The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

"This is the designer's profile," Kent said.

Brandon snatched it up, flipping through it at lightning speed, his eyes scanning the text on the pages just as quickly.

When the n"Arlene" popped up, his brows furrowed instantly, and his hands swiftly flipped through a few more pages, but he

found no mention of Sophia.

Watching Brandon's frown deepening, a mix of confusion and disappointment weaving across his handsface, Kent noticed how

Brandon's grip on the materials didn't wane, as he kept rifling through the pages, determined to dig out any trace of Sophia from

the documents.

"Don had his suspicions about the designer's identity when he saw the design proposal this afternoon. He calledup to ask

about the designer," Kent shared. "Then | reached out to President Poe, and he providedwith a brief on the designer."

"I had someone look into Arlene based on that info, and what you've got there is the most detailed report we've managed to pull

together on her so far," Kent added.

Brandon's frown deepened, and he glanced at the papers in his hand.

According to the documents, apart from her age and college major, which were similar to Sophia's, there was nothing else that

linked Arlene to her.

She was also from Zenitha, but she went abroad for high school and also attended university overseas.

Her family had a bit of a reputation back home, big house, big business - she seemed like a girl who grew up with a silver spoon in

her mouth. But looking at her schooling, it didn't quite fit - she didn't even live with her family.

"She's got a twin sister named Audrey Bright, who, rumor has it, married into the Ferber family four years ago, tying the knot with

Harvey Ferber," Kent mentioned.

Brandon's brows knitted together, and he looked at Kent.

"The Harvey Ferber from the Ferber Group," Kent confirmed. "The overseas media covered the wedding back in the day, but the

news might have been hushed up since you can't find anything online anymore. The PI firm | hired said their inside scoop is that

the bride was actually Arlene, but none of this has ever been confirmed. As of now, the Ferber family doesn't utter a peep about

the marriage."

Brandon's frown tightened as he eyed the documents.

There wasn't a single photo of Arlene, which was odd - unless the background info had been tampered with.

"The detectives also said Arlene's photo records had been doctored, so they couldn't find any snaps of her," Kent continued. "But

Arlene is definitely real, she studied architectural design in college. Harvey Ferber is looking for someone named Arlene."

Kent handed over another set of documents. "This is sinfo the PI firm dug up. Harvey Ferber has been scouring the globe for

Arlene these past few years. Including his recent trip to Zion City and the West district on a cruise ship, supposedly for work, but

really to find someone."

Brandon barely glanced at the papers before looking back at Kent. "So this Arlene is the one Harvey Ferber's after?"

His heart sank, that faint glimmer of hope snuffed out once again.

He didn't care who Harvey Ferber was searching for or what kind of he had with this Arlene chick. But if even Harvey Ferber

was on the hunt for her, it pretty much confirmed she wasn't just sphantom - she had been around for real, which meant she

couldn't be Sophia in disguise.

Seeing the light die in Brandon's eyes, Kent felt a pang of pity but still nodded. "According to President Poe's designer profile, she's

the one Harvey Ferber's looking for."

"Here's another set of Arlene's records from President Poe, with a photo," Kent said, handing over more documents.

Brandon took them and his already furrowed brow creased even more at the sight.

The girl in the photo was young and unfamiliar, yet bore a striking resemblance to Sophia.

It wasn't about facial features but more about a certain air and essence. She and Sophia had the sgirl-next-door vibe - that

sweet, pure look that screams 'good girl."

Suddenly, Brandon remembered the snapshot of a girl from the mall's security footage that Harvey Ferber had shown him.

Although the camera angle made it hard to see clearly, the overall vibe was similar to the one in the photo.

"The girl in the photo looks like the sone Harvey Ferber was after in the mall that day," Kent said.

After Don's call, Kent had contacted President Poe, who had briefly filled him in on the designer. After hanging up, Kent received the

reswith the designer's photo from Poe. It detailed Arlene's academic and career history as well as her design work, pretty

much ruling out any possibility that Sophia was Arlene.

Still, to avoid any mistakes, he had the PI firm do a thorough background check on Arlene.

The results matched what was in Brandon's hands now. Although there were no photos of Arlene, it corroborated the authenticity of

the resfrom President Poe.

He hade straight to Brandon after getting the results because he knew that after wrapping up work for the night, Brandon

would check his work email and would definitely see the design drawings.

Though the sparkle in Brandon's eyes had dimmed, his brows remained tensely furrowed, and he couldn't help but turn his gaze to

theputer screen.

The screen was still dominated by the design blueprints of the West district's junior high science museum, and Brandon just

couldn't peel his eyes away from the familiar design style and color schon hisputer screen.

"Got the designer's number?" Brandon asked. "Toss it my way."

"No number for now, but she's got WhatsApp," Kent replied as he whipped out his phone, fired up WhatsApp, and slid the

designer's contact info Brandon's way, as rmended by President Poe. "I shot her a friend request this afternoon, but she

hasn't bitten yet. Looks like it's just a backup work number or something."

While they were chatting, Kent had already pushed the designer's Whatcontact to Brandon.

Brandon's gaze snapped back to the Whatcontact on his phone, a bit spaced out.

"Mr. Crawley?" Kent looked at him, puzzled.

Brandon didn't respond, just silently opened the Whatcontact, tapped "Add contact," typed in "This is Brandon" for the

verification message, and hit "Send."

Sophia was just about ready to hit the hay after soaking her feet when her phone pinged with a Whatnotification.

The weather had taken a chilly turn today, and after a day out, she wasn't sure if she'd caught a cold or what, but she cback

hfeeling all foggy-headed with a scratchy throat.

She was just about to give her feet a warm soak to chase away the chill.

Her phone was resting on the couch nearby, and when it chimed, she casually shifted the book from her knees, grabbed the phone,

and tapped open the new Whatfriend request.

Her eyes widened a bit when they landed on the words "This is Brandon."