When his father showed him a book for the first time Ken thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
The way the words floated through the pages, that tight knot in his stomach making him eager to turn to the next page, the countless hours of where he couldn't put those books down, made him surer than ever that it was the only thing he wanted to do with his life.
Write. Write till his hands were numb and his fingers swollen, write until his soul filled those blank pages and his hands expressed his thoughts. Ken was a writer and a very proud one so.
Since his 8th anniversary he carried with him bunch of bank notebooks. Over the years he wrote about the most mundane things. All parties he was forced to attend, his parents' stuck up friends who looked him over the shoulder every time he walked by with a superior feeling surrounding them, his own friends who never felt like they lived to it and the obnoxious reality he was surrounded by since he could remember. Nothing ever felt enough for those pages.
Until her.
The first time he met Marilla Blythe he thought she was the most beautiful human he had ever seen. His world seemed to stop and his heart felt like it was going to come out of his chest. After that short but vivid encounter, his nights were filled with nothing but thoughts of her, her bright red hair was the only thing in his mind and, for the first time in his life, found himself loss at words. The awaiting pages of his notebooks now seemed worthless of his writing.
From that very same moment he was besotted with her. He loved how she irrevocably tried to hide her lisp, how she hated it with everything in her but slipped it whenever she felt carefree with him. How she made him promise they'd get married if by the time they were 30 none of them had found a partner. He counted himself lucky every time she spoke to her, laid in the grass staring at the clouds, their hands intertwined and sharing with him the secrets of the universe.
The first time he felt it, it took him by surprise. Rilla, his Rilla was late to their meeting for the first time since they knew each other. That's when he saw her, giving Fred Arnold the brightest smile he'd seen in a while. Pain started spreading through him and he decided to build that wall, the one she tumbled down, once again. He knew what that feeling was and heartbreak wasn't made for him.
For weeks he distanced himself from her. He wrote, oh lord if he wrote. Words that once weren't worthy started filling those blanks pages he thought forgotten. Her name never left his pencil and his heart was poured into them.
She searched for him, of course she did. They were best friends and over the years their bond had been unbreakable.
She had known since the first time. They were bound to be together. She never told him though, she preferred to be her friend than to bear losing him to anyone. She wasn't blind, she knew how all the ladies off age and suitable for marriage looked at him. He was incredibly handsome, broad shoulders, that long coat she chose for him, his wavy black hair she desperatedly wanted to run her fingers through and those glasses, oh those glasses he always wore to read how insane they drove her. Although it wasn't
She realized she fell in love with him once summer night they were at his backyard, staring at the night sky. They promised to marry each other if by 30 they didn't have a partner. She always trusted him and poured his heart knowing he was going to be there to listen, to help her and to love her. Never she thought she would have to face a future where he wasn't in it.
But war came and he soon had to leave. She remembers very vividly the night he told her. How strong he held her and how she never wanted him to let her go. His eyes showed sadness than she never thought a look was possible to show. She remembers his touch, caressing her cheek and making her promise to keep her lips for him, and only him. As if she had to. He kissed her like he never had before and how he handed his heart to her.
Years passed and the fight seemed like it didn't end. Families were broken and war broke more families that it could mend.
He came back one night, right before Christmas. Countless were the nights she hadn't been able to sleep, her head filled with thoughts of her. She saw his silhouette drawn in the darkness, sitting right next to the three, in what had been their favorite spot when younger.
She quietly sat next to him and both stared into sky, held close to each other as if they did it every night.
"I.." said Rilla "I've missed you so much Ken, every day I thought I'd lost you and I couldn't bear my future without you" broke Rilla the silence "It drove me insane not knowing of you, I, I love you so much my dear Ken and I don't think I'd live another second without telling you."
"Rilla I-.. I'm not a good man." He trailed. "War broke me. I'm not the guy you used to know and the best friend I used to be. I don't want you to see what they turned me into. Before I parted I was selfish, I made you promise to not kiss anyone and wait for me through my absence. Now I'm freeing you from it. You're a strong independent woman and I can't give you the life you want. Leave, leave now with Fred, he'll make you happy the way I can't." he said before slowly turning away.
"Kenneth, stop." She said holding his wrist and forcing him to turn around. "You don't understand it, still after all these years you don't understand it. I don't care about Fred. You're the one for me and everything I ever needed. You're it for me Ken, only person I'd die living without. I've been blind mythelf too." She stopped for a second "I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. How effortlessly handsome you are, how you make my heart beat every time my name escapes your lipths, how I could listen to you read to me all day and get lost in your words. I've been so madly in love with you my dear, for so long. I was so scared I thought the war made you forget. So many women sighting and lusting after you, Oh Ken, I thought all those ladyths made you forget me!"
"They mean nothing." He exasperatedly answered. "No lady ever stood a chance! None can ever compare to you my love." He said. His piercing grey eyes, light as the sky stared back at her. "No war could ever make me forget you. Since the first time I ever laid my eyes on you I've known we were bond to be together. You have to know I'd cross seas and storms for you if I had to, I'll always come back to you."
"But all those girls..." she trailed sadly, as if she couldn't believe his words.
"Rilla – oh MY – Rilla, forget about them" his thumb traced her beautiful and soft pink lips, parting for him. "You don't know for how long I wished to have you, how sleepless nights I've thought I'd never see you again and I'm done waiting. MY dear Rilla, If you it – he said, placing her hand in his heart - my heart is only yours to take."
"Yeth" – she whispered.
They held each other like nothing else in the world mattered. Because he finally had something to write and new names decorated his pages.
It wasn't just Rilla anymore
It was his Rilla and him.