The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

"From Mr. Crawley," Cindy replied in passing.

Both Don and Sophia were speechless.

"Mr. Crawley got sgood news?" Don asked tentatively, instinctively glancing at Sophia.

Sophia looked back, totally confused.

Cindy was about to answer when the elevator doors outside slid open, and Theresa walked out, hand in hand with Grace, both

looking perplexed and scanning their surroundings curiously.

Cindy recognized Theresa and exclaimed with delight, "Cutie pie?"

Her shout immediately drew everyone's attention to the entrance.

"Wow, whose gorgeous kid is this?" Someone gasped in admiration.

The compliment triggered even more curiosity, and people started crowding the doorway to catch a glimpse.

Theresa was just bored from playing in her dad's office and hadn't seen him return, so she asked Grace to take her out for a bit of

fun.

She didn't have a particular destination in mind and just hit a random floor button.

Grace had gotten the go-ahead from Kent to take Theresa wherever, with no need to fuss, so she didn’t stop Theresa's every move.

They never expected to step out of the elevator into a crowd treating them like exotic animals on display. Both Theresa and Grace

were taken aback.

Grace's phone rang just then, a call from Brandon asking where they were.

"We're on the seventeenth floor." Grace whispered into her phone, turning away and lowering her voice, "Theresa hit the button

herself."

Brandon raised an eyebrow in surprise but calmly replied an "Okay" before hanging up.

Grace pocketed her phone and turned to look at Theresa, who stood there looking adorably clueless with her big, round eyes,

especially in her outfit, like a little girl straight out of a period .

Her dazed look only fueled the crowd's amazement, and soon enough, someone enthusiastically waved at her, "Hey there, where

did you cfrom?"

Theresa instinctively pointed upstairs to the inquisitive woman and seriously said, "From upstairs."

Her earnest and blank expression made the onlookers laugh.

"My gosh, too cute."

Someone couldn't help but squat down and reach for her cheeks.

Theresa quickly shook her head, "No squeezing the cheeks, it'll makedrool."

"Oh my, she’s so cute, | love her," the girl who squatted down to tease her said exaggeratedly.

Confused by her reaction, Theresa looked at her, not understanding.

Being quite short, Theresa suddenly found herself surrounded by adults, pushing Sophia to the back, out of sight.

Sophia saw her, not expecting that she'd cto the company with Brandon.

Sophia glanced behind Theresa, looking for Brandon, but only saw Grace. Just as she was wondering, Don, also charmed by

Theresa's cuteness, couldn't resist bending down to ask her, "Little one, what are you doing here? Where's your mom and dad?"

"Daddy's upstairs," Theresa pointed earnestly.

"Mommy's sleeping," she added honestly.

Thinking she was an employee's child, Don playfully said, "Oh, | see. But kids can't just cto the office, you know."

Theresa looked uncertain and worriedly turned to Grace with a soft "Ah?"

Almost simultaneously, Brandon's calm and cool voice cfrom the direction of the elevator, "Who said that?"

Don instinctively looked up and before he could speak, Theresa also turned towards the voice. Seeing her dad approaching, she

crisply called out, "Daddy."

Only Ivan watched Theresa run towards Brandon with complex emotions, and then glanced at Sophia.

Brandon, seemingly oblivious to the shock in everyone's eyes, knelt down and opened his arms to Theresa, smiling warmly, "Why

did you chere, Theresa?"

"l just pressed sbuttons." Theresa admitted, "It was kinda boring inside, so | cdown."

"Is that so?" Brandon smiled at her, gently straightening a few stray hairs, and softly reassured her, "That's okay."

Don, stunned by the father-daughter display, was at a loss for words.

Brandon then turned to him and softly introduced, "Theresa, this is Don."

Theresa obediently greeted, "Mister."

Brandon glanced at Don, who was speechless with astonishment, and calmly said, "My daughter, Theresa."

"Your daughter?" Don nearly squealed, "How, what's going on? How do you have such a big daughter out of nowhere again?"

He was so shocked he had even forgotten Cindy's slip the day before about Sophia having a daughter via a sperm bank.

"Again?" Brandon's brow furrowed slightly as he looked at him.

Realizing his slip-up, Don stammered, "No, | mean, how many more times are you going to spring surprises like this on me?"

He vividly recalled the last the was looking forward to introducing Designer Yearwood to Brandon. The polite exchange of "Mr.

Crawley" and "Ms. Yearwood" at the dinner table was completely turned on its head when Sophia got up to leave. The sman

who had been calm throughout the evening suddenly stood up and coldly asked Designer Yearwood, "When you decided to divorce

without a word, to study and advance your career, even abandoning your child for the sake of your future, now that you've finally

achieved something and the opportunity is right in front of you, you want to give it up. Sophia, what exactly are you afraid of?" The

shock of that moment was unforgettable, and now, not so long after, his childhood friend suddenly had a nearly two-year-old

daughter.

Brandon spared him a glance and then let his gaze drift through the crowd, resting on Sophia's face at the back of the group.

Don, following Brandon's gaze almost instinctually, turned around and saw Sophia looking a bit awkward. His brain, which had

ground to a halt, finally started chugging back to life. The piece of gossip that Cindy dropped yesterday about Sophia having a

daughter via a sperm bank surfaced in his mind.

He couldn't help but glance at Sophia's face, then shift his eyes to Theresa in Brandon's arms, and for sreason, he could spot

a hint of resemblance between them.

Cindy, finally remembering she hadn't answered Don's original question, chimed in with a quiet addition, "Oh, Mr. Dempsey, Mr.

Crawley is handing out celebratory pastries because he's celebrating that he just had a baby girl."

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