The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 488

Daniel only thought of Marian halfway through his walk, so he turned back apologetically and flashed her a grin, "I'm gonna pop over there for a sec; you dig in, okay?"

Marian managed a weak smile, "Sure."

Daniel, with his plate in hand, sat down across from Sophia as if he was worried she hadn't noticed his arrival. He even cleared his throat on purpose and started somewhat irritably, "Why are you eating alone?"

Sophia looked up in surprise, finding Daniel's behavior today totally off the wall.

She didn't respond, and just kept eating her meal in silence.

Daniel felt instantly miffed, "I'm talking to you, didn’t you hear?"

Sophia had no choice but to look up, "What's up?"

Daniel was stumped.

He had no clue what he wanted, nor why he was even looking for Sophia.

It was his curiosity about all the odd stuff going on with Brandon that had led him on this impromptu mission to follow her.

Seeing that he didn’t have a comeback, Sophia didn’t waste her time with more chit-chat and went back to her meal.

Daniel had to say something, "So, what's the deal with you and Brandon now?"

Sophia couldn't tell if he was beating around the bush about why she hadn’t taken off yet. She was totally in the dark.

She stopped eating and looked at him, "Spill it, no need to beat around the bush."

Daniel was speechless.

He was just making conversation for the sake of it, really.

Sophia gave him a puzzled look, "You don't have to tiptoe around, just lay it out."

Daniel coughed, feeling he should say something to save face, but his mind was a blank, and he was clueless about what to chat about with Sophia.

He couldn't bring himself to ask her to leave again.

He wanted her to go, but was scared that if she really did, Brandon might actually do something drastic.

But he couldn't bring himself to ask her to stay either.

That would be like slapping his own face.

Caught in this conundrum, he sat there awkwardly, unable to utter a word.

Sophia, having dealt with him for so long, had never seen him so twisted up.

He wasn’t being pushy or acting all high and mighty, just plain old sulky.

After shooting him a glance that said "seriously?", Sophia decided to ignore him and continued with her meal.

Daniel racked his brain and finally landed on what he thought was a safe topic, "That girl, no matter what, she's got Crawley blood."

Sophia’s eating abruptly stopped, and she looked up at him.

Daniel could see the alarm and defensiveness rise in her eyes; she obviously mistook his intent as wanting to snatch the child's custody.

"I mean," Daniel tried to clarify, "no matter what, she’s a Crawley, and should be recognized as such."