- Things are about to come to a head here.
- On the third day of Christmas, Sonya gave to Dolokhov...something mysterious that Nikolai can’t figure out.
- No partridge, but something is definitely up between Sonya and Dolokhov, who are acting all weird during dinner.
- After dinner Natasha gets Denisov to promise to come out to a dance party, then tells Nikolai that Dolokhov proposed to Sonya.
- Nikolai wants to go punch him in the face, but at the same time he realizes that this would be a pretty good marriage for Sonya financially – especially if he’s not going to step up and marry her.
- But then Natasha breaks more news to him: Sonya said no, despite all sorts of begging and pleading on the part of Nikolai’s mom.
- Sonya then comes in.
- At first Nikolai tries to convince her to accept Dolokhov's offer – or at least not to say no for his sake. Then he tells her that he has the deepest and truest love for her, but that he sometimes likes other girls. Dude, the mixed signals are totally uncool here. Get over your commitment issues already.
- Then he asks her to reconsider Dolokhov again, and she tells him that she loves him (Nikolai) like a brother and isn’t expecting anything from him.