₁.₀ SUPERCUT; gilbert blythe ✔

044.

God, Marianne thinks, it cannot be happening.

"There is a question I would like to ask you." Gilbert's eyes seem to be boring straight into her soul, keeping her frozen and unable to move. "That I've wanted to ask for a long time, if I am to be honest. But I find myself unable of waiting anymore, the weight over my head has become too much for me to bear. I believe you know what it is that I wish to know..."

"Gilbert..."

"But allow me to start by saying how ardently I admire and love you. And I've been feeling this way towards you even longer... Ever since you scolded me about pulling on Anne's braid all those years ago, I wished to know you. There was not one moment when I would regret it. Every second I spend in your company, I cherish. Every word, every look, every thought even... There are no words that I can think about which would allow me to describe how much they mean to me, how dear they are to my heart. You have been there for me in my most difficult time, right by my side when I couldn't even look at myself without feeling remorse or pain somewhere deep inside of me. And I only ever lacked your company after I allowed the two of us to drift apart, and for that, I am sorry. But I am determined, you see, to never let that happen again."

Marianne is barely aware of her head shaking both sides. "Please..." she whispers, "please, don't..."

"I know we never talked a lot of the prospect of a future together. And, I admit, I hadn't given it much though before my conversation with Edward all those weeks ago - but I know now that I was a fool. To possess the attention, the affection, of a girl like you, Mariane, is a blessing. I recognise that, I truly do. To think that I never let you know until now how deep my feelings for you are is beyond me. I cannot believe that I risked a situation when you could doubt me. I wouldn't blame you if you did, but I want to put an end to any misunderstandings there might be." Gilbert takes a breath to inhale. His voice comes out a little uneven, an understandable thing considering the situation. There are tears in his eyes, not yet spilling down his cheeks, only threatening to; perhaps they are to blame for the fact that he takes no notice of Marianne growing more and more frantic in her attempts to stop him from going any further? "I am in love with you, Marianne. In fact, I do love you. And I know that I could not give up having you at my side, and me being by yours. I know that nothing would even give me more happiness than being your husband, so that brings me to-"

"Gilbert!"

Her scream, high-pitched and full of desperation, is what causes him to look at her at last. Truly look at her and notice how wide her eyes are, how terrified she seems now. There are tears running down Marianne's cheeks, her chest heaving as she stares at him in bewilderment, one of the girl's fists gripping the fabric of her dress so tightly her knuckles turn white. The other, right, is placed on her breast, right above her heart, still stained with the remains of paint.

"Wh-What are you doing?" she asks, barely able to recognise the voice that comes out of her own lips. "What on earth are you doing?"

"You know, Marianne. Why pretend that you don't? Just allow me to finish-"

"No. No, no, no, no, no... I don't- no." She's shaking her head all the time, repeating the same word over and over again like a woman gone mad. Perhaps she has, she thinks now. What others reason could there be behind what she's about to do than madness? "Why would you... I don't understand..."

"H-How can you not understand?"

There's that lump in her throat that only grows with each passing second, now almost large enough for her to choke on it. The girl's hand moves up from her chest to the base of her neck, grabbing onto the skin there while she tries to regain her ability to breath for long enough to speak. "But we never... we never talked about this, not once, not ever..."