The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 219

A few heads turned at the sound and caught sight of Sophia and Ivan stepping out together.

Sophia happened to look up too and saw Brandon standing opposite Zachary. She hesitated for a split second and her smile stiffened slightly.

Brandon gave her a glance, then shifted his gaze to Ivan by her side, his expression cooling off. He looked away without a word.

Kent couldn't help but sneak a peek at Ivan and Sophia, feeling a hint of worry creeping in. Don's attention was all on Ivan, calling out with uncertainty, "Ivan?" He hadn't expected to bump into Ivan here.

"Ivan's one of my students too." Zachary explained with a chuckle, "He graduated three years ahead of Sophia."

Before Don made any response, Ivan and Sophia had already walked up close to them.

Don slapped Ivan on the shoulder with a chuckle, "Man, how come you never mentioned you were Mr. Gardner's student?"

Ivan replied, "You never asked, did you?"

Don was at a loss for words. They weren't from the same university, the same department, or the same field of study; who would go out of their way to ask, "Hey, who was your college mentor?"

"So, you all know each other already."

Zachary said with a smile, "That's great, saves me the trouble of introductions."

But he didn't miss the awkwardness between Ivan and Brandon and went ahead with the introductions, "This is the President of the Starlight Group, Mr. Brandon Crawley."

"And this is Sophia's senior, Ivan Evert."

Brandon looked at Ivan and greeted him politely, "Hello."

Ivan returned the greeting with a simple "Hello," not adding much more.

Zachary and Jolin had other guests to attend to and couldn't stick around to chat, so he turned to Sophia, "Sophia, could you entertain Mr. Crawley and Mr. Dempsey for a bit? Jolin and I need to go over there."

Sophia nodded, "Sure."

She looked towards Brandon, whose handsome face was a bit cold, "Why don't you guys have a seat over there?"

Brandon didn't respond and walked straight to the guest area. Don, slow on the uptake, sensed something off with Brandon, probably related to Sophia, but couldn't pin down the exact reason.

He remembered the love confession video circulated by others where Brandon had walked past Tia towards Sophia.

In the video, Brandon had stood before Sophia, his gaze soft and tender as if he could melt into her eyes, although he never mentioned it afterward and decided to go on blind dates. From the video, Don thought Brandon and Sophia had broken the ice, but now it seemed to have frozen over again.

He pondered as he glanced at Sophia, whose face held a hint of awkward embarrassment.

This stirred an inexplicable pang of sympathy in Don. He tried to lighten the mood with a chuckle, "Guess we'll head over first."

Then he asked with a smile, "When did you guys get here?"

"I've been here since this morning."

Sophia explained that she feared they'd be swamped with guests, so she came early to help out.

Ivan had just arrived, walked into the house, saw her leading the kid, and came over. It was only because the kid wanted to find her grandparents that they both ended up coming out together.

Don laughed, "I thought you arrived together."

Sophia shook her head with a smile and remained silent, her gaze drifting towards Brandon in the crowd, who had already taken a seat at a table.

Alex had chosen a banquet for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, with the banquet and ceremony held together. Each table had the guests' names placed on it.

Brandon, being a special guest invited by Zachary, was seated at the main table, where it was still empty except for Brandon sitting there alone.

He watched the hustle and bustle onstage, his expression calm, creating a stark contrast to the lively atmosphere around him, a quiet coldness that somehow carried an unspoken loneliness.

Sophia felt an inexplicable sadness. She turned to Don and managed a faint smile, "Go keep Mr. Crawley company; I'll help them for a bit."

Don nodded and walked over to Brandon.