The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 166

"I'm heading out," she murmured under her breath.

Brandon didn't utter a word, his hand frozen in mid-air after she pushed it away, his gaze complex as he watched her.

Sophia's eyes were downcast, avoiding his gaze.

She didn't dare look at him. This version of Brandon would just make her heartache and go all mushy.

She turned and shoved open the car door.

Brandon watched her, his hand twitched but ultimately didn't reach out, silently observing as she got out of the car.

He didn't stop her, nor did he dare to.

Sophia had told him many times to let her go, but never as bluntly and thoroughly as this time.

So blunt that he felt like a total jerk, unworthy of bothering her.

Maybe Sophia was right.

He didn't care for her enough, failing to notice her needs, her grievances.

During those two years of marriage, he took her company for granted.

He relished her quiet presence, her companionship, but never pondered what she got out of the marriage.

She was smart, hardworking, had her own career and wealth. The money she earned was more than enough to satisfy her material desires. So, she didn't need marriage for material pleasure, let alone to climb social ladders.

She never chased after such superficial things.

They married because of a child, but that child didn't stay.

Over the following year, he considered her health and insisted on not having kids.

Although that child did briefly return after the divorce.

Thinking back to rushing to the hospital two years ago, seeing pale-faced Sophia on the bed and those words "termination of pregnancy" on the yellowed hospital report, Brandon pressed his lips tightly together, and he slightly turned his head away.

He didn't want to touch on this topic.

Even though Sophia made that decision without his consent, Brandon knew he had no right to blame her.

So for Sophia, this marriage brought nothing but the shackles of being a Crawley daughter-in-law, with no added happiness or confidence, only forced to endure the discrimination and constraints of an unequal status.

So her choice to end the marriage, to stop walking that path with him, to start anew, wasn't wrong at all.

Brandon knew he should let go. When she spoke so frankly about why she needed him to release her, he should've just honored their agreement—no clinging, no disturbance, just wishing each other well.

Wishing each other well.

The familiar spasms in his stomach surged again.

They say the stomach was an emotional organ. Every emotion in the heart could manifest as a physical response in the gut.

Brandon raised his hand to press against his stomach, glanced in the direction Sophia left, but her figure was no longer in sight.

Her departures were always decisive and without a second look back nor would she ever glance back.

Brandon somberly withdrew his gaze and started the car's engine.

Sophia took the stairs up.

Around the corner of the lobby on the first floor, she saw Brandon's car slowly leaving the company gate.