The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Chapter 198

Brandon chuckled and shook his head, deftly changing the subject, "Do you plan on settling down in the West district for good?"

Zachary responded with a smile and a finger point, "There you go dodging the bullet again. Don't tell me you plan on staying a bachelor for life?"

Still smiling, Brandon simply shook his head and glanced at the chessboard with a game still in play. He picked up a black piece and placed it firmly on the board.

"Mr. Gardner, let me keep you company with a game of chess."

Clearly, he wasn't keen on dwelling on the topic.

Mr. Gardner shook his head with a smile, knowing it was best not to pry further and picked up a white chess piece, "Let's go for it. It's been a while since we've had a good spar."

Sophia also knocked off work early today, not really in the mood for her job, and bolted as soon as the clock struck quitting time.

Seeing her pack up, Ivan started to shut down his computer and got ready to leave too.

"Let's grab dinner together tonight," he suggested.

Sophia wasn't really feeling it. With a smile, she declined, "Some other time. I've got stuff to handle today."

Ivan just smiled back, "Sure thing." He didn't push it.

Sophia headed home alone, and couldn't tell if it was the sweltering heat making her sluggish, but she didn't feel like cooking and casually ordered some takeout online.

Legos, her young face lit up with wonder as she stumbled over her words excitedly explaining

never fussed or clamored to

couldn't help but think back to running into Brandon at the company park earlier that day,

anything inside would be a lie; after all, it's someone she'd had feelings for nearly a decade. There was bound to be a sense of times gone by

truly the best remedies

a haze, looking at Theresa made Sophia wonder, did she make a

definitely

she asked, "You seem off

nothing." Sophia shook her head, "Just missing you guys and then I can't help but wonder

guilty about Theresa, you shouldn't. It's not like you're away

full-time stay-at-home mom. When she grows up, she won't thank you for it. She'll just see her mom as

a playful look,

"You can't have your cake and eat it too in this world. Choosing to be there for her might not guarantee you can provide her with a comfortable life. If you opt for the latter, naturally you'll have to cut back on quality time. Whenever you're working, something's bound to eat into your time, and

it; no

Sophia was smart enough to figure this out on

got more experience with this than I do." Susan said, steering the conversation elsewhere, "Speaking of

in the West

they hadn't been in touch much since their last get-together in Wye City due to

know?" Susan brought it up, realizing she hadn't mentioned it to Sophia, "He retired a couple of years ago and settled down in the West district.

Sophia didn't know; she'd been

him a visit soon,"

but