The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

The search underwater was a long and soul-crushing ordeal. Susan watched as Brandon and the others bobbed up and down in the

water, and with no word on Sophia, fear and despair nearly drowned her.

It was the deep blue here, not swoods or dry land where one could buy sextra time. A person couldn't last all that long in

the water.

The search party had already spread out, heading downstream. The cops, too, rushed over after the alarm was raised and joined in

the search.

From where Sophia fell in, the search stretched all the way down the river to the main channel, and even to the nearby mouth of

the sea, but turned up zilch.

Desperation hung heavy in everyone's hearts. Whether she got trapped in a concrete column or swept out to sea, surviving was a

long shot.

But no one dared to voice that; no one dared to even think it.

The wind and rain gradually let up. The sky over Zenithan began to show the first light of dawn, eventually brightening up.

The support crew had already brought dry clothes for those who'd been in the water, all except for Brandon.

Brandon, like a man possessed, kept diving back in numbly and doggedly. But the deep winter night was cold to the bone, with a

fresh blast of cold air heading south.

As dawn broke, whether it was sheer exhaustion or despair from not finding Sophia that sapped his last bit of strength, Brandon's

towering figure swayed and then he totally blacked out after another fruitless search, and in a frenzy, he was rushed to the

hospital.

Daniel had also stood vigil by the river all night, but he couldn't sway Brandon.

Brandon's sudden collapse sent him into a total panic, and he scrambled to follow the ambulance to the hospital.

Susan was kneeling at the riverbank, having cried herself into a state where she couldn't even speak.

Kent felt equally sick to his stomach. He took off his jacket and draped it over Susan's shoulders, choking up as he told her, "No

news is good news; Sophia's gonna be okay."

But even he couldn't convince himself with the weakness in his voice.

This was water they were talking about, not land. On land, there was still a chance if someone was missing, but in the water...

He couldn't bear to think about it.

Susan didn't respond, sobbing too hard to catch her breath, just despairingly staring at the now slowly calming river surface.

The police had expanded the search to the sea outlet downstream. Grace, too, had red-rimmed eyes, fighting back tears over and

over again.

Theresa, cradled in her arms, had puffy eyes like walnuts, not wailing as she had the night before, but her eyes brimmed with

tears, her gaze panicked and lost.

She was too young to understand what all this meant, but her fearful and bewildered look made Kent's heart ache even more.

"Uncle Kent, where's my mommy?" As seeing someone finally notice her, Theresa asked him timidly, her voice tinged with fear.

Her anxious and cautious tone instantly brought tears to Kent's eyes. He was not one to cry easily, but seeing Theresa's hidden

unease, thinking of Sophia who might be gone, and Brandon who had passed out, he couldn't help but let the tears flow.

He reached out to her, barely forcing a smile, and said hoarsely, "Mommy's busy with work."

"Then," Theresa hesitated, looking cautiously at Kent, "when can mommy finish work? She said she'd takeand daddy out to

play today."

Kent's throat closed up, unable to speak. Beside him, Susan's crying grew more intense, beyond control.

Theresa, unsure what she said wrong, looked timidly at Susan and then at Kent, her hands nervously twined together in front of

her.

She looked around fearfully. The surroundings were a messy and unfamiliar construction site. She might not recognize it as a

construction site, but she knew it wasn't a hotel. She remembered her mom's promise over the phone last night to wait for her at

the hotel, that she'd see her as soon as she woke up.

They had pinky promised, no, high-fived. Theresa remembered she couldn't reach her mom's fingers, so her dad taught her to

high-five with mommy.

But she hadn't slept last night, so she hadn't seen mommy yet. She pulled back her anxious gaze, looking expectantly at Kent, and

asked in a small voice, "Uncle Kent, can | go back to the hotel now?"

"Of course." Kent managed another smile, "I will take you back to the hotel right now."

With that, he turned to Susan, still kneeling and crying on the ground, and whispered, "Let's go back to the hotel and rest for a bit.

I'm here; I'll call you if there's any news."

Susan just shook her head, tears rolling down from her eyes, a sobbing mess. Theresa was affected by her mood, her tears also

starting to fall, but she earnestly said to Susan, "Godmom, mommy said, when | wake up, I'll see her. Will you cback with me

and sleep?"

Susan cried louder, unable to contain her emotions. Kent helped her up and whispered in her ear, "Take Theresa back to rest; she

hasn't slept all night either. Kids can't handle this."

Susan nodded weakly. Kent took them to the nearest hotel in town from the construction site.

Perhaps longing to see Sophia, Theresa, once back in the hotel room, didn't need coaxing; she obediently took off her jacket,

climbed into bed, pulled the covers over, and lay down.

She didn't let go of her little doll, hugging it tight.

"Godmom, goodnight. Auntie Grace, goodnight. Uncle Kent, goodnight."

She politely bid everyone goodnight, clutching her doll, and immediately closed her eyes. She treated sleep with utmost care and

reverence, as a ritual to fulfill her promise to her mom.

Her young heart perhaps firmly believed that as long as she did as she promised with mommy, slept well, she'd wake up to see her

mom as she wished.

Susan's emotions had calmed down somewhat on the way back, but seeing Theresa like this, her tears breached their banks once

again, flooding out.

Kent's eyes were also brimming with tears as he gently patted Susan on the back, silently comforting her.

He headed back to the scene of the accident. The search and rescue operation was still ongoing, and the work to dismantle the

foundation pillars was carried out with tense precision.

The columns that had always been a challenge to penetrate were only halfway done this time, yet they were poured surprisingly

solid.

This abnormality, along with the missing Sophia, filled the workers at the scene with a growing sense of unease.

After getting an update from the police about the search efforts, Kent hurried off to the hospital.

As soon as he stepped into the ward, he saw Daniel by the bed looking haggard, with a cold breakfast untouched in front of him,

not a bite taken.

Brandon was lying on the bed, pale as a ghost, even his lips white, still unconscious but with a furrowed brow, like he was trapped

in a nightmare.

"How's Mr. Crawley doing?" Kent asked Daniel in a low voice.

Daniel shook his head anxiously, "I don't know. The doctor said he passed out due to being in freezing water for too long; the

physical strain and the mental shock were too much."

Daniel added in a hoarse voice, "Maybe his body just went into self-preservation mode. If this keeps up, he's really going to,"

He dared not finish the sentence. Having been father and son for nearly thirty years, he had never seen Brandon so out of control

and frantic. He didn't dare to think about what state Brandon would be in when he woke up.

Kent glanced at him, hesitated, but still asked, "Chairman Crawley, what exactly happened last night?"

The harrowing memories of last night flashed through Daniel's mind - Sophia steadying him as he nearly fell, then rushing to

rescue the frail-looking worker, and the moment her small body was hit and sent over the railing, his throat involuntarily tightened.

Kent saw the movement in his throat but said nothing, and just silently watched him, waiting for him to speak. But his phone

suddenly rang, breaking the brief silence.

Kent looked at the caller ID, and saw it was his assistant.

“I've got to answer this,” said Kent, took his phone and stepped outside the ward to take the call.

"Kent, there's trouble. The internet's blowing up with rumors that someone at our Zenitha-style resort project was cutting corners

with pile driving to push the progress."

The assistant's urgent voice cthrough as soon as Kent answered, "The whole web's in an uproar, and our PR department

doesn't really know what's going on at the site. No one's answering calls there, so they reached out to the CEO's office to see how

you want to handle this."

Kent's expression tightened, and he composed himself, "Tell PR to keep a lid on the media frenzy for now, and keep an eye on it. I'll

check out what's happening."

"Got it."

Kent hung up and quickly checked Twitter and various web pages.

"Cutting corners", "Starlight Group", "Starlight Group suspected of cutting corners" and similar phrases were trending.

Kent's fingers flew over the page for a quick scan, but before he could digest it all, he heard Daniel's voice, filled with surprised

delight, "Brandon, you're awake."

Kent swiftly turned back into the room and saw Brandon sitting up abruptly in bed, as if he'd just been startled awake, still not fully

lucid; flinging off the covers and getting out of bed, he calmly instructed Kent.

"Get Sophia here."

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