The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 270

Sophia gave him a hesitant glance, not exactly jumping at the chance to add him.

Truth be told, whether they added each other or not made no difference. She and Brandon weren't share their lives on social media. Even if they connected through WhatsApp, they wouldn't get a sneak peek into each other's lives.

WhatsApp to them was just another phone number.

But Brandon was persistent. He didn't say a word, just flipped his phone screen towards her, waiting for her move, his eyes calm but with an underlying pressure that was hard to ignore.

Sophia had no choice but to open WhatsApp, and shoot off the friend request.

Brandon quickly accepted.

Staring at the empty chat window gave Sophia a sense of surrealness.

She and Brandon had been classmates for years, once husband and wife, sharing a closeness and heat strangers could never fathom, yet now they were like two ships passing in the night, not even keeping the most basic means of contact.

Most of the time, they acted on emotions but stopped at the boundaries of propriety, yet occasionally it was all reckless craziness and loss of control.

Brandon stared at the screen for a while before putting his phone away and looking at her. "I should head back now. You should get some rest."

Sophia nodded, "Yeah, take care on your way home."

She watched Brandon step into the elevator before closing the door, leaning against it with a heart full of mixed emotions, a real emotional cocktail.

Just then, her phone in her palm buzzed.

She picked it up—it was a message from Susan.

Probably Theresa, worried since she hadn't come home yet.

Sophia had called Theresa earlier during dinner with Ivan, telling her to hit the sack early and not wait up.

But the little girl must have grown impatient, seeing her mom hadn't returned.

Sophia answered the call.

Theresa's chubby little face popped up on the screen.

"Mommy!"

She shouted excitedly at first, then asked in confusion, "Mommy, why haven't you come home?"

"I'm at the office," Sophia said, switching her camera to the rear view.

The studio came into view on the screen.

Theresa got excited, "I wanna go there!"

And with that, she hung up.

Sophia was speechless.

No answer when she tried calling back.

Soon after, there was a "thump thump" at the door, coming from the bottom of it.

Theresa was too short to reach higher, so she could only knock at the lower part of the door.

Sophia opened it, and the little one immediately hugged Sophia's legs, craning her neck up and calling "Mommy" over and over.

Susan followed behind, looking resigned. "The second she heard you were in the studio, she was off like a shot, couldn't wait to come down. I don't know what's so magnetic about this place for her."

"Guess it's the novelty factor."

Sophia said, picking her up and turning to ask, "Why are you up so late?"

"Missing mommy."

Theresa said, now held up high with a broader view, her curiosity taking over as she glanced around. Soon, she spotted Sophia's emergency contraceptive pill by the entrance.

Theresa was puzzled, reached out her hand, and grabbed the box.

"What's this?"

At the sound of her milky voice, Sophia quickly snatched it back.

"That's not for kids."

This kid's thought process was not quite like her peers'.

Unexpectedly, Theresa brought it up first. "Mommy, in the handsome uncle's office, I saw your paintings."

With a puzzled look lifting her head, she asked Sophia, "Why doesn't the handsome uncle come over to my place?"

Sophia was caught off-guard by Theresa's question.

She hadn't expected the kid to remember such things.

"How about this, when I've got some free time, I'll ask the handsome uncle for you, okay?" she whispered gently.

Theresa seemed thrilled, nodding her head like mad. "Okay!"

Sophia seized the moment to suggest, "So how about you hit the hay now, Theresa? Sound good?"

"Okay."

With her breezy agreement, Theresa promptly flopped onto Sophia's shoulder and conked out. It didn't take long before the melodic sound of her breathing started drifting from the nape of Sophia's neck.

Susan watched the snoozing little one in amazement. "This kiddo's got some serious turf instincts, huh? And she's just a tot."

She didn't even know who her dad was, yet she instinctively resisted any dude that popped up around Sophia.

Sophia felt a mix of emotions.

Theresa's reaction had thrown her for a loop too.

She wondered if this was some kind of bloodline instinct or maybe because Theresa had unconsciously started to see Brandon as her dad during their brief time together and was having none of anyone else stepping into his shoes.

But this wasn't the kind of awareness you'd expect from a tyke her age.

"She must really be into Brandon," Sophia murmured.

Susan remembered the box of birth control pills and looked at her. "Did you and Brandon, you know, do the deed again?"

Sophia wasn't too keen on discussing this stuff, even with her BFF, and felt her cheeks flushing uncontrollably, but she still nodded honestly. "Yeah."