Deceiving Passion

Prologue: Marius's Proposal

~Marius's POV~

"Will you marry me?" Her eyes widened with happiness at my words, and her hands were clasped tightly over her mouth. I held out the ring towards her, hoping that she would accept it. Her head began to bob back and forth in agreement, as it seemed she was unable to form words. This made me smile as I rose up, and wrapped my arms around her waist. She removed her hands from her mouth, and kissed me deeply.

I kissed her back. However, my eyes wandered slowly around the cafe. I could feel the erupting applause of the cafe surrounding us. It was almost defeaning, even Grantaire had put his bottle down to join his hands in applause. I was happy to see that my friends were approving of my choice to marry Eponine. She and I had been together for about a year now, and I felt as though it was time I asked her to be my wife. However, there was one specific person's reaction I was really looking for. Finally, my eyes were pierced with those blue crystals that took the place of eyes. She was clapping lightly with a small smile plastered upon her gentle face.

I don't know why, but this killed me. Her quiet applause shouldn't have taken such a grippening tug upon my heart. However, I couldn't deny that it did. I pulled away from Eponine, and forced a smile onto my face. I could not let her know about my feelings, as I was not absolutely certain of them as well. The only thing I could tell was that there was something about the way Cosette looked my way that made something churn inside of me. I hated it. It wasn't like she look sad or angry. She looked happy about it.

Wasn't that what I wanted? For her to be happy for me? She was one of my friends after all, along with being a friend of Eponine's. I should have wanted her to be happy about it, but I didn't. There was a part of me that wanted Cosette to say that she didn't want this to happen, or that she would look a bit disappointed at the fact that I was marrying Eponine. I know that it was rather selfish of me to think that. There was just this twisted feeling inside of me that wanted her to have a different reaction to our announcement.

Eponine took my hand as we walked around the room to receive to celebratory words of our friends. The guys patted me on the back, while the girls in the cafe gathered around Eponine to view to ring I had just given her. I had to give myself credit. It was a fairly nice ring. It wasn't extremely extravagant, just a simple ring. However, I knew that Eponine would love it. She was simple. That was something I loved about her.

I truly did love Eponine. She was easy to talk to, and fun to be around. However, there were things here and there that irked me. She was obsessively clingy, constantly asking where I had been and finding some way to bump into me. She also had to find some way to let people know that I belonged to her. A kiss on the cheek in public, or the constant grabbing for my hand. When I was around Eponine, I seemed less of her partner, and more as her possession. Along with that, from time to time she was not the kindest person. Do not get me wrong, she was overall a generally nice person. She simply had her moments where she seemed not to think twice about what she said, resulting in the bruised feelings of those closest to her, usually myself or Cosette.

I turned my gaze back towards Cosette, who had turned her attention away from Eponine and I, and over towards Enjolras. Her and Enjorlas had going out for the past month or so, which had surprised everyone once it was announced. Cosette and Enjolras had barely spoken to one another until one night, and soon enough they were together. It did not seem to be the perfect fit. I had heard them argue multiple times behind closed doors. However, around Eponine and I, they seemed as happy as could be. There were times when their joy seemed to knock the wind out of me, which constantly confused me. They were two of my closest friends. I should have been happy at their joy, like they were with mine. However, there just seemed to be something that stopped me from doing so.

Cosette's head soon turned towards me, and our eyes locked together. Her gleaming crystal blue eyes met my green ones, and something simply welled up inside of me. She gifted me with a tender smile, which made the feeling inside of me grow. It was weird. I had never felt this thing with Eponine, not even when I had first met her. However, Cosette had this way of making that feeling show up everytime she came into my vision. I had prayed that this feeling would go away at some point, as it made it hard for me to sometimes speak to her with it inside me. It did not go away though. It simply grew stronger and stronger until the knot in my stomach began to take control of my entire body. It exhilirated me. It gave me the feeling that I was a new man, and I loved every minute of it.

I looked away. If I had looked any longer, not only would Eponine have murdered me, the feeling that I had when I looked at her before would have returned. I was still pondering why I had that feeling. Was it possible that I could have been... heartbroken? I nearly smacked myself at the concept. That was impossible. Cosette had Enjolras, and I had Eponine.

Maybe though, it was possible that I didn't want things to end up like that.