A Princess of Wales

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Question

30th of August 1997 - Hôtel Ritz Paris, France

"I owe you the apology. You wanted to get back to London, but there was a reason we needed to come via Paris. And that was my fault," Dodi stated coming up behind Diana as she peered out of the window and down into the street.

Tonight had been a mess, the press hounding their every step and they seemed to grow in number every time that Diana stepped out onto the street; there was no peace in the city of love for her.

Dodi turned around and turned on the stereo, a smile on his face as he made his way across the room to Diana who looked a little put off by how he had been acting all evening.

"What's this?" Diana asked unable to shake the uneasy that had been creeping up on her all evening, she didn't know what it was but since her talk with the children it felt like she was missing something big.

The music was quiet in the background and Diana leant against the wall by the window, trying to not take his shortness from earlier that evening when they had gone to dinner personally.

"It's your favourite. Julio Iglesias," Dodi told her, his hands moving to the pocket of his jacket were something very important had been sitting all evening as he prepared to make this important gesture.

Slowly he produced the box that continue the ring that his father had given him, he looked down on it knowing that he was moments away from the biggest question of his life.

"What are you doing?" Diana asked, her face revealing very clearly what she thought about what he was about to do; her heart sank and she couldn't believe that this was actually about to happen.

A sadness there that she hadn't wanted to admit, she didn't think she had led him on especially after only seeing one another for around a month; she had planned to break things off when she got back to London.

"It's the ring you said you liked in Monte Carlo. A ring with a specific title, Dis-Moi Oui," Dodi told her, his father had seen her admiring the ring and had bought it with the sole intention of having Dodi propose with it.

Diana slowly shook her head, her eyes wide and her face covered in disbelief that this was actually happening; that Mohamed had told Dodi that she had admired the ring.

"And so I have a question I wanna ask you to which I hope you will indeed tell me yes," Dodi said slowly getting down on the floor, he peeked at Diana who was running her fingers through her hair and moving away from the window.

Dodi didn't even reach the floor before Diana was stepping towards him, one word clearly on her lips as she shook her head at him and waved her arms.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. Stop, I can't bear it. It's madness. Please get up," Diana said, she felt guilty as she saw the look on Dodi's face but she couldn't allow him to continue; she helped him back up and held his hand for a moment.

After a moment, Diana moved around Dodi and turned off the music unable to bear it anymore; she turned back to him once the music was off knowing that there was no way around this now.

"We need to talk. Urgently. Come on. Sit down," Diana encouraged moving to take a seat, she watched Dodi who seemed lost and saddened by her decision to say no to him.

Dodi hesitated for a moment before making his way to sit down next to Diana, he took the chair opposite her and Diana patted his knee in comfort.

"This summer has been great fun. More than fun. It's been a godsend. And you've been amazing. And I know the whole world is wondering if we're gonna get married. But that's not a reason to actually do it. I'm nowhere near ready for another marriage," Diana admitted, she had so much work that she needed to do on herself before she considered settling down.