The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 442

Sophia managed a half-hearted smile at him and asked in a soft voice, "You got everything sorted out?"

"There wasn't much to sort out." Brandon said, coming to a stop in front of her, lifting a hand to gently brush a fallen leaf off her shoulder, and then looking at her, "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"I didn't feel it was my place to get involved with the Frost family's business, so I took off." Sophia replied, looking up at him, "Thanks for today, by the way."

Brandon's lips barely curved in response, and he remained silent. Sophia wasn't sure what else to say.

"Have you eaten?" Brandon asked.

Sophia shook her head, "Not yet."

"Let's grab a bite together," Brandon suggested.

Sophia nodded, "Sure."

They found a restaurant in a mall near their neighborhood to have dinner.

Brandon's recently hired nutritionist had already arrived, and Theresa had dined at home.

"At today's press conference, we were facing the public. What Marian did is an indelible stain; I couldn't let her drag Yolanda into this mess."

After ordering, Brandon looked at Sophia and said.

Sophia nodded, "Yeah, I get it."

Actually, as she reached the door earlier, she overheard Martin saying, "That's fake! Didn't you see it?" But she didn't stick around to see what happened next.

She had thought that paternity test report was legit. After all, it was a public event.

In her heart, she was just a stand-in for Yolanda. But in his heart, they were meant to be the same.

His feelings for her were not a projection of his feelings for Yolanda onto her; what kid knew anything about love at five or six?

His exclusive affection for her was simply because he pieced together the present Sophia with the past Yolanda into one complete person. His feelings for her grew from the happy companionship of childhood to the heart-fluttering closeness of adolescence, deepening through the highs and lows of gain and loss over the years.

But these were things he couldn't explain to Sophia; the DNA report stated she wasn't Yolanda, and she didn't have Yolanda's memories. To her, they were two different people.

But to him, they were one and the same.

Brandon didn't understand why he felt this way. He'd tried countless times to treat them as two separate individuals, and most of the time, he did see Sophia as just Sophia, unrelated to Yolanda. But whenever Yolanda's issues came up, like today at the press conference when Marian forcefully claimed she was Yolanda, he still couldn't fully separate Sophia and Yolanda.

In those moments, Sophia and Yolanda were one. So he couldn't let Marian have any association with Yolanda. He also didn't want any so-called real Yolanda to appear ever again.