Erik looked into the paper that morning, seeing nothing new nor interesting and placed it back onto his counter. It was early, yes, but apparently, he wasn't the only early bird to grace that flat.

"Hello, Erik! Guess what I just did?" Haya asked him sunnily as she popped into the flat, far happier than she had been since before her father had gotten sick. It must have been the happiest he'd seen her.

"What?"

"I got myself a job composing for a man who will let me publish under a pseudo name! Isn't that brilliant? I'll get payed the same price, but no one will know who I am! I also... Well," Haya started to stutter nervously now, "With my advance... I purchased a flat in Paris."

Erik's heart sank, and he just couldn't tell her. He tried to show how excited he was, and he was successful when her face eased of fear. In truth was, he would miss her dearly, seeing as they'd only been living together for a month.

"That's great, Haya, I am so very proud of you... Your father would be just as proud."

Haya clapped her hands and then seemed to approach an even more delicate subject than the previous one.

"The man who I talked with... He was very amiable and handsome. We talked for a while after I got my advance, and he asked me to dinner. I think I'll go," she said with a small smile. It was as if he had actually suited her fancy.

Erik nearly growled.

"I hope you have fun... I was going to make dinner in celebration of your achievement, but..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can go right back and cancel if you so wish it-" she rushed nervously, and he could see that she didn't want to displease him. Still, it was obviously to Erik her date meant a lot to her.

"Don't bother, Haya. Remember, you need to have fun and get out there, if he really suits your fancy then go. I want you to fall in love."

"I'll try," Haya said with a reminiscing smile, a giggle surpassing her lips as she probably thought of the man she was meeting.

"Tell me about him?" Erik asked quietly, his face plastering a smile upon it.

"Well, he has light hair, kind of almost brown," Haya giggled. "And blue eyes, everything he said made me laugh," she said as thought it was their own inside joke.

They'd only talked for mere minutes!

Hell, she had only been gone for three hours! Surely the buying of a flat took longer than the meeting had. He hoped. Then again, she had been out very early... Was she trying to hide the fact she went to find such new offers of life?

Erik shook his head and attempted to stop the fact that he was infatuated by her whereabouts.

"I'm happy for you... I guess I should be looking out, huh?" Erik asked with a bit of heat coming to his cheek... The visible one anyways. As the other hardly had skin to redden.

"Yes," Haya said shortly, going to the washroom to tidy herself. Erik watched her walk away, and found that trying to forget about her wasn't too hard. She easily slipped from his mind as he attempted to focus upon another task.

But she came back as easily as she left, and the only way Erik was going to get her out of his mind was to get out of where she was.

"Haya?"

"Yes?" She said, pulling around a bag with her, one that she looked ready to leave with.

"I'm going to go for a walk, alright?" He asked her for some asinine reason. It was his flat, it wasn't as if he needed her permission.

"Sure... When you come back I shall most probably be leaving." Her face was melancholy, "I hope you enjoy the weather, it is very nice."

Erik left after he said his salutations and immediately headed for the park. It was a neutral area he'd always enjoyed, and there was nothing there that reminded him of anything. Just a few lonely days during the winter filled his mind as he paced through the rather kind weather.

Erik took to watching his feet, his pristine shoes waltzing in front of him and keeping his steps quiet. He was so focused that when he saw the skirts of a woman, it was too late to stop from running into the poor girl.

"Oh, My!" The girl said and pulled herself up from the ground a little, looking at Erik with a sloppy grin.

"I'm sorry, Mademoiselle, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Erik brushed himself off and fully lifted the girl from the walkway, helping her gain her balance. He was mortified she would soon be scared out of her mind, as human contact was not what he'd planned. Then again, she hadn't run yet.

"Thank you for that..." She offered her hand and reached for his name.

"Erik Destler. You are?" He asked her and kissed her hand, noticing she was alone as he glanced around them both. His eyebrows were furrowed, and she seemed to giggle at his confusion. Apparently his mask and gangly frame caused her no discomfort.

"My name is Philippa."

Erik noticed the few gray strands in her hair, but that didn't mean she wasn't pretty. Probably encroaching her forties, Erik could also see that she was far more age appropriate than Haya was. And then he scorned himself for thinking of Philippa that way and thinking of Haya at all.

"I came from your way, but would you mind if I went back... With you?" She asked, pushing a stray piece of her blonde and silver hair behind her ear.

"Surely," Erik said with a grin, offering her his arm,

She wasn't very short, and he could see why not many men had picked her from the bunch. Philippa was only a few inches shorter than him, and he knew well she was wearing flat shoes. Her long hair was beautifully threaded into an up-do that made her look younger, actually, and Erik liked the look of her green eyes. He hated to say it, but she was attractive to him.

"So what brought you to the park?" Philippa asked him.

He looked at her with a hollow laugh and replied gently, "Lots of things on the mind, not enough space in my flat to get rid of them. I came to walk it all off," he said.

"That's better than drinking, I guess."

"Far better," Erik agreed, liking the blush arising to her cheeks.

"This seems rather forward, but what is your age?" She inquired.

"Ah," Erik said and looked down to the ground, "that question. Why don't you guess?"

"Older than fifty?"

Erik laughed heartily, "God no."

"Alright... Older than thirty."

"Yes," Erik informed her but kept her guessing.

"Hm, what about thirty-six?"

"You are rather close, Mademoiselle."

The girl seemed to like that when she flashed her white teeth at him, a smile brightening her visage.

"Thirty-eight?"

"Correct! Now, you must tell me yours for your prodding," Erik bantered.

He liked the light-hearted feeling, the way he was able to just talk with her and not have to think about the love. Not have to think about how they couldn't be together or how he hadn't been able to save her father. No, there was little to her and he liked it very much.

"Fine. I am thirty-two years young."

"Years young, dear lord, child, there is no need to exaggerate. You're not old until you turn at least sixty!" Erik exclaimed, where all the false jovial-manner came from was lost to him. "That means you have plenty of years to be young."

She smirked and nodded at him, seemingly appreciating the gesture he offered her with words. He wasn't used to this kindness, or to his own extrovert ways.

"Good, I like being young, Monsieur."

"As do I."

They walked a little farther together, chatting about the seemingly most random of things. It was about this opera or that book, and that singer or this person whom they grew up with. And it worked rather well, the two of them talking about everything and nothing all at once.

When Erik decided to hail a carriage and return home, he watched the hope in Philippa's eyes diminish. Was there something he was missing? And then it slowly clicked in his mind, she wanted him to ask her out. Erik didn't knew if he was truly ready to simply find another person... But if Haya was, he must be as well. And his mask didn't seem to bother her. He hoped it never would because it wouldn't come off.

"You wouldn't happen to wish to have dinner some time... Say Saturday?" Erik asked her nervously, his heart thumping loudly in his chest.

Her face lit like a candle soaked in kerosine, "I would enjoy that very much."

"So would I," he said.

"Alright, well I will see you Saturday then," Erik told her and kissed her offered hand, stepping into the cab he had gotten for himself.

The carriage rambled away and brought him back to Haya. It was a harsh reality to come home and find her still there, but he knew she would be leaving soon whether he wished her to or not.

"You're leaving soon, yes?" He asked her quietly, hanging his jacket on a rod.

"Yes, I should unpack in my flat and then get ready for supper with Philippe."

Erik choked on air at the name, and it was quite the unsightly scene.

"Who?" He asked her as he ran to get a small drink of water from the icebox.

"Philippe! He's the man I met for the composing proposition! He's taking me to supper tonight... Am I jogging your memory or?"

"It's fine..." he rasped, turning to look at her, seeing as she'd followed him to the kitchen. "I remember now."

Haya giggled and took up her few bags, not much she had accumulated during her small stay at his residence.

"Stay safe, will you? For me, Haya?" Erik asked, "For your father?"

A wave of sadness passed through her eyes, but she blinked it away and nodded anyways.

"I will."

And then she brought him into a big hug and kissed his left cheek, the one uncovered by the mask.

"Good," Erik said weakly, his resolve falling away by the ticking moments. "Now go, write me."

"You know I shall." 

Erik watched her leave after they said goodbye, and to himself, about as hollowly as everything else, Erik whispered, "Do I?"