The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 194

"Got a problem?" Patricia shot a look at Don. "Can't the client meet the designer for a sec?"

"Of course not," Don chuckled in response, though he didn't dare speak for Sophia since she might not be keen on seeing Patricia.

"How about you take a seat here, and I'll go check?" Don suggested.

"Sure, I'm not swamped today anyway," Patricia agreed swiftly, arms already crossed in front of her. "Off you go."

Don flashed an "OK" sign, threw a glance at Marian to keep Patricia company, and headed out.

He made a beeline for Sophia's office.

Sophia was deep in work, seemingly unaffected by Patricia's presence and didn't notice Don approaching.

As Don passed the door, he tapped lightly twice.

Sophia looked up, puzzled, spotting Don at the doorway.

"Hey Sophia, Mrs. Crawley's hoping to meet the designer. Wanna swing by?" Don asked, totally in a let's-talk-it-out tone.

"Nope," Sophia flat-out refused.

Don was taken aback by her blunt denial. He knew Sophia for a while now. She was always gentle and considerate, even for unwanted social calls, she'd ask in a negotiating tone, "Can I skip it?" This kind of straightforward refusal was a first.

Thinking Don might be in a bind over her refusal, Sophia softened her voice, "Mr. Dempsey, Mrs. Crawley seeing me might skew her basic judgment, which could then cloud her assessment of our company's capabilities. Better not let me add to the confusion."

Don snapped out of it, flashed a smile, "No worries. If you don't wanna go, don't. Just thought I'd ask. You get back to it."

With that, Don left Sophia's office and returned to the conference room.

He didn't really think Sophia needed to see Patricia. It was just polite to ask, making it easier to explain to Patricia.

"Mrs. Crawley, I’m so sorry."

As soon as he reentered the conference room, Don slapped his forehead in feigned annoyance. "You called yesterday about dining with the designer, and I remembered she was on leave, totally slipped my mind today."

Patricia frowned, "She's still on leave?"

Don nodded, "Yeah, she's been wiped from the design work, finally gets a breather, had to take time off."

"That makes sense."

Patricia found this reasonable, remembering Don did mention the designer was on leave the day before. She didn't press further and steered the conversation back to the new project.

Marian didn't give a hoot about their chit-chat about the Zenithan-style project, clueless and not planning to dig deeper.

Her coming to work was mainly due to Louis asking Don for a favor.

The old timer was scheming to set Marian up with Brandon, thinking the same workplace would give them a chance to get to know each other.

Louis initially aimed for the president's office, but since Brandon despised nepotism, it couldn't be too obvious. Kent couldn't make the call, Daniel and Patricia had just been ousted by Brandon, so they had no say. The only option left was to sneak into Star·Dempsey Architects, which was still hiring and aligned with Marian's field, not seeming too deliberate.

Don valued talent. With Marian from a top-notch university and an old playmate, he was naturally willing to bring her on board.

Cindy sent back a "silly grin" emoji and dropped the subject until lunchtime when she messaged Sophia, [Time to grab some grub?]

Sophia glanced at her phone, it was past noon, and replied, [Sure.]

Stretching as she stood up, she noticed Ivan still busy, seemingly unaware lunchtime had rolled around. Thinking he was new and unfamiliar with the company's routine, she called out to him, "Hey Ivan, wanna grab lunch?"

Ivan looked back in her direction.

Sophia gestured downstairs, "There's a staff cafeteria on the lower ground floor. You can just WhatsApp to scan and pay. Everyone usually eats there. Joining us?"

Ivan nodded, "Sounds good."

CEO’s Office

After wrapping up his work, Kent glanced at the clock and couldn’t resist looking over at Brandon, who was still busy in the office. “Mr. Crawley, time to grab some grub.”

Brandon lifted his head, gave the computer screen a quick look, then pushed back his keyboard and stood up. “Let’s roll.”

He headed towards the elevator.

Kent sneakily took a peek at Brandon’s profile - cool as a cucumber.

He’d been that calm all morning.

He didn’t go out of his way to mention that Sophia hadn’t left, and Brandon wasn’t spacing out like he used to. He seemed to have totally gotten over Sophia.