The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Haley just stood there, stunned, watching Susan swing the broom at him. He didn't dodge, and just let it ccrashing down

towards him.

But Susan, gritting her teeth in anger, couldn't bring herself to actually hit Haley when the broom was about to smack him. She

gave him a furious glare through her tearful eyes, and pointed viciously towards the door, "Get out! You're not welchere."

Haley didn't dare make a peep, and just stood there with reddened eyes, looking all vulnerable and pitiful.

Brandon knew Sophia hadn't gotten over Haley. He was the one who had saved her, and the only person in that family who had

shown her a hint of warmth.

Even if that smidgen of warmth was ultimately defeated by his own spinelessness, for Sophia, who had grown up starved of

parental love, that little bit of warmth was all too precious.

So she treasured it, that rare warmth, even though it cwith a cruel edge.

Brandon took the broom out of Susan's hands.

Haley, through tears, turned to Susan, "Susan, con, spill it to me. What's really happened to Sophia?"

Susan pointed to the TV and yelled through sobs, "Can't you watch the news? Can't you see what's happened to her?"

Haley had clung to a sliver of hope on his way over, hoping that Sophia's situation was just media and experts spouting nonsense,

that she was really okay. But seeing Susan's reaction, he completely lost his composure and turned to Brandon for help.

"Mr. Crawley."

He had always carefully stuck to calling him "Mr. Crawley", even though the man before him was his son-in-law.

But Sophia's marriage into the family and Daniel and Patricia's disdain for the Yearwood family had made him cautious, worried he

might put Sophia in a tough spot between her family and her husband. So he always kept a respectful distance from Brandon and

the Crawley family, although he could only control his own actions, not those of Laura and Aaron.

He deeply regretted his past weaknesses. If he had kept Laura and Aaron in line, maybe Sophia wouldn't have ended up divorcing,

and maybe she wouldn't be in this situation now.

What he didn't realize was that his "Mr. Crawley" was like a sharp knife, stabbing Brandon in the heart once again.

Because Laura and Aaron always cto him with trivial matters like finding them a job, arranging school admissions, or securing

medical appointments, he had grown weary and handed them off to Kent, never bothering to deal with Sophia's family again, nor

had he visited her parents’ hwith her. His interactions with Haley had been minimal, so Haley calling him "Mr. Crawley" didn't

really ring any bells for him.

But he had never considered that his neglect of her family and not visiting her home, in the eyes of society, was another form of

rejection by a husband and lack of love. Without her family's support, Sophia was an easy target for anyone to trample on.

Suddenly, it all clicked for Brandon - why Sophia had been so resistant to reconciling.

How much mental preparation did it take for her to say, “Brandon, let's make up,” after fighting with herself so much, to finally

settle on that resigned “let's make up”.

"Mr. Crawley?" Seeing Brandon lost in thought, Haley tentatively called out again.

Brandon cast him a glance, his voice hoarse as he finally spoke, "The news is true."

He couldn't find her. He had searched everywhere he could think of, but she was nowhere to be found.

No person, no body. With such a hefty reward, the complete lack of leads seemed to suggest that her body had sunk into the icy

depths of the sea, a place beyond human reach. That seemed like the most reasonable explanation.

This realization brought a bitter taste back to his throat, which he forcefully suppressed.

Haley's body shook violently, and he suddenly broke down in loud sobs.

Theresa had long stopped playing with her blocks, just staring blankly at the scene. Perhaps touched by Haley's crying, her eyes

also reddened, and it looked like she was about to cry but was trying hard to hold it back.

Brandon stepped forward and hugged her, stroking her head in silent comfort.

Susan had also collapsed into tears again.

Not wanting Theresa to be affected by these emotions any longer, he took her back to her room.

Theresa didn't bring up her mother again, acting as if she had forgotten, and just silently went to get clothes for a bath and

bedtime.

Watching Theresa like this, Brandon felt even worse. He silently bathed Theresa, tucked her into bed, and only then did he get up

and head for the living room.

The crying had stopped. Haley had left at spoint, and Susan was nowhere to be seen.

Brandon didn't concern himself with where they'd gone, and just numbly bent down to pick up the blocks Theresa hadn't finished

stacking, his whole being utterly lifeless.

Kent walked in just to find Brandon in this state.

A walking corpse, that was the only phrase he could think of.

It hurt Kent to see him like this, but he had to suppress his feelings and approached him.

"Mr. Crawley."

Brandon's movement paused as he reflexively looked back, "Any news?"

Kent shook his head slightly, but seeing the light in Brandon's eyes about to go out, he quickly handed over the phone in his hand,

"The rescue team found this phone in the river a few hundred meters from where Sophia fell. It looks like Sophia's."

Brandon's expression turned steely, he stepped forward and snatched the phone from Kent's hand. It was indeed Sophia's phone.

"Anything else that they found except this?" Brandon asked urgently.

Kent shook his head again, "Nothing else. The phone was entangled in the underwater weeds. The police speculate it fell out of her

pocket during the fall and was swept away by the current, getting stuck amidst the underwater plants."

The light in Brandon's eyes dimmed. He fell silent, trying to turn on the cell phone, and surprisingly, it actually powered up.

"The phone got a bit of water damage from being soaked for so long." Kent explained, "lI had someone fix it up before bringing it

over to you."

"Thanks," Brandon rasped out his gratitude.

"No biggie," Kent replied nonchalantly; noticing that Brandon's focus was now entirely on the phone, he didn't linger and bid

Brandon farewell before taking his leave.

Brandon booted up Sophia's phone. He never thought his first peek at her phone would be under these circumstances.

Staring at the all-too-familiar yet foreign device for a good while, Brandon unlocked the phone, glanced at the pendant around his

neck, picked it up, and scanned it with Sophia's phone. The screen instantly switched to an editing page with a background of

yellow roses and camellias.

Brandon tapped into the draft box, and sure enough, there was a lengthy letter there, one that Sophia had written to him, with the

cover text reading "For Brandon's Eyes Only."

Brandon fixed his gaze on those words for a long moment before opening the letter.

"Brandon,

Hope this finds you well.

It's been two years since | last celebrated your birthday with you. | always thought we'd never cross paths again in this lifetime, but

life is full of twists and turns, and it seems we can't escape fate after all.

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