The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 368

Martin caught a glimpse of the embarrassment hidden in her smile through the rearview mirror, and it made him frown, but he kept it to himself and just quietly drove the family home.

As soon as they got home, Louis couldn't wait to show Renata the design drawing, "Hey, Yoli whipped up the blueprint for the manor. Take a look, whatcha think?"

Renata, who'd been zoning out on the balcony staring at the yard, perked up the moment she heard "Yoli" and hurriedly sat up from her chair, asking anxiously, "Where's Yoli?"

Louis was used to her topsy-turvy way of talking and assumed she was asking about the design drawing. He quickly passed them to her saying, "See? Yoli designed it for us."

Renata hastily put on her reading glasses and took the drawing, her expression softening with nostalgia and contentment as she looked them over, "That's lovely, really beautiful. Our Yoli is so thoughtful, knows exactly what I like."

"Yeah," Louis agreed, comforted by the look in her eyes.

Martin and Marian were also looking on.

Martin, noticing the couple's fondness for the designs, couldn't help but glance at Marian. Marian, her eyes landing on the design drawing Renata was holding, seemed to harbor a mix of conflict and complexity, not quite sharing the joy.

"Marian, come with me to the study," Martin said in a hushed tone.

Marian, puzzled, glanced back at Martin, who had already started heading upstairs.

After a moment's hesitation, Marian followed. She entered the study behind Martin, not quite sure what he wanted to discuss.

Martin was already at the desk and turned to look at her, "Close the door."

With a bit of trepidation, Marian did as she was told and asked hesitantly, "Martin, is there something you wanted to talk about?"

"There's no one here; you don't have to act so close," Martin said, looking at her.

Marian let out a reluctant "Oh", dropping the act, "So what do you want to talk about?"

She knew she wasn't the real Yolanda.

Two years ago, Martin had shown her the paternity test results and they'd struck a deal: she'd play the role of Yolanda until the real one returned or until the Frost family's elders passed away. In return, Martin had invested in her father's hotel, which was nearly bankrupted by Brandon, saving her family's business.

Their collaboration had been smooth over the past two years.

Marian didn't mind this arrangement and had even grown fond of the identity of Yolanda. The Frost family showered her with love and gave her anything she asked for, making her feel at home in a foreign land.

Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if she might actually be the real Yolanda. How else could she have Yolanda's bracelet? But the DNA results Martin had shown her confirmed they weren't blood-related.

She even suspected that Martin might have mixed up the samples and thought about doing another DNA test with the Frost family members.

"Where did that design come from?" Martin ignored her state of getting lost in thought.

"Of course, I designed it myself," Marian snapped back to reality, facing Martin with confidence.

"It doesn't look like your style." Martin remarked, "Marian, I can pay to have your name tagged to the design, but I don't want the Frost family or the project tainted with accusations of copying or plagiarism."

It would be an indelible stain.

Marian's expression faltered, but considering that it was just a toddler's plaything that wasn't likely to be significant, and given the vastness of the world and the unlikelihood of that little kid running into any trouble, she decided to take a gamble, "Designer’s styles are prone to change, you know. You never specified this style before, so I deviated a bit."

"Where's the original draft?" Martin didn't want to take any risks, "I want to see the original one."

After a pause, Marian nodded, "Alright, follow me."

Marian led Martin to her room and booted up her computer. There was indeed a design draft on her computer, quite similar to the one she had shown Louis.

"Here, the original is right here," Marian pointed at the computer screen, showing Martin.

Martin glanced at the screen. It was generally similar, with only minor color differences, which could be attributed to monitor color discrepancies. After all, one was printed and the other was on a screen.

Martin looked at Marian. Marian met his gaze squarely, "You believe me now?"

"Sorry," Martin said apologetically and turned to leave.

"Wait," Marian called out to him, "I think there's still something off about this design. I want to make some changes."

"That's something you should discuss with grandpa and grandma. It's their call."

With that, Martin opened the door and left.

Marian watched the door close, took a deep breath, and after a moment of silence, closed her laptop and went downstairs to find Louis, suggesting she wanted to revise the design.

Louis was puzzled, "It looks great as it is. Why change it? Revising is a hassle and hard work; there's no need."

"But I just feel it's not perfect yet." Marian cooed, clinging to Louis' arm, "I want to create an even better manor for you guys."

Louis doted on her, and despite feeling there was no need for changes, he couldn't resist Marian's charm. He patted her hand reassuringly, "Alright, alright. I just don't want you to overwork yourself; that's all."

Marian hugged his shoulder, "It's fine. As long as you’re happy, I don’t mind the hard work."

With that, she turned to leave.

Louis quickly grabbed her, not daring to be too stubborn and coaxed her, taking her phone, "Alright, alright, I'll make the call."

While saying this, he flipped to Sophia's contact.

Looking at the unfamiliar profile picture and thinking of Daniel in the ICU, his emotions were all over the place. He hesitated, faking a call and trying to trick her with the last call log, "See, called her. No answer. She's probably asleep by now. How about we try again tomorrow?"

But the usually confused old lady seemed somewhat lucid tonight, possibly stirred up by the design drawing, and actually saw through his little trick, "Even you're fooling me. You clearly didn't call."

She snatched the phone away in a huff and made a video call to Sophia.

Sophia had just bathed Theresa and was blow-drying her hair, getting ready to tuck her in with a bedtime story.

But Theresa, who usually loved storytime, seemed a bit distracted, occasionally glancing at the door and then turning to ask her, "Mommy, why hasn't Daddy come back yet?"

She had asked the same question earlier at dinner, and once more before the bath.

Brandon had actually sent her a message before dinner, saying he was still tied up with work and wouldn't be able to come home for dinner, telling her and Theresa to go ahead and eat.

"Daddy's still busy with work." Sophia softly told her, "He'll be back later, okay?"

Theresa puzzled, "How much later?"

Sophia couldn't answer her directly, opting for a roundabout way of convincing her, "I don't know yet either. How about you go to sleep first and I'll wake you up when Daddy comes home, deal?"

Theresa nodded hesitantly, "Okay."

But she made Sophia promise, "Mommy, you must remember to wake me up then."

"Of course," Sophia kissed her forehead, coaxing her to lie down beside her.

Just as Theresa was about to drift off, Sophia's phone suddenly rang.

Almost instinctively, Theresa's eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed, alerting Sophia, "Mommy, the phone."

Sophia looked at her daughter's overly nimble bed-exiting move with a bit of amusement, touched her hair with a tinge of helplessness, and picked up the phone, only to see it was Renata calling.

Theresa was already anxiously leaning in, "Mommy, is that daddy?"