The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Chapter 368

Martin caught a glimpse of the embarrassment hidden in her smile through the rearview mirror, and it made him frown, but he kept it to himself and just quietly drove the family home.

As soon as they got home, Louis couldn't wait to show Renata the design drawing, "Hey, Yoli whipped up the blueprint for the manor. Take a look, whatcha think?"

Renata, who'd been zoning out on the balcony staring at the yard, perked up the moment she heard "Yoli" and hurriedly sat up from her chair, asking anxiously, "Where's Yoli?"

Louis was used to her topsy-turvy way of talking and assumed she was asking about the design drawing. He quickly passed them to her saying, "See? Yoli designed it for us."

Renata hastily put on her reading glasses and took the drawing, her expression softening with nostalgia and contentment as she looked them over, "That's lovely, really beautiful. Our Yoli is so thoughtful, knows exactly what I like."

"Yeah," Louis agreed, comforted by the look in her eyes.

Martin and Marian were also looking on.

Martin, noticing the couple's fondness for the designs, couldn't help but glance at Marian. Marian, her eyes landing on the design drawing Renata was holding, seemed to harbor a mix of conflict and complexity, not quite sharing the joy.

"Marian, come with me to the study," Martin said in a hushed tone.

Marian, puzzled, glanced back at Martin, who had already started heading upstairs.

After a moment's hesitation, Marian followed. She entered the study behind Martin, not quite sure what he wanted to discuss.

Martin was already at the desk and turned to look at her, "Close the door."

With a bit of trepidation, Marian did as she was told and asked hesitantly, "Martin, is there something you wanted to talk about?"

"There's no one here; you don't have to act so close," Martin said, looking at her.

Marian let out a reluctant "Oh", dropping the act, "So what do you want to talk about?"

She knew she wasn't the real Yolanda.

Two years ago, Martin had shown her the paternity test results and they'd struck a deal: she'd play the role of Yolanda until the real one returned or until the Frost family's elders passed away. In return, Martin had invested in her father's hotel, which was nearly bankrupted by Brandon, saving her family's business.

Their collaboration had been smooth over the past two years.

Marian didn't mind this arrangement and had even grown fond of the identity of Yolanda. The Frost family showered her with love and gave her anything she asked for, making her feel at home in a foreign land.

Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if she might actually be the real Yolanda. How else could she have Yolanda's bracelet? But the DNA results Martin had shown her confirmed they weren't blood-related.

She even suspected that Martin might have mixed up the samples and thought about doing another DNA test with the Frost family members.

"Where did that design come from?" Martin ignored her state of getting lost in thought.

"Of course, I designed it myself," Marian snapped back to reality, facing Martin with confidence.

to have your name tagged to the design, but I don't want the

be

it was just a toddler's plaything that wasn't likely to be significant, and given the vastness of the world and the unlikelihood of that little kid running into any trouble, she decided to take a gamble, "Designer's styles

draft?" Martin didn't want to take any

a pause, Marian nodded, "Alright,

was indeed a design draft on her computer, quite similar to the one

is right here," Marian pointed at the computer

with only minor color differences, which could be attributed to monitor color discrepancies. After all, one was

at Marian. Marian met his gaze squarely,

apologetically and turned

out to him, "I think there's still something off about this design.

with grandpa and grandma. It's

opened the door

close, took a deep breath, and after a moment of silence, closed her laptop and went downstairs

was puzzled, "It looks great as it is. Why change it? Revising is a hassle

just feel it's not perfect yet." Marian cooed, clinging to Louis' arm, "I want to create an even better manor for

doted on her, and despite feeling there was no need for changes, he couldn't resist Marian's charm. He patted her hand reassuringly, "Alright, alright. I just don't want you

hugged his shoulder, "It's fine. As long as you're happy, I don't mind the hard

but still couldn't

"I know; don't worry."

her head, she beamed at Louis, her eyes smiling, "Well

go on." Louis patted the back of her hand, "I'm gonna go

Grandpa, remember to hit the

her goodbyes to

went to look for

connected to a

her cell

old girl?" Louis approached

turned to look at him, her expression as pitiful as a child's, "I want to

how to use

past two years, her memory was practically goldfish-grade, hardly remembering people, let alone how to use her cell phone, which she'd forget

yet, although she had virtually no long-term memory left for most things, she remembered that girl named Sophia especially well,

was someone he'd watched grow up, and he knew him well; although always a bit cold and distant, he had always been dutiful to his parents. But today, to go this far, he was inclined to believe Marian's side of the story, fearing that Sophia had pressured Brandon into taking drastic

Brandon's marriage and knew that Sophia's family, riding on the fact that she married Brandon, hadn't

the Crawley family for all they're worth, sometimes even crossing the line. So, from a parental standpoint, he

him, he'd have broken them

Brandon, who allegedly had no feelings for the girl, to get his dad so worked up this time that he had a cerebral hemorrhage. This made Louis worry and wonder if he should reconsider

just staring at her without saying a word, pushed him a

her, "Yoli has gone to

stubborn streak kicked