The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Sophia just stood there, frozen, as she watched Patricia make a hasty exit, still rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle.

Ivan was hot on her heels and reached out to grab her as he caught up.

It was like Sophia suddenly snapped out of it and, for the second time, she shook off Ivan's hand. With a look of surprise and hurt in his eyes, she panicked, spun around, and hurriedly flagged down a cab on the curb.

"Spring Hotel, please." She blurted out her destination and slammed the car door shut with a loud "bang." Ivan had just caught up to the front of the cab.

Her resolute move clearly hit him hard, again.

He stared at her through the window in disbelief, his dark eyes brimming with hurt and sadness, as if he'd been left in the dust.

Sophia forced herself to look away, her mind already in shambles. Guilt and panic, chaos and suffocation twisted together like a tangled mess in her blank mind, tearing at her until her head throbbed with pain.

The driver noticed her distress and glanced back at her with concern while waiting for the traffic light. "Hey, miss, you alright? Needto take you to the hospital or something?" Sophia weakly waved him off, "No, thanks, I'm good." "Alright, but if you're feeling off, just letknow, okay?" he insisted, not quite reassured.

"I got it." Sophia responded faintly, still clutching her hair in distress. The pain in her body paled inparison to the torment in her soul. The gaze from the guy claiming to be her boyfriend had thrown her for a loop, the mere possibility that she might have ditched him piled on a massive load of guilt and mental pressure. The middle-aged woman she ran into at the mall had left her with a suffocating chill, making her desperately want to put as much distance as possible between them.

She had no idea what her past entailed, but the appearance of both that man and the middle-aged woman evoked such a strong resistance in her, both mentally and physically. She resisted the idea of regaining her memories, resisted returning to her old life. Sophia couldn't recall how she ended up back at the hotel, feeling utterly miserable and out of sorts.

She didn't even remember how she got out of the cab or into the elevator, or how she stumbled to her room. Her hands were shaking so bad she couldn't find her key card until Amanda's voice, confused and worried, cfrom behind her, "Sophia?" Sophia turned around groggily, looking at the woman who had been nothing but gentle and caring since she woke up, and blurted out in a plea, "Getout of here." Amanda was thrown off too, grabbing Sophia's hand with concern, "What's wrong?" Sophia had seemed fine when she left in the morning, but now she looked dazed and confused as if she'd been hit by a ton of bricks.

This wasn't the Sophia she knew.

Since waking up, Sophia had always been calm and collected, nothing like the terrified mess that now wanted to bolt.

Sophia couldn't articulate what had happened. She'd just run into a man who called himself her boyfriend and a middle-aged woman who looked at her as if she were a monster. It wasn't a big deal, but their presence made her feel so uneasy and panicky, so desperate to flee the city, to get as far away from them as possible.

She didn't want to seek out her past anymore either.

She didn't know how to face the fact that she and this Ivan guy were an item, nor did she relish the thought of bumping into that middle-aged woman again.

She had never felt like this before.

She tried to force herself to cool down, replying weakly, "I don't know, I just suddenly got really scared, I don't want to stay here..." "It's okay, if you don't want to stay here, we'll leave," Amanda soothed as she hugged her. "Let's head back to the ship now. We were planning to head back as soon as you returned anyway." Her words calmed Sophia down a bit, and she vaguely remembered promising Amanda she'd buy a suitcase. She hadpletely otten about it; she was supposed to go shopping, but that guy claiming to be her boyfriend had pulled her away abruptly.

"I'm sorry, I ot to buy you a suitcase." Sophia apologized, guilt-ridden, and the memory of Ivan and the photos he showed her of them looking like a campus couple sent a familiar wave of panic and fear crashing over her.

The terrifying truth made her instinctively choose to run, to avoid facing it.

Amanda saw Sophia's emotions teetering on the edge again and quickly embraced her, patting her back, "It's okay, the hotel can send up a packing bag, and we can buy a suitcase on the cruise. You go get your things; we'll leave soon." Sophia nodded automatically, swiped her card, and was about to enter her room.

Harvey Ferber emerged from the elevator just in tto see Amanda and Sophia in the hallway. He instructed, "The cruise is setting sail unexpectedly. Get your stuff; we're heading back to the ship now." Amanda was a bit surprised that the cruise was leaving so suddenly, but since Sophia needed to get back to the ship anyway, it worked out. She nodded in agreement, "Okay, we'll get ready and go." Then she remembered his situation.

"And you? Youing with us?" she asked Harvey.

He didn't give a straight answer, "I'll get you back to the ship." "Alright," Amanda nodded.

Patricia walked quite a distance in her panicked state before realizing she had driven here, her car parked in the open parking lot of the West district Tian Street mall.

She had just parked and headed towards the mall when she bumped into Sophia.

Even though her heart was racing, Patricia started to calm down a bit.

She couldn't help but glance back at the mall entrance where she'd encountered Sophia, but among the bustling crowd, that pale, disheveled figure had disappeared.

She didn't know if she'd seen a ghost in broad daylight or if it was just someone who looked like Sophia.

After all, falling from the overpass in such cold weather, hitting her head on the guardrail, and passing out, she couldn't possibly be alive.

These past few months, although she'd rarely seen Brandon, she knew from Daniel Crawley's daily sighs that Brandon hadn't been doing well.

If Sophia hadn't been truly gone, he wouldn't be like this.

Patricia kept psyching herself up as she strolled towards the open-air parking lot, but before she could even get to her car, she caught a glimpse of Brandon's towering figure hustling past her.

"Brandon?" She called out to him, almost instinctively.

Brandon was speed-walking to his ide, his handsface taut, looking all frazzled and in a hurry. His mind vas totally wrapped up in the fact hat the "The Royal Marine" cruise hip had docked in Zion City on the light Sophia had her mishap, and he lidn't even notice Patricia. His nbeing called out made him pause on reflex. He turned towards the sound and saw Patricia.

"Where are you off to in such a rush?" Patricia asked, her head swiveling towards the mall entrance, puzzled as to why Brandon looked so harried here of all places. Could that really have been Sophia? Fear gripped her heart. Just as she was trying to read something, anything off Brandon's chiseled face, he turned on his heel and took off as if he hadn't seen her at all.

Patricia watched as he reached out, hit the fob to unlock his car, and without a moment's hesitation, yanked open the door and hopped in, still looking all wound up.

Despite years of getting the cold shoulder from Brandon, Patricia felt a twinge of irritation, caught between a rock and a hard place, and stood there pouting.

But the possibility of running into Sophia still had her nerves on edge. She didn't linger, and as soon as Brandon's car vanished from sight, she hurriedly got into her own car and headed home.

The moment Brandon got in his car, he was on the phone with Kent, hassling him for info on Harvey Ferber.

Thanks to Harvey's recent manhunt in the West district, Kent had been surprisingly efficient this time.

Harvey Ferber's been staying at Spring Hotel these past few days. He's got his personal assistant Clark vith him, as well as his mom and Syoung girl," Kent reported vhile sifting through the data from 'arious detective agencies. Content elongs to english S "A young girl?" Brandon's heart skipped a beat. "What's her connection to Harvey Ferber?" He glanced at the road ahead, swerved the wheel, and the car was now heading towards Spring Hotel.

"Not sure yet," Kent said. "Rumor has it she's Amanda's goddaughter." "Since when did Amanda have a goddaughter?" Brandon asked, recalling that Kent's recent report, though not super detailed about the Ferber family, had never mentioned Amanda taking on a goddaughter.

"We've got no more deets for now," Kent admitted, pressed for time.

The investigative results he was sharing were so fresh they hadn't been double-checked yet; they were raw intel, authenticity still up in the air.

The only sure thing was that Harvey Ferber and his entourage were at Spring Hotel, and apart from his assistant Clark, there was his mother Amanda and a young girl.

"Got it," Brandon nodded. "Head to Spring Hotel now." "Will do," Kent hung up and hurried to Spring Hotel as well.

They arrived at Spring Hotel almost simultaneously.

Although Spring Hotel wasn't part of the Starlight Group like Starlight Hotel, the two were both top-notch five-star hotels in the West district, maintaining a friendly rivalry.

With a little pull, Brandon got Harvey Ferber's room number, but the registered guests were just Harvey, Clark, and Amanda, with three suites between them.

Without jumping to conclusions, Brandon slammed the brakes at the hotel entrance, barely took the tto lock the car, and beelined for Harvey's room 2008. Kent, arriving at the stime, hustled after him. But they hadn't reached the room. when they spotted a janitor's cart parked at the door, with the cleaning crew bustling in and out. Both their steps faltered.

Kent frowned at Brandon. "Mr. Crawley?" Without missing a beat, Brandon spun around and hit the elevator button, rode it back down to the lobby, and strode straight to the front desk.

"When was room 2008 vacated?" He asked, his voice sharp yetposed.

"Just a sec," the front desk clerk replied, flicking through theputer records. "They checked out half an hour ago." "Thanks," Brandon said, spinning around and heading back to his parked car.

Kent kept pace.

"Where's The Royal Marine docked?" Brandon asked.

"At the West district pier," Kent replied. "It's set to leave in two days." "No way!" Brandon instantly dismissed the thought. "Harvey Ferber wouldn't just head back to the ship for no good reason." "Check with the ship's passengers, see if they've been told they're leaving soon," Brandonmanded, reaching his car and yanking the door open. "If they have, do whatever it takes to hold that ship." As he spoke, Brandon slipped into his car.

The car shot off like an arrow, speeding away.

Kent quickly got in his car and took off after him.