okay so speaking of being given space to interpret, what do you think of Shane's "holy shit" when Ilya says I love you? I've read that snippet of the scene in the book and there's not much introspection so I feel like Hudson had a lot of room to make it his own. personally I wonder if he's recognizing the words from the Russian phone monologue.
Ohhhh, this is an interesting take I didn't consider!
I read it as him being just genuinely astonished and overwhelmed that, after so many years of subconscious yearning and several months now of active and aware pining, his hopes are actually coming true
Ilya had literally been talking about marrying a woman. Shane was panicked that he was the one feeling more. Like, I do think he knew Ilya definitely felt something. (Especially after the "problem" convo.) But to know the depth of Ilya's feelings? That I think was a shock. (The best shock of his life, that's for sure)
I also think he truly didn’t know if they would actually get to a point of being that open with each other. He certainly WANTED it. Hoped for it. Like, he definitely set the "honesty" challenge because he wants to know if Ilya is emotionally in the same place as him.
And now, Ilya having said "I love you"... It’s kind of the point of no return for them. You can’t come back from having said that. Either they find a way to make this work, or they walk away from each other forever.
"holy shit" indeed