The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

He had juste back from the meeting room.

First thing in the morning, he walked into the office and headed straight for a meeting, and who would've thought that after all

that, the other party still hadn't accepted his friend request.

Brandon glanced at the clock on hisputer screen—it was already past ten.

If last night they didn't log into their work Whatbecause it was the weekend and their day off, then by now they should

definitely be online.

Were they not accepting because they didn't recognize him, or was it that... they didn't want to accept?

As the question started to form in his mind, Kent knocked and entered the room.

“Mr. Crawley, Mr. Ferber would like to see you.”

Brandon looked at him: “Harvey Ferber?”

“Yes, he said he happened to be passing by the office and thought he'd drop in for a visit,” Kent said, presenting the calling card as

he spoke, “He's currently in the reception room.”

Brandon locked eyes with Kent, a slight frown knotting his brow.

Harvey Ferber showing up at this time—was he planning toe directly to thepany to find Arlene, or had he also heard that

Arlene had taken on the design project for the West District Junior High Science Museum?

As these doubts swirled in his mind, Brandon reached out to take the calling card from Kent and headed for the door.

“I'll go see him.”

“Alright.” Kent turned to follow.

“And another thing,” Brandon said without breaking stride, “get in touch with President Poe and tell him to reach out to the

designer. Say that if the designer is keen to collaborate but isn't leaving a phone number or accepting Whatrequests, how are

we supposed tomunicate about work?”

“Got it.”

Kent acknowledged, pulled out his phone, and hurriedly dialed President Poe.

He hadn't expected the designer to be so high and mighty—ignoring friend requests left and right.

Yesterday, you could excuse it by saying it was the weekend and they weren't checking their work phones, but now that it's a

workday, it's unlikely they wouldn't be looking at their phones.

He wasn't too keen on working with someone who made such a fuss about just adding a contact—it'd only lead to delays in the

project if they couldn't be reached later on.

Given Brandon's habits, it was out of the question to give a second chance.

But now that he's asking him to nudge President Poe, it was clear he still hoped to make further contact with the designer.

Clearly, the detailed résumé he had on the designer from last night wasn't enough to fully convince Brandon, even though

President Poe had personally sent him the résumé with the designer's photo, and he had personally investigated Arlene's

background and found it to be consistent with the information President Poe had sent.

Kent didn't understand Brandon's obsession, but since Brandon had given the order, even if he was dissatisfied with this "Arlene"

designer, he had no choice but to follow through.

President Poe's phone was picked up after a brief ring.

“President Poe.” Kent put on his usual polite smile, exchanged a few cordial words, and then got to the point, “About this designer

you're interested in—could you maybe get her to accept the Whatrequest? No phone number and no Whatacceptance,

how are we supposed tomunicate about work later on?”

President Poe sounded surprised: “Oh? She didn't add you?”

“Didn't add me? She didn't even accept Mr. Crawley,” Kent said, a bit annoyed though still wearing a polite smile, “If we're having

these issues before we've even officially started working together, what's it going to be like when we do? If we can’t find her every

other day, how's work supposed to progress, right?”

“Yes, yes.” President Poe chuckled along soothingly, “I guess she wasn't online over the weekend. Don't worry, I'll check with the

designer and get back to you soon.”

“Alright, I'll leave it to you then, President Poe.”

Kent hung up and quickly caught up with Brandon, who had walked ahead.

“President Poe said he'll call back after he's sorted it out with her,” Kent reported in a low voice.

Brandon gave a light “hmm” in response, pressed the elevator button, and stepped inside.

After hanging up with Kent, President Poe quickly made a voice call to Sophia.

Sophia had just taken scold medicine and was getting ready for sshut-eye when she saw a sudden voice call from

President Poe. She furrowed her brows in confusion and then picked up the phone:

“President Poe, hello.”

Her voice, different from the crisp raspiness of yesterday, took President Poe aback, and he uncertainly called out, “Ms. Bright?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Sophia sounded apologetic, “Sorry, President Poe, | caught a bit of a cold last night, and my throat’s a bit hoarse.”

“No worries, Ms. Bright, take care of yourself,” President Poe said with a laugh before getting to the point, “Here's the thing. |

ot to mention yesterday that I've passed your Whatdetails on to the generous alumnus donating to the science museum.

His nis Brandon, and he has an assistant named Kent who's handling this. Check if you've received their friend requests and

accept them, please.”

Sophia suddenly remembered the two friend requests she had received yesterday, let out an awkward “Ah?” and then,

apologetically, “Sorry, President Poe, | wasn't feeling well yesterday and didn’t pay much attention to my phone. | didn’t realize it

was them.”

“It's my fault; | should have made it clear to you beforehand.” President Poe felt a bit embarrassed for not having explained things

clearly and causing misunderstandings with Brandon and Kent, “If you can, please accept their requests now, and we can talk later

if there's anything else.”

“Sure, sorry for the trouble, President Poe.”

Sophia hung up feeling sorry, opened WhatsApp, tapped on the "Contacts" in the bottom left corner, and found the latest friend

requests under "New Friends."

When that familiar "I'm Brandon" hit her eyes again, Sophia inevitably zoned out for a sec, her fingers hovering over the phone

screen shaking slightly out of control. Every tshe tried to tap it, she hesitated mid-air and froze, staring at the words "I'm

Brandon."

Sophia didn't know what was up with her, that feeling of emptiness mixed with heartache and a tinge of nostalgia had snagged her

again.

She took a deep breath, pushed down the sigh she hadn't realized she was holding, and turned her gaze out the window.

The weather today was all gloomy too, with a fine drizzle hanging in the air, mingled with a biting cold wind that cut to the bone,

nothing like the sunny days when she first arrived in this city.

Seems like President Poe was worried she'd et, already shot her a message on WhatsApp: "Did you add him? Letknow

when you're done."

The "ding" of the Whatnotification snapped Sophia back to reality, bringing her focus back to her phone.

President Poe's nudge pulled her out of that unexplained sadness, and as reason took over again, her eyes skipped right past the

"I'm Brandon" message and she hit "Accept," then scrolled down and accepted Kent's friend request too.

She opened Kent's chatbox, typed up a message: "Sorry, | didn't realize you were the project lead. My bad for not accepting your

request sooner."

Sent it off to Kent and quickly copied the message, opened Brandon's Whatchat, pasted and hit "Send." Finally, she could

breathe easy and shot a message back to President Poe:

"Done. Sorry for the trouble, President Poe."

"No worries, just focus on resting up. I'll sort it out with them."

President Poe's reply cback quick, showing he was really caring.

"Thanks, President Poe. Really appreciate it."

Sophia shot back a message and then closed the chat.

As she returned to the main screen, her eyes couldn't help but linger on Brandon's Whatprofile for a moment. Hesitating, her

finger eventually tapped on his Whatavatar, and she checked out his profile.

His Whatnwas just a simple "Brandon," nothing else, no or anything.

Sophia stared at that "Brandon" for a long while, her finger as if having a mind of its own, hesitated and then tapped into

Brandon's Facebook.

His Facebook was a blank slate.

Confused, Sophia turned off her phone.