all dancers and chorus were required to attend these rehearsals. Starting the day after Christmas, they all were brought together on stage to prepare for the event, which meant Constance was often finding herself busy, too busy in fact to spend time with Erik much to her dismay. Everyone that had ever set foot as a performer for the opera house was required to be of attendance; that is except for the infamous Christine Daaé. Apparently she had gotten seriously ill over the holiday, though Constance had her suspicions as to the true reason of her absence due to a certain Persian. Nevertheless, they rehearsed as much as they could before being forced to practice on the grand staircase. Constance had asked Meg numerous times how Christine was to keep up the façade of their friendship, only to be met with a confusing shrug that made her question Meg's true loyalty.

After four days of rehearsing on stage, it was now the day before New Years Eve and the cast had to practice on the main staircase to straighten out the kinks of the routine. This was also the day the infamous soprano decided she wasn't sick anymore and decided to grace the rest of the cast with her presence. Most of the cast was excited to see Christine back and in a healthy condition, all apart from Constance herself who remained fixated on staying away from the scheming soprano. It was also cruel fate's decision to place Christine next to her on the steps, causing Constance to keep her guard up in case she decided to pull out any tricks. However, rehearsals went quite well without further incident and the entire crew had the routine and song down to the finer details prior to Madame Giry dismissing them. She told them that she would like to rehearse once more during the day before the ball, but would let them know of her decision early in the morning. With that, the entire cast was dismissed for the remainder of the day.

Constance grabbed her belongings towards the side of the hall in a hurry, wanting to talk to Erik about possibly attending the ball with her. She wasn't sure exactly how this conversation would present itself, nor how Erik would respond if he could pull off such a feat, but she was determined to at least ask him. She knew she only wanted to attend with him and could not picture attending with any other man, even though she was asked by two other dancers if she wished to accompany them. Handsome and kind as they were, they were not her lover.

"Connie!" Meg called from afar, causing her to raise her head toward the blonde ballerina's direction. Meg came rushing over form the staircase towards her, a huge smile spread across her face.

"Yes Meg?" Constance asked, clinging onto her items while trying to hide her annoyance.

As soon as Meg reached her, she smiled proudly as she spoke, "I heard that Jean-Luc and Edward had both asked you to the ball," she began, talking a little less loud then previously, "but you rejected both their offers. Are you attending the ball with another gentleman?"

Constance had been avoiding this question as much as possible, not wanting to tell one of her closest friends that she was thinking of asking the Phantom himself to attend with her, "Not at this moment-"

"Oh," Meg interrupted, seemingly confused, "Are you waiting for a specific person to ask you Connie? Or are you just wanting to go alone?"

"You could say that," Constance began, smiling to herself but she quickly hid her amusement, "but he has yet to ask me. Tonight, I plan on putting a brave front and asking him myself if he will escort me to the ball."