But I couldn't laugh. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Femi was looking up at me, a velvet box open in his palm. The ring was beautiful—a large diamond, elegant setting, exactly the kind of thing I would have chosen for myself.
"Isabelle Dubois," he said. "Will you marry me?"
The room held its breath.
I saw my mother's hand pressed to her chest. My grandmother leaning forward. Xavier and Sebastian exchanged glances. Kim's smile froze as she noticed my expression.
And Matteo.
He stood near the wine display, far enough away that I could barely see his face clearly. But I saw his eyes—sad, resigned, accepting. A smile that didn't reach them, that looked like goodbye.
He thought he'd lost me.
"Yes," I heard myself say.
The word came out before I could stop it. My mouth moving on autopilot, my brain screamingnowhile my body betrayed me with muscle memory and social conditioning.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't humiliate him in front of everyone. Couldn't reject him publicly for the second time, after that garden in Switzerland, after everything we'd been through.
So I said yes.
The room erupted. Cheers, applause, congratulations shouted from every direction. Femi slid the ring onto my finger and stood, pulling me into his arms, kissing my cheek.
"You've made me the happiest man alive," he whispered against my skin.
I smiled. Nodded. Let him spin me around while people clapped and cheered.
Over his shoulder, I watched Matteo turn and walk away, his silhouette disappearing through the crowd.
The next few minutes were a blur. People hugging me. Congratulating me. My mother crying happy tears. My grandmother studying me with those sharp, knowing eyes that saw everything.
"Are you happy?" she asked quietly, taking my hands in hers.
I couldn't answer.
The band started playing again. Femi pulled me onto the dance floor for our first dance as an "engaged couple." His arms around me, his smile triumphant, his voice warm as he talked about wedding dates and honeymoon destinations and the life we'd build together.
I let him hold me. Let him spin me around the floor. Let him believe, for a few more minutes, that this was real.
Then I stopped moving.
"Femi."
"What is it, darling?"
"I can't do this."
His smile faltered. "Can't do what? Dance?"
"This." I stepped back, creating necessary space between us. "The engagement. The wedding. Any of it."
"Isabelle—"
"I said yes because I couldn't say no in front of everyone. Because you proposed to me once before, in that garden in Switzerland, and I broke your heart, and I didn't want to do that to you again in front of all these people."
My voice was steady, quiet enough that only he could hear. "But I can't marry you, Femi. I'm so sorry."
