Chapter 72: A Promise Unfulfilled

Brooke pulled Dean aside. The two of them stood together in his bedroom. For the past month she had slept here.

Her stubbornness had caused her to force her way into Dean and Yuki’s space. And though she had not fully given herself over to Dean. She still insisted that they were engaged. And that she had a rightful place by his side.

Because of this, the room looked lived in with more than just Dean’s or Yuki’s belonging. And she was all too comfortable to sit down on the bed.

Dean didn’t speak, he more or less figured what Brooke had to say. And he waited for her to give voice to it herself.

With a deep breath and a heavy sigh, she finally spoke.

“How certain are you that your plan will succeed?”

Dean did not hesitate. There was utmost confidence in his voice.

“80% chance of total victory. 20% chance of prolonged insurgency. Either way, victory will be ours. It just depends if it’s total or pyrrhic. Those are our best odds. Believe me, I wouldn’t put my men in harm’s way on a simple gambit.”

80%… Those weren’t the odds that Brooke was hoping for. But she didn’t complain. Dean was being realistic, not reassuring. And it was one of the things she respected about the man, even if she didn’t give voice to it.

But why didn’t she give voice to it? Katherine’s words still stung in her mind, even now.

You are not his equal.

No matter how much she tried she couldn’t shake the thought. She had spent a month trying to do her best to prove that Katherine wrong. But there was just one problem. Dean was better than she.

Not necessarily as an administrator, although he had a remarkable ability to organize and plan significant construction projects. Dean appeared to lack in agreeableness that made civilians want to follow him.

This was where Yuki came in, she made up for Dean’s blunt and professional standards. And conveyed his words to the masses in a way that was palatable.

He knew where his weaknesses lay, and delegated authority appropriately. In doing so turning a weakness into a strength. It was a strength that he had that she often lacked.

But what really mattered the most was that Dean had one skill that had failed her. The confidence in violence and the capacity to wield it to maintain law, order, and unity in his territory and the people in it.

Brooke suppressed her inherent pride and sighed heavily once more. It took all of her strength to muster the thought to the surface and allow it to breathe into life. But when she did, she stared Dean down seriously and spoke with a bitter smile.

“If this hairbrained plan of yours actually succeeds, I guess I’ll have to marry you for real won’t I?”

Dean stared at Brooke in silence for a few moments, there was something about what she just said, and how she said it, that forced a memory to the surface. A memory that caused him to break out into bittersweet laughter.

Brooke, of course frowned, her eyes narrowed practically into slits, while her glare threatened to pierce through his heart.

“What is so damn funny?”

Naturally, Dean knew why the woman was angry at him, and he was forced to shake his head and assure her he wasn’t dismissing the seriousness of her statement.

“I’m sorry, honestly I am. You couldn’t possibly understand, but you just reminded me of someone else is all… Someone I used to know in passing. She said something similar once a long time ago, when she was first forced to admit I was right all along. You sounded almost exactly like her.”

This did not soothe Brooke’s growing wrath, in fact, her jaw tightened, her teeth chattered, and her fists curled. She practically had to prevent herself from stomping her feet as she demanded an answer.

“Just how many women do you have fawning over you, Dean!”

Dean shook his head and laughed again. Raising his hands as Brooke raised her fists and stepped forward.

“Listen, it’s not like what you think. We never met in person, we just worked together on the phone is all. Before this, all of this, I was a private contractor for the public sector. I mainly consulted on state and local projects that required the input of a civil engineer. City planning and all of that nasty business.”

Brooke stopped just short of Dean, her fists falling to her sides. She stared at him in a way that caused the man to become deeply uncomfortable. It was as if her anger had not dispersed or been suppressed, but temporarily suspended.

An immense weight of curiosity laced the tip of her tongue.

“Go on… I’m listening.”

Dean almost got distracted by the sudden and bizarre shift in the woman’s posture. But he continued to explain himself, nonetheless.

“A few years back, after finishing my college education. I found myself working for the city on a project. The deadline was impossible, and I found myself negotiating every day with the supplier trying to get my hands on the material I needed to conclude the job to spec. She kept telling me how it was impossible, how I was being reckless, and that anything I built on such an advanced timetable was sure to be made of shoddy craftsmanship.”

Brooke’s eyes widened more in disbelief the longer Dean continued, as her fists became unfurled by the second.

“Anyway, we got into this back and forth and in the end she made me a bet. That if I hit my goal on my timeframe and the structure lasted longer than five years. She would marry me…. And while I did succeed in reaching my goals. We never really got to figure out if it lasted longer than five years because the end of the world came before then.”

Dean stood there after finishing his tale, Brooke was staring at him with her eyes wide open and her mouth agape in disbelief. He honestly didn’t know if she had suffered from a seizure or something mid statement and was quick to wave his hand in front of her face to check if the lights were still on.

“Hey, Brooke, you all good?”

Brooke froze. The timelines aligned, the attitude, the arrogance, the impossible deadlines.

No…

There was no way.

She latched onto his hand and grabbed hold of his face in a way that caused Dean to slightly recoil and push her aside.

However, Brooke didn’t seem offended or fully deterred. Instead, she muttered under her breath in disbelief.

“You’re him… that arrogant and unreasonable contractor who made my life a living hell for six months straight…”

Dean remained utterly silent… And for the first time in a long while… he genuinely didn’t have a response ready.

He had not even thought about it, not the least bit when Brooke announced herself and said whom she worked for. But now… it suddenly hit him…

“So… I guess you might end up fulfilling that promise after all, huh?”

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