The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate



Sophia instinctively clutched her phone to her chest, her over-the-top nervous reaction causing Brandon to pause mid-action, his gaze shifting to the phone pressed against her heart.

Realizing she might've overreacted, Sophia cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject, "You done with your shower?"

"Yeah." Brandon nodded, his eyes lingering on the phone she was pressing to her chest, "Are you chatting with someone?"

"Not really, just a jade carver. I'm thinking of buying some stuff from her."

Sophia spoke, calmly and slowly placing her phone down.

Brandon glanced at her phone and said, "Just buying something, why all the jitters?"

"I'm not nervous." Sophia's voice wavered, betraying her, "It's just that you came in so quietly, no footsteps or anything, and then you just spoke up out of nowhere. It scared the bejesus out of me, that's all."

Her voice was so unconvincing that even she wouldn't buy it.

Brandon stood right in front of her, unmoving, watching her as she tried to spin her yarn.

Sophia couldn't keep up the charade, her hand gripping the phone, feeling a bit tangled up.

She actually wanted to wait until the necklace was ready to give it to him, along with that scarf and the digital diary.

Brandon reached out his hand, "Can I take a look at your phone?"

This was the second time Brandon asked to see Sophia's phone.

The last time was during a company team-building activity not long after she started her job. Back then, Brandon didn't know about Theresa, but he seemed to sense something in the video chat she had with Theresa. Like now, he extended his hand, wanting to see her phone.

But this time, he was a bit gentler, at least he asked instead of just reaching out for it without a word, relying on a steely gaze and an imposing aura to exert pressure.noveldrama

Maybe because he seemed more approachable this time, Sophia didn't feel the overwhelming pressure she did the last time, the kind that made her afraid to move a muscle.

Her finger, pressed against the phone screen, twitched. She roughly remembered where the photo was, no need to scroll yet. She'd only exchanged a couple of messages with the jade carver, hadn't flipped past the photo.

Fumbling for the photo, she long-pressed it, slowly lifted the phone, and in that moment, she hit "delete" and quickly confirmed. Only then, with hesitation, did she hand the phone to Brandon.

Brandon glanced at her phone screen; the top conversation was indeed with the jade carver, and the messages were simple.

[Payne, can you make this? Need the best material, size...]

A string of measurements followed, quite petite.

Payne sent a "can do" reply, and Sophia responded with "Can I have it by tomorrow? It's urgent."

Payne sent an "OK" emoji, and that was it.

Brandon didn't miss her subtle move of deleting something just before, but judging from her last action of looking down to confirm the deletion, it was clear it wasn't about removing a contact from the chat homepage, more like she was deleting a part of the conversation or a photo.

Brandon exited the chat with the jade carver and casually scanned the contact list below; mostly work groups, not even a personal chat.

She was like him, someone who wouldn't waste time on social media.

Brandon vaguely remembered that this might be the first time he was checking Sophia's WhatsApp.

And Sophia had never seen his WhatsApp, not even his phone.

They didn't know who was on each other's WhatsApp friend list, nor their Facebook contacts.

Seeing him staring silently at her phone, Sophia couldn't help but look at him too.

Aside from that necklace she didn't want him to know about too soon, there were no secrets on Sophia's phone, so she wasn't afraid of Brandon snooping around. She was just puzzled by the way he seemed lost in thought looking at her phone.