Phantom Portrait || Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction

14. "Are you surprised?"

Farren

Without falling, Farren managed to get through one of his many hallways and to the first closed door. It was an ordinary storage room, full of crates and dusty shelves. Though she wondered what he had in the crates, the room was too dusty to explore comfortably, so she moved on to the next door. 

This room appeared to be more like a workshop. There were tools scattered over wooden tables, scraps of metal and wood, and at the very back there was an organized wall of small paint containers. Farren smiled as her fingers floated over some thin brushes, the image Emil delicately painting small figurines for his sets lingering in her mind. Mindlessly she knocked a wound knot of copper wire from its shelf. Farren hissed briefly when she bent down to take it because she had put too much pressure on her bad ankle. She set the wire on the table and took a stool to sit on.

Farren began by twisting the copper mindlessly, but soon decided to craft a small charm for Emil's violin case. After making a ribbon of thin and thick copper wire, she twirled it into the shape of a rose. On the back, she added a copper loop in which she would attach laced ribbon from her the edge around her stockings.  

Having been so immersed in her task and having heard no footsteps, Emil's arrival gave Farren quiet a scare. She jumped and dropped her copper rose. Further agitating her embarrassment, Emil rushed to her side when she fell off the chair in attempt to pick up the rose. When Farren was placed gently on the table top, their eyes met, and Emil looked at her questioningly but did not speak. She revealed the copper rose that laid on her palm to him as her explanation.  

"For your violin case," Farren whispered, finally finding her voice.

His thin fingers hovered over the rose for a second before finally taking it in his hand and slipping it into a coat pocket. "Thank you," he looked at her intently, and his lips hinted at a smile. "I will add this soon, but first, I thought that perhaps a warm bath would do your injured ankle well." He gestured behind her where he had set down a basket. "I asked Madame Giry to prepare your clothes before I left, I thought you would appreciate the privacy. I did however take the liberty of picking the color." He shrugged. "Let us draw you a bath." Without giving her a warning, he placed one arm behind her back and slipped the other under her knees to lift her up.

He carried her in the the washroom. There was a large bathtub covered in filigree, steaming water filling it up, and a shelf on the left of it laden with glass vials and jars for oils and cremes. 

"Perhaps I should..." he shifted around before setting her down on her feet, but continued to support her weight. "Are you alright standing for a moment?"

She raised a brow. "I can still walk, Emil." 

Farren heard him scoff as he left the washroom, only to return with a chair. He stood behind it, and looked at her expectantly. Farren bit her lip and blushed harder with every awkward step towards the damned chair, but made it even so. Emil walked around her chair and took three bottles from the shelf of oils. 

"These are not feminine scents," he said setting two on the ground so that he could open one for her. "But I thought you might find something to your liking, at least for now."

Emil allowed Farren time to smell each one, and waited patiently for her decision. 

Farren gave Emil the red tinted oil, and picked the other two up. "May I use both of these?" She held up the clearest and the one that was the color of whiskey.  

He nodded and stood to put the other oil away. He returned and took the two oils from her hands. "An equal amount or more of one?" he asked, now standing by the bathtub.