The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

"Look at you! I'm just trying to give the kid a gift, and you're acting like it's a big deal."

Aaron complained, but he didn't push the card any further. He grabbed the teapot instead, poured himself a cup of tea, and took a

big gulp before turning to Sophia, "I heard your hubby's out of town on a business trip?"

Sophia shot him a surprised look, wondering how he knew about Brandon's trip.

Haley was even more surprised.

"You and Brandon are back together?" Haley's astonishment was tinged with elation.

His voice had risen in his excitement, and Patricia, who happened to be coming their way to pack up sfood for Daniel, paused

when she heard the n"Brandon." Her gaze followed the sound to where Haley was sitting with Sophia and Theresa, which

made her frown.

The restaurant was near the hospital, and Daniel had lost his appetite due to his illness, sick of sipping on bland hospital meals

every day. Today, he asked for stakeout, and Patricia, eager for an excuse to break away from the monotony of the hospital

ward, didn’t expect to stumble upon Sophia's family having a meal together.

Remembering the commotion Aaron had caused outside the hospital room a few days ago, Patricia felt a surge of revulsion. She

surreptitiously captured a photo of the family eating on her phone.

After taking the picture, she couldn't help but give Theresa a second glance, her eyes filled with confusion. But before she could

ponder further, a waiter brought over Daniel's boxed meal.

"Thank you," Patricia muttered, sparing another glance at Sophia's way without betraying her emotions before turning to leave.

Sophia, with her back to Patricia, hadn't noticed her. Her attention remained on Haley. To his shock and joy, she simply responded,

"No."

Her answer doused Haley's excitement like a bucket of cold water, and the joy on his face faded instantly.

He glanced hesitantly at Theresa, "Then the child?"

"Let's not talk about this in front of her," Sophia interrupted softly, looking at him. "How have you been feeling lately?"

"Much better," Haley's smile returned to his face, "I've been taking walks every day and even join in the square dances

occasionally. I've been feeling a lot better now."

Sophia nodded, "That's good to hear."

Aaron, feeling he was being ignored, quickly steered the conversation back, "When's your husband getting back?"

Sophia looked at him, "You need him for something?"

"Of course, there's something | need from him," Aaron replied straightforwardly, looking at Sophia, " I've recently taken an interest

in a construction project by the Frost family and | want to bid on it. I've heard your husband's family has good ties with the Frost

family—they were all old money and all. Could you maybe mention it to your husband and see if he could give the Frost family a

nudge to leave the project to me?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Haley was already scowling at him. " How could you ask your sister to get involved in

such a thing? Right now, we don't even know what's going on between her and Brandon. If she steps in and asks Brandon to help

her family, what would the Crawley family think of her?"

Sophia's attention, however, was fixed on the words "the Frost family."

"The Frost family?" she asked, frowning.

"Yeah, the Frost Group, Louis's bunch," Aaron didn't hide it from Sophia, "They've got a new resort project coming up and they're

already taking bids. | even paid a visit to the Frost family the other day, that's how | learned about their connection with your

husband's family. Since there's that relationship, | was thinking maybe your husband could speak up, get the Frosts to do him a

favor and handle this project to me."

"Don't even think about it!" Sophia cut him off sharply.

Aaron's face soured at her response, "What do you mean? What's wrong with helping your own brother out? Everyone else favors

their family when they get married, but you seem to think you're too good for that. You throw yourself into your husband's family

as if you're turning your back on your own."

"How can you say such things about your sister?" Haley couldn't stand it and jumped in, "That's a big project, and we don't have

the chops for it. You're just putting your sister in a tough spot."

"What do you mean by ‘we don't have the chops’?" Aaron shot back, visibly annoyed at Haley, "Dad, do you do anything other than

undermine your own son? | majored in civil engineering; that’s what | studied at university. | may not have handled big projects in

recent years, but I've been working closely with Mr. Gellar and his team. A lot of my mates cfrom a construction

background. Do you think | don't know what I'm doing?"

"You were admitted into that major, but how much you really learned, and how many classes you failed? You know it yourself,"

Sophia said, looking at him, "Since you graduated, aside from that two-month internship, you've never really worked a day, let

alone on a construction site. You're someone without real work experience, competence, or theoretical knowledge. All these years,

what have you done besides talk big and dream? If you dare to take on someone's project, it's not a question of whether you have

the guts, but if they have enough trust to hand it over to you."

Sophia stood up as she spoke, "Besides, | have no connection whatsoever with the Crawley family, and even less with Brandon.

Please, have sdignity, and don't bother them."

"There was a daughter born, how can you say there's no relationship? I'm the uncle of this child. Aren't we family? What's wrong

with helping each other out? It's not like I've never helped them," Aaron rose to his feet too, "I understand much better than you

whether the job is doable. I've seen the design plans; | know | am capable of handling the construction, which is why | decided to

bid for it."

As he spoke, Aaron pulled out his phone and showed the design plans, "Look at these plans. You studied architectural design; you

should know better thanthe difficulty of constructing this. If | can't build from such simple plans, | might as well just give up

and wait to die."

Sophia ignored him.

"If you're so capable, then go and bid on your own. Don't expect Brandon to do you any favors—he doesn't owe you or me

anything."

Sophia spoke as she bent down to pick up Theresa, saying her farewells to Haley, “Dad, Theresa and | will head back first.”

Having said this, she signaled to the waiter for the check and turned to leave.

Theresa, noticing Aaron still holding up his phone to show her mom, curiously glanced at the screen. Curiosity led Theresa to look

at the Aaron's phone as he tried to show the plans to Sophia. The familiar color schand structure in the plans made her blurt

out in confusion while looking at Aaron, "Huh? This looks like Mommy's drawing."

Sophia's steps faltered as she instinctively glanced at Aaron's phone. What she saw was the full landscape view of the design plans

that Aaron had pulled up, a panoramic on full-screen—it was the sdesign she had saved on her computer, the one she had

planned to give to Renata.

She abruptly turned to Aaron, "Where did you get this design plan?"

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