The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Brandon is playing host to Louis.

He made a special trip to see Brandon.

Last time, although Sophia agreed to let them continue with her design plans for the holiday estate, she made it clear she wouldn't

be involved in the project anymore.

Since there were simplementation issues with the blueprints during the construction process that needed to be ironed out

with the designer, Martin had tried to get in touch with Sophia a few times but got the cold shoulder, forcing the project to hit the

brakes.

Now, as tkept ticking away and the project was still at a standstill, with Martin unable to sway Sophia, Louis was getting antsy.

He had no choice but to chimself, hoping to have a heart-to-heart with Sophia.

But he only found out she was out of town when he got to the office, and he missed her.

Louis had no clue how long Sophia's trip would be or how much longer he'd have to wait. So, in the end, he could only turn to

Brandon, hoping Brandon would do him a solid because of his grandpa's friendship and persuade Sophia.

"Sorry, Grandpa Louis, but I've gotta side with Sophia on this one."

After hearing Louis out, Brandon declined politely yet firmly.

Louis tried to play the sentiment card. "I'm not trying to twist her arm or anything, just hoping she’d reconsider. Maybe you could

give it another shot for me? You know, Renata and | aren't getting any younger; who knows if we'll even be around to see it."

Louis couldn't help but let out a sigh. "I was thinking about having Renata cwithto talk to her."

"Grandpa Louis!" Brandon cut him off in a cool tone, "If you truly respect her, and Renata, you wouldn't drag Renata into this.

You're not asking for a favor; you're guilt-tripping her."

Louis was at a loss for words, cornered by the truth.

He knew this all too well, which was why he never brought Renata to see Sophia.

He genuinely wanted to have a sincere chat with Sophia, but he hadn't anticipated arriving right when she was out of town.

Just then, a knock at the door interrupted them.

Marian's coquettish voice followed. "Can | cin?"

As she finished speaking, Marian had already pushed the door open, and with a warm "Grandpa" greeting, she dashed over to

Louis, affectionately wrapping her arms around his, cooing, "Grandpa, why didn’t you tellyou were coming to the office? |

almost missed you."

"I'm here on sbusiness," Louis said, looking at Marian. "I swung by your office earlier and thought you took the day off."

His tone was polite, a far cry from the warmth he'd shown before.

But Marian didn't seem to mind and clung to his arm, explaining with a pout, "lI was working. Just stepped out for the company's

health checkup downstairs. When | heard you were here, | hurried up."

As she spoke, she couldn't resist glancing up at Brandon and politely greeted him, "Mr. Crawley."

Brandon didn't acknowledge her, already standing up, apologetically excusing himself from Louis. "Grandpa Louis, sorry to bail, but

I've got work to sort out. Feel free to make yourself at home."

With that, he was already on his way out.

"Brandon." Louis tried to get up and call him back, but Kent had entered, smiling and saying, "Mr. Louis, whatever it is, you can talk

to me. Mr. Crawley is swamped with work."

Louis gave him a look, mouth opening but no words coming out. He just said goodbye to Kent, reminded Marian to keep her nose to

the grindstone, and then left, a bit downcast.

"I'll walk you out," Marian quickly followed.

Kent saw them to the elevator, then went back to find Brandon.

"Louis gone?" Brandon asked, still buried in work, not even looking up.

Kent nodded, "Yeah, he's already left."

Brandon handed over sdocuments. "Keep an eye on these tasks for the next few days."

Kent took them, "Will do."

Because Brandon's trip with Theresa was a last-minute decision, he had to carve out tto get his ducks in a row for the coming

days.

Kent, as his right-hand man, had to pick up the slack on short notice.

Kent spent the morning taking over the tasks Brandon had handed off, with Louis's visit briefly derailing their rhythm.

Once Kent had squared away everything Brandon had delegated, he was about to step out when his assistant called to remind him

it was his turn for the health checkup.

The annual health checkup was one of the Starlight Group's perks, hosted on the third floor's checkup center.

Kent was pretty much done with his tasks, so after hanging up, he looked at Brandon, "Mr. Crawley, it's our department’s turn for

the checkup. You wanna head down now?"

That reminded Brandon of the health screening.

Despite being the big boss, he rarely pulled rank and followed HR's scheduled appointments.

Kent had arranged his checkup, and seeing it was his turn, he glanced at his watch. There was still time. He nodded and stood up,

heading down to the checkup center.

Kent followed suit.

The center wasn't too crowded, with people coming in as scheduled by their departments.

Mostly folks from the CEO and director's offices were there at the moment.

But among the unfamiliar faces, Marian was unexpectedly there too, blending in with the director's office crowd, waiting for her

blood draw while on a video call with Louis, sweetly nagging him to stay safe on the road and other niceties.

Louis, clearly touched by her attentiveness, looked more relaxed than he did in the meeting room, smiling and warmly advising her

to work hard and not give Daniel a hard time.

When Brandon saw their affectionate exchange, his expression turned frosty, and without a word, he looked away.

MMMWWLIIOAIfO&L

MMMWWLIIOAIfO&L

mmMwWLHIOfiflO&1

MMMWWLIIOAIfO&L

mmMyWL11I01F1081

mMMwWLIIOfiflO&1