"Jake, he...just proposed to me, Kyle."
Numb. I felt numb. Standing there next to her, the half-elf maid that worked under Rosalind and Max, I just felt so utterly numb. Marriage? She was going to marry Jake? No. Just...no. That couldn't happen. This couldn't be happening. I wouldn't let it happen!
My arms were around her in an instant. I felt her chest shudder with her gasp and her hands fly to my shoulders in order to earn a grip on me as well. Before I could connect the pieces in my mind, my heart had already spoken.
"Marry me instead, Cecilia."
The look on her face was priceless. Her perfect mouth formed a small 'o' of surprise and her eyes, such a clear and vibrant leaf green, widened with shock. 'Marry me instead, Cecilia.' I had just said that, but what could I offer her? Nothing. Right now there was nothing I could. I had only known her for little over a season! The farm I stayed on, Misty Farm, was still in shambles. My income wasn't the greatest nor was my standing in the village. Yet here I was asking her to marry me.
"In...In time," I corrected as I found my voice. My hands enclosed around her smaller ones as I offered up a cheesy grin. Surely my face was flushed for I felt as if my cheeks were on fire, "I want to do this the right way, you know. So...let's get married...soon."
Tears. She was crying. Happiness, sadness? I didn't know. I didn't know until I felt her lips on mine, the smell of her sweet breath in my senses.
"I'll be waiting for the day you propose to me."
With that she was gone, leaves from the forest stirring up in her wake.
Taking a deep breath, I tilted my head backwards. Marriage. Cecilia. I loved her, that I knew. Now I just had to find the strength to take the next step forward.