Chapter 6: Giry Vs. Destler – Keeping Christine

"Alright, that's it for today. Make sure you read the chapter by next class, because you'll have a quiz on it. And remember, your final project is due next month. I suggest you get started on it now!"

Once all of the students sporadically left the lecture hall, Erik let out a deep sigh. Lecturing for almost two hours was exhausting, especially when the students enrolled in the class didn't give a flying fart, only to pass the class. It wasn't about the music anymore.

"I love my job…" Erik repeated to himself as he gathered his things, stuffed them neatly into his briefcase, and headed out the door.

Luckily, he had no vocal students to teach for the day, except Christine, which was the only thing at this point that he was looking forward to. He had a new student, one who – with a little recovery from unfortunate events – will maybe inspire him to keep teaching. For the past four semesters, he had students that either didn't understand his passion for music but tried to impress him anyway, or just didn't care whatsoever and were just using him to pass a class for graduation requirements. And his private vocal students? Oh, God, they were horrible procrastinators and just plain slow. This particular semester as far as instructing was concerned was exceptionally awful, and at least three times of the course of it, Erik thought about resigning out of disappointment and near heartbreak. He was so passionate about wanting to share his knowledge of music and the beauty of the art itself. Unfortunately, at this current day and age, no one supported him; he was either seen as a joke or a threat. It also didn't help that he wore his mask on a regular basis, making him more of an uncomfortable person to be around.

But, the moment he met Christine again, something in him lit up. There was something about her that made him feel so connected. Was it her kindness? Was it her beauty? Was it the suffering she went through when she wanted to prove to the world that she was good enough too? Was it all of the above? Whatever the case, Erik wanted to find out if Christine was his saving grace as much as he was hers. And hopefully, becoming her new teacher will change the both of them for the better.

Thinking about Christine reminded him to go pick up an application for her to fill out and submit for next semester. Thankfully, the administration office wasn't too far from the lecture hall. So, Erik briskly walked across the lawn to the admin building, the largest facility on campus (aside from the performance hall on the other end). Once inside, he approached the front desk and asked the clerk – a middle-aged woman who looked like she had one too many shots of espresso – for a college application.

"Undergrad or Transfer, sir?" the clerk asked with a jitter in her voice.

"The student is a transfer," Erik responded, getting slightly impatient. He didn't want to keep Christine waiting any longer.

The clerk rapidly rose from her chair and sprinted to the file cabinet in the back of the giant cubicle. Not even a minute later, she had returned with a ten-page document in her wrinkly hand and given it to Erik with no hesitation.

"Here you go, Professor Destler," the clerk said with a smile. "Oh, and before I forget, someone came by here and asked for you."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes. I told her you were in the middle of a lecture most likely, but she said it was urgent and highly insisted to see you, so I sent her to your office. She went by the name of Antoinette Giry?"

Erik's eyes widened. "Thank you. I shall see to that. Have a good day."

Stuffing the blank application into his briefcase, Erik jogged out of the administration building, back across the campus lawn, and into the Fine Arts facility where his office resided. Sure enough, there was a tall, slender woman all in black that he recognized all too well, no matter how long it had been since he last saw her.

Antoinette Giry (or Anette was what she preferred to be called by her colleagues) was a childhood friend of Erik's. She was only seven years his senior, but they grew up together thanks to their parents being close friends, and thanks to Erik's genius brain letting him skip a fair few grades, they went to school together in the same exact classes. Sadly, they did not graduate together; Even though Anette's parents and Erik's were friends, Erik was despised in the Giry household. Not only has Erik behaved inappropriately a few times, but also because of his misshapen face, fearing that the condition of it was contagious, Erik was forbidden to visit his friend (which has resulted a few sneak-out meetings). When Anette got pregnant with her daughter Meg at sixteen, Erik took the blame, even though he knew who the father truly was (an abusive pig who only wanted one thing), and that caused an ugly havoc between him and her parents resulting in pulling Anette out of school and being prohibited to see Erik or anyone ever again. Erik was devastated; He may not have been in love with Anette, but she was like a sister to him, and she was the only one in his childhood who was still alive to see his face and not be disgusted by its distortion in addition to his mundane autistic tantrums growing up. Because of her parents' strict rules, Erik missed Meg be born and grow up (if he was not mistaken, she would be seventeen-going-on-eighteen), and he missed Anette graduate from NYU with her Master's in Dance and Bachelor's in Music Theory. It wasn't until her parents' death when he reunited with his sister-figure…at N.A.T.S. nine months ago.

Anette seemed to be in distress when Erik approached her by his office door. "Ah, it's you," she whimpered. "Thank God I was able to catch you."

"It's been a while, Anette," Erik replied, trying to catch his breath from running. "Is everything alright?"

He noticed dark circles under Anette's eyes. She didn't seem to have slept in a while. "I wouldn't be talking to you in a hurry otherwise."

"Forgive me, but I have a student to teach in a moment, so I have little time to help you." Erik was honest. He didn't want to be rude, but punctuality was one of his virtues, and he wasn't planning on changing that anytime soon.

"I've been looking for my adopted daughter for the past two days and nights," Anette confided, trying so hard to keep calm. "She left a suicide note after she overheard Meg and I arguing. Part of me thinks she is still alive. Maybe you ran into her?"

Erik stared blankly at Anette. He was trying to do the math in his head. She had been looking for a girl who supposedly attempted suicide two nights prior. Erik rescued Christine from an attempted suicide around that same time frame. And when he and Anette reunited at N.A.T.S, she had mentioned that she had adopted an orphan (never mentioned her name) who Meg became best friends with. Christine ran away from an adopted family who she claimed gave up on her.

There was no other way these statements could have added up. It took him a moment to figure it out, but Erik had deduced the clues, and he wasn't sure whether to be irritated, disappointed, or indifferent.

"You've been looking for Miss Daaé…" he finally responded.

Anette's dark eyes went wide. "How did you know it was Christine?"

"If it wasn't for me running into her the other night, her suicide would have been successful…"

Anette stayed quiet for a moment, but the look on her face proved how relieved she was.

"She's been staying with me since then," Erik added. "Why didn't you ever give me more details about her sooner? Or the general fact that she recently was under your guardianship?"

The noir-attired woman let out a sigh. "I figured you wouldn't care if I told you about her after what my parents did to you years ago. They wanted to murder you."

"What they did was not your fault," Erik promised. "I wanted to take the blame so you wouldn't end up like me – on the streets, struggling to survive. I am not mad at you for that. However, I am a busy man, as you know, and I don't have the time to reminisce our unfortunate childhoods. But I will tell you this: Christine is safe, she is rehabilitating under my care, and she is soon becoming my student at this university."

"I want to see her."

Erik let out a sigh as he rummaged through his jacket pocket and pulled out his keys. "I don't think that is wise. Christine would not be thrilled to see you after what has happened between you and her."

"Please, Erik. I've been worried sick about her," Anette pleaded, approaching closer to Erik and grabbing the hem of his jacket. "Is she here now?"

Erik was getting impatient at this point. Gently, he pushed Anette away from him and began to unlock the door to his office. "Yes, but with all due respect, I highly insist that Christine does not want to lay eyes on you, and I care about her well-being more than you claim to. Now, please, I need to begin her private lesson. Don't try my patience."

"Erik, let me explain," Anette attempted to block the door with her slim body as she begged. "I tried to get Christine help when it was obvious she needed it, but she refused. My daughter was the one that decided that she wanted to let Christine go. Meg doesn't know how to take care of someone mentally ill."

"And whose fault is that, do you suppose?" Erik had snapped, staring angrily at the woman as he attempted to push her away once more. "Anette, it should have been your responsibility as a parent to teach her things like that."

"I didn't plan this drama to happen!"

By this time, Erik has unlocked the door to his office and swung it open. Anette swiftly followed him inside and slammed the door behind her.

"It is a parent's job to teach his or her children both the good and bad ways of the world," Erik argued. "And from what I just heard, you didn't teach your daughter the downsides and how to properly embrace them. It was a happy-go-lucky, perfectionist family for you, and if anyone imperfect came around, you treated like shit! I'm assuming your parents taught you that after years of them mistreating me? And now you're teaching that to your offspring?"

"I never taught Meg such things!"

"Christine attempting suicide claims otherwise!"

"Meg has been going through a rough time herself, and Christine's depression wasn't making it better."

Erik dropped his briefcase, turned to face Anette, and glared. "You just blew it right there…"

There was silence. And that was the moment Anette realized she screwed up big time. Tears formed in her eyes, and she looked away so Erik couldn't see.

"You just proved to me with that one line…" Erik continued, "that even after all these years, after I took the pregnancy bullet for you seventeen years and nine months ago, you still shun the broken…The sick thing is you can't admit that to yourself."

It was then that Anette had this epiphany about her relationship with the masked man.

"You know," she muttered, "…I just now realized how toxic our friendship really is…You're right about everything…Always have been for as long as I've known you. I let my parents treat you like a monster, let them teach me what didn't belong in this world, and now I made the mistake to teach Meg to see Christine the exact same way…Maybe it is best for you to care for her now…of course, she's an adult; she can do whatever she pleases…But somehow, you two became drawn to each other, that it just makes sense for her to be with you…and I can tell by the way you defended her that you developed an infatuation."

"That last part is none of your business, Anette. Christine shares nearly the same pain I went through…But she is special, and I plan to help her see that, whether you like it or not."

Silence occurred once more. Then after a long while, Anette let out a deep, disconnected sigh, and looked into Erik's eyes with tears streaming down her face. "I'll send her belongings to your residence tomorrow. And as of today after I walk out of your office, this friendship is terminated…"

There was no hesitation nor remorse in Erik's response. "Agreed."

"Well then, goodbye, Erik. I wish you the best, and take good care of Christine. You two obviously deserve each other." Anette then turned her back and slowly opened the office door, followed by, "but if I hear that you have treated her poorly, I will come back and bring her back home and beat the ever-loving shit out of you," before walking out.

Once Anette was out of sight, Erik shook his head in disgust as he closed the door, ran through his hair with his fingers, and attempted to recollect himself. Now that that nonsense was done, he could finally have Christine's full attention. Speaking of…

Erik, reached for the sliding door to his study, unlocking it and sliding it open to reveal a rather calm yet questioning Christine. She stared at Erik, fighting the urge to cry, whether from despair or relief.

"How much of that did you hear?" Erik asked dreadfully.

"Enough…"