The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Marian and her malepanion didn't even notice Brandon trailing behind them. They had already hit the deserted escalator and

were making their way upstairs.

The guy shadowed Marian like a bodyguard, nodding slightly, "Yeah, | just got wind of it too."

Although the man's face was unfamiliar, Brandon recognized him. It was Kris Barlow, Marian's brother—the very guy Brandon had

been keeping tabs on, pulling out all the stops to strong-arm him back into the country.

But at that moment, Brandon couldn't care less about Kris and Marian. His mind was racing, fixated on the fact that "the night

Sophia had her incident, The Royal Marine yacht had docked at Zion City." The news made his heart, which had just settled down,

thump wildly again.

He remembered The Royal Marine was Harvey Ferber's yacht, and he had been aboard a few months back.

As the image of stepping out of the elevator and seeing the hospital sign cto mind, Brandon spun on his heel and bolted out of

the mall, dialing Kent as he went: "Check up on Harvey Ferber for me, will ya? Where's he hanging out these days? Who's he with?

And where's The Royal Marine yacht now?"

Kent, who was en route to school with Don, was taken aback, not getting why Brandon was suddenly on about Harvey Ferber and

The Royal Marine yacht again. But it was work-related, and with the Ferber Group and Starlight Group still duking it out over the

docks, he didn't dare delay, even though he was worried about Brandon. "Got it, on it now," he said before hanging up. He split

ways with Don—Kent to take care of the task at hand, and Don to track down Brandon.

In the cramped car, Sophia eyed Ivan warily.

She recognized him—the guy who had helped her pick up her hat by the roadside, claiming his nwas "Ivan," when she was

heading to school that day.

She was about to head into the mall to pick up a suitcase for Amanda when Ivan, out of nowhere, grabbed her arm from behind

and, with a curt "I need to talk to you," yanked her away from the mall and into his car.

The car doors were locked in a blink.

Sophia, phone in hand, told him in a calm yet firm tone, "If you don't unlock this door right now, I'm calling the cops."

Perhaps sensing that Ivan was indeed someone from her past, and seeing that his actions, though forceful, didn't seem malicious,

Sophia felt no fear or panic, just confusion.

Ivan didn't so much as flinch at her threat, his gaze just as calm, "Sophia, be straight with me, did you lose your memory?"

Sophia met his gaze, silent and guarded.

Ivan pulled out his phone, found a photo of them together in Wye City, and turned the screen towards her, "You really don't

remember me?"

She glanced at the phone screen. It showed her and Ivan in graduation robes, standing at the school entrance. They weren't posed

side by side, facing the camera in a conventional manner. Instead, they were turned towards each other—she looking up at him, he

looking down at her—an intimate snapshot captured in a fleeting moment. It looked candid, yet possibly staged.

Sophia couldn't tell. Her mind drew a blank on any memory related to that photo.

Yet, the two of them exuded a serene, couple-like vibe of college days gone by.

Suddenly, Sophia's heart raced, her face turning pale.

"Who... who are you?" she asked, hesitantly.

"I'm your boyfriend, don't you remember?" lvan's voice was soft as he looked at her.

"That's impossible!"

Sophia instinctively rejected his claim, her inner turmoil escalating, "That can't be."

But Ivan's eyes were filled with a sorrowful and pained expression.

"If you don't believe me, let's go back to Wye City. We can go right now; all the answers are there," Ivan urged, "Don't you

remember? We were at the suniversity, the smajor, under the sadvisor. | was the class assistant when you first

joined, and later we both went to Apex Engineering University for post-grad. We've got photos to prove our past."

As Ivan spoke, he scrolled through more photos, but Sophia, as if afraid that everything he was saying was true, suddenly knocked

the phone out of his hand in a panic, clutching her throbbing head with one hand and pressing her back against the car door with

the other. She looked on the verge of a breakdown.

"Sophia?" Ivan was worried and reached out to touch her, but she frantically dodged his hand.

"Don't touch me!"

The sorrow in lvan's eyes deepened, a raw hurt visible.

His wounded look brought a momentary calm to Sophia's confusion, and she stared back blankly.

"Let's go back to Wye City, okay? Our his there. Can we go back, please?" Ivan's eyes were reddening, almost pleading.

Sophia just shook her head unconsciously, her demeanor one of confusion and fear.

Ivan tried to reach for her again, but she reflexively flinched away.

"Open the door! Unlock it!"

Suddenly, Sophia lost control. With one hand clutching her aching, oxygen-deprived forehead and the other frantically fumbling

with the lock, she looked deathly pale, as if caught in a suffocating frenzy.

"Please, I'm begging you, unlock the door!" She was so weak with her plea that it was almost a cry for help.

Frightened by her reaction, Ivan instinctively hit the central lock.

The moment the door unlocked, Sophia shoved it open and stumbled out, gasping for air. She didn't wait for Ivan to react; instead,

she bolted into the nearby West district's Sky Street Shopping Center, not knowing where she was headed, just driven by a pure

instinct to escape.

Her instinct to bolt had her panicking and running like a headless chicken, blind to the path and the people around her. She had

just dashed towards the entrance of the mall when BAM! She slammed right into someoneing from the opposite direction.

The other person's fancy handbag went flying to the ground.

"Sorry!"

"In a rush to reincarnate, are ya? Charging through a crowd like a bull in a china shop, don't you know you could knock someone

over?"

Sophia's apology and the middle-aged woman's irate scolding erupted at the stime.

Although it was the first tSophia had heard that voice, it instantly gave her a chill to the bone, freezing her in place as if her

blood had turned to ice.

She looked up dazedly at the middle-aged woman she had bumped into. Despite being a total stranger, a suffocating feeling seized

her heart with a vice-like grip, turning her already pale and frantic face even more ghostly. She instinctively wanted to bolt, but her

feet might as well have been frozen solid; she couldn't move an inch.

Patricia Crawley also happened to look up just then, catching sight of Sophia's pale face and disheveled hair. Her own face drained

of color in an instant, looking like she had just seen a ghost. She stumbled backwards several steps, turned on her heel to run, but

then seemed to remember her pricey bag still lying on the ground. She quickly scooped it up and bolted without looking back, her

steps hurried and chaotic,pletely etting about her lunch plans with Marian.