The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Chapter 81

Brandon didn’t respond. He lingered at the door for a moment, then strode away.

Sophia watched his retreating figure, sitting on the bed motionless, not even realizing when her fingers had hit the answer button on the phone until Susan’s voice, laced with concem, broke through, “Sophia? What’s up?”

Sophia snapped back to reality, peering at her phone screen through a blurry gaze, she saw Susan’s worried face.

“What’s wrong? Susan’s voice softened, tinged with caution.

Sophia shook her head slightly. “It’s nothing.”

Susan asked, “Did Brandon come over?”

Sophia nodded gently, “Yeah.”

“So, did you guys?” She hesitated, glancing at Sophia, wanting to ask if Brandon had managed to stop her, but seeing Sophia clad in the hospital gown with puffy eyes, the words got stuck in her throat. Instead, she shifted to a gentle reassurance, “It’s alright, there’s no hurdle we can’t get over”

Sophia managed a weak smile, “Yeah.”

for Sophia at a restaurant near the hospital. He didn’t deliver it himself. He paid for the delivery service and got a waiter to take

He had imagined countless times what their child might look like, whether like him or Sophia, or a mix of both. He had fantasized about every step of raising her, thinking Sophia would keep her believing she

away, his stomach churning with familiar spasms as his emotions rolled, filled with the scene of Sophia with tear–filled eyes begging him to let her go. The stomach cramps worsened, but then his thoughts drifted back to that summer years ago when she stood on the stage with her teacher and introduced herself in a calm

that year every time he tutored her, the obedient and tranquil look in her eyes, which were

report from his pocket, crisply tore it in two with a swift exchange of hands.

ball, ready to throw it away, but then his hands paused mid–air, frozen. After a long silence, he withdrew his hands, pocketing the crumpled DNA report once more, looked towards the

into the patient’s

a short distance away, peering

been delivered and Sophia took a few bites before

Sophia inside the room as she lay down and drifted into a shallow sleep. Only then did

met silently, then

her in, “Take a rest”

soft “Mhm, and closed her eyes.

the bed for a while, then his phone

on the bed. Brandon chuckled and shook his head, not

second and third day, Brandon didn’t seek out Sophia, just busied himself with work at the hotel, unable to engage with

fourth day, Brandon waited Sophia’s