The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

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.

Whatto 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

srest."

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 chyet.

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 chome?"

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

The stucinto 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

cdown. | don't know what's so magnetic about this place for her."

"Guess it's the ty 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."

She said gently, though it was already too late.

Susan caught sight of the words "Emergency Contraception” on the box, her eyes bulging in shock. "You and Ivan already?"

"No."

Sophia clarified quickly, knowing Susan had gotten the wrong idea. "lvan and | are just colleagues, nothing more. We went our

separate ways after dinner."

"Then." Susan glanced at the pill in her hand, noticing one was missing from the strip, "Who then? Are you thinking of giving

Theresa a dad? What's the guy like?"

Theresa didn't catch the whole conversation, but she did hear her nand something about a dad, which she instinctively

resisted, shaking her head frantically at Sophia. "No daddy."

Sophia quickly soothed her, pulling her into a hug, "There's no plan to find a new daddy for you, don't worry."

Theresa nodded, somewhat understanding, her confused gaze flitting between Sophia and Susan.

Sophia didn't want to discuss this in front of the child, so she gently patted Theresa's back, coaxing her to sleep.

But Theresa seemed to have something on her mind and wasn't dozing off as usual. Instead, she looked up at Sophia with big,

dewy eyes, puzzled. "What's finding a daddy?"

This was a tough one for Sophia to answer. Too much detail would go over Theresa's head, and not explaining would keep the kid

fretting. A half-baked answer wouldn't do either, as the little girl, though young, had an uncanny memory.

She didn't understand what 'finding a daddy' meant, but it clearly unsettled her.

Sophia thought it over and tentatively explained.

"Finding a daddy means finding someone to be your daddy, like when you see Polly's dad with her at school."

Theresa seemed confused and a bit anxious, "Like Ivan?"

The only person she'd seen with her mom like Polly's parents was Ivan.

Upon saying it, her little lips puckered, shaking her head. "I don't want a daddy."

Sophia guessed the misunderstanding and reassured her, "Not like Ivan. I'm not looking for another daddy for you."

Theresa nodded, not quite grasping 'another daddy" but took comfort in Sophia's words.

She buried her face in Sophia's neck, hugging her tight.

Sophia considered asking what if it was a 'handsuncle’, but swallowed her words, fearing it might trigger Theresa's resistance.

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

Unexpectedly, Theresa brought it up first. "Mommy, in the handsuncle's office, | saw your paintings."

With a puzzled look lifting her head, she asked Sophia, "Why doesn't the handsuncle cover 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 sfree time, I'll ask the handsuncle 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 sserious 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 skind of bloodline instinct or maybe because Theresa had unconsciously started to see Brandon as

her dad during their brief ttogether 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."

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