NovelBarHe had his doubts about the arrangement, for sure. After all, lvan had made it crystal clear that he was into Sophia and he was
planning on pursuing her. This setup was kinda iffy, but no better candidate had popped up in a pinch.
Brandon didn't miss the bit he blurted out when he first breezed through the door, "I'll have Ivan drop you off on his way."
"So you deliberately set Ivan up for this?" he asked, his voice cool as a cucumber.
"No way," Don was quick to clarify. "It just so happened Ivan was leaving too, cto say his goodbyes, and that's when | thought
of hitching Sophia a ride with him."
"Just so happened?"
Brandon chewed on those words, glancing at Sophia.
Sophia kept mum, just shooting Don a look. "Mr. Dempsey, no need, I've already called a ride. | can cab it back on my own."
"I'll take you," Brandon said, checking his watch, "Givea few."
"No need, there's a whole bunch of bigwigs and guests here," Sophia replied. "You stick with them."
"It's cool, I'll just say a quick hello," Brandon insisted. "You go wait in the car."
With that, Brandon tossed the keys to Sophia.
Catching them instinctively, she was about to throw them back to Brandon when he had already darted out the door.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSophia was speechless.
Don grinned at Sophia. "Having Brandon take you is a good thing. Puts everyone at ease."
Sophia mustered a half-smile.
Pointing behind him, he said. "I better get back to it. You carry on chilling."
Sophia nodded, watching him leave, the keys in her hand feeling awkward, yet she couldn't just leave them lying around.
She rang up Kent to cand grab the keys.
Kent arrived in a jiffy, all foggy. "How'd Mr. Crawley's keys end up with you?"
"Grabbed them by accident," Sophia said. "Could you pass them on to him? I've got sstuff to sort out, wanna head back and
chill."
"Sure thing," Kent nodded, not overthinking it. "I'll get someone to drive you."
He then made a call and sorted a subordinate to drive Sophia back.
"Thanks."
Sophia whispered her thanks and got into the car Kent had arranged.
On the way back, Sophia shot Brandon a message.
[Handed your keys to Kent, he'll swing by to drop them off. I'm heading back first, you do your thing, don't sweat about me.]
Brandon was in the middle of bidding farewell to guests when he received the message, his expression dimming a tad.
He quickly apologized to the guests and after making sure Kent would see them out, he took the keys from Kent and made his exit.
Kent was left scratching his head by Brandon's actions, but by the the pieced it together, Brandon was already gone.
On the road, Brandon gave Sophia a ring. "Where you at now?"
"On my way to the office," Sophia said softly. "Gotta swing by the office, Kris is driving me, courtesy of Kent. Don't fret."
Brandon kept silent.
"I'll hang up now," Sophia said, ending the call.
Brandon didn't call back, just drove straight to the office, heading for Star-Dempsey Architects on the seventeenth floor.
With most of the firm out at the groundbreaking ceremony, the office was sparsely populated.
Peering through the spacious main office, Brandon saw Sophia in her office, buried in work.
Ivan was back too, busy at his desk.
Brandon paused at the office doorway, choosing not to approach.
Sophia, finishing up, looked up to see Brandon by the door, a bit startled.
"Just cback to deal with swork," she said.
Brandon nodded.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Hitup when you're done," he said before turning to leave.
As he walked away, he shot a glance at Ivan.
Ivan turned just in tfor their eyes to meet, but after a brief exchange of looks, both shifted their gaze away.
Brandon returned to his office, and there he waited until past nine. Sophia hadn't called.
He knew she was still at the company.
Sophia was tying up loose ends with Ivan.
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