Chương 166: Chapter 166 - The Weight Of A Promise

I pulled out the promise he gave me. The smallest flicker of something flashed in his eyes. I could not recognize the emotion. "I am selfish. I want to keep your son by my side as long as he is willing to be by mine. I don't want to force anyones hand, especially yours. I want true acceptance as I do genuinely like both you and Estelle and want our relationship to start on the correct foot. Having that in mind, for a while I considered just never letting it see the light of day when I thought about its uses. However, I knew that I would never forgive myself if I did not put every effort in my disposal to fight for your son."

The weight of a promise.

He tapped his desk with his index finger as he contemplated my words. 'What was running in his head?' He continued his methodic tapping until he stopped and asked yet another question. Or rather, a series of questions. "Why did you not want to use the promise? Did you think I am not a man of my word? Or rather do you not trust in my capabilities?"

His face flitted with anger and out of habit as a people pleaser I tried to placate that anger. I held up my palms in defense. "I don't want you to misunderstand my intentions. It has nothing to do with you lacking credibility in your words and actions or a lack of trust. Rather as someone who has everything in life I struggled for a long time to see what I would even want. "

This was the same situation when we were deciding on what to give Deans mother. We were the wealthiest individuals in the country and probably a good portion of the world. We had a lot of money and with money that meant an indefinite access to any resource of our choice. I have long gotten what I have desired in my life with the only exception being a partner which I at the time did not consider Dean given our familial circumstances.

"I have been blessed to not be denied what I wanted or needed so coming up with a promise was difficult. At the time when you gave this to me, I struggled to think what you could give me that I could not get myself. At one point when my jewelry business met an unexpected issue I did consider contacting you but it still did not feel right."

I leaned my head on my hand to get more comfortable. My neck had stiffened from how tight my muscles cinched from my anxiety. " I did not consider anything else as to me that was an impossibility. I did not even think Dean liked me that way but yet here we are."

That was true. Even though back then I had a special place in my heart for him I never considered him having the same for me. That was how bad my self image was back then and what even now I struggled with. It did not help that the women Dean associated with were wildly different from me as they were from one another.

"Hmmm." León hummed to himself as he analyzed my words and dissected them. Again he did not let slip his thoughts. His anger from earlier was his only visible emotion. But even then I questioned whether I was actually seeing anger or was he hoping that I would take that bait.

I discreetly cracked my knuckles under the table and in my lap to muffle the sound. The smooth cracks relieved some of the anxiety but I only had so many joints on my hand.

"I am in a tough spot."

His response made my heart drop to my stomach. It was unexpected and eerily much like how my dad responded. "You are not a bad person. Like Romeo and Juliet if not for your name you would be the ideal partner I could envision for my son. You not only are a successful individual with great kindness and compassion, you also have managed to help curb my sons behavior to where he is more manageable. It also helps that my wife adores you."

My possibly lifeline.

"However, I am sure your father has explained to you the implications of this moving forward. The thing is realistically lets assume both parents involved agree and this is it. This union is the one where it ends in marriage. We get a prenup put together. Legally the courts could side against us and prevent that from happening. They could even deny any binding agreement between the two of you and then what? You would just be boyfriend and girlfriend until death do you part? I don't think I have to spell out what a disaster that could be."

Though the marriage documents in our country was really just a piece of paper, that paper was significant. It would automatically join our finances, make each of responsible for one another medically among other things, and lets say we had children it would affect them as well.

If we decided to just be boyfriend and girlfriend if something happened to me my parents would have to make any decision in my stead. If they were noT around the courts would.

Of course people were free to do as they pleased and marriage was not for everyone. But with the assets we had and the wealth and industries we controlled, this was a huge deal and would impact everything.

I was not ignorant to what moving forward this would me.

"I understand sir. But despite those risks I still wish for consideration. Dean and I since the beginning of our relationship have been working to see what we could do, this has been a thought since the start."

I don't think he anticipated hearing that as his brows quirked and he rubbed his jaw in hesitation. "My son is very serious when it comes to you." He suddenly got up and walked off screen for a few minutes. He muted his audio so I could not tell what he was doing but then came back into frame with his wife in tow.

"Hi dear." His mother quipped from the side of the office chair. "Hello Estelle." She looked expectantly at her husband who sighed helplessly. "You can tell her." Estelles face brightened and she clasped her hands excitedly. "We have no objections to you dating our son. Considering that we are all on the same page regarding the obstacles we have ahead I think with four bright minds we can figure out a way to make an ending favorable for us. So we are happy to release official statements confirming your relationship which we hope to cross reference with your family as well. "