The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate



Late one night, discussing work in a hotel room, Brandon could tell that Kent was looking a bit off.

"Got something on your mind?" Brandon asked.

"Nope," Kent denied, but then his eyes drifted back to Brandon, and he couldn't help but grumble, "Don't you think birds of a feather flock together?"

"Why bring this up all of a sudden?" Brandon glanced at him, asked nonchalantly, got up to tidy the notes they had just discussed, and tossed them to Kent. "Tweak the acquisition plan following our discussion tonight."

Kent caught the notes on reflex, but his mind wasn't on the job. He picked up the thread of their earlier conversation. "Well, I was thinking, we're in Skyrim City. Susan's in Skyrim City. So, I hit up Ms. Yearwood for Susan's WhatsApp, thought I'd ask her out for a meal, but she shot me down flat." Brandon raised an eyebrow. "And that's a problem?"

Kent stopped in his tracks, then couldn't resist the urge to show off a bit, "I was mainly aiming to meet up, chew the fat a bit, you know, to avoid getting the cold shoulder from Ms. Yearwood later on."noveldrama

He clammed up mid-sentence when he noticed Brandon's hand, which had been resting on the notebook, pause abruptly. He couldn't help but look towards Brandon with a touch of unease.

Brandon's palm was lightly pressing on one end of the notebook, his eyes half-closed, his demeanor cool to the point of indifference.

"Mr. Crawley?" Kent couldn't help but hesitantly call out to him.

Brandon lifted his gaze to Kent. "If you want to ask someone out, just do it. No need to use me or Ms. Yearwood as an excuse." Kent was left speechless..

His focus was entirely on the words "Ms. Yearwood."

Although Brandon had mentioned "Ms. Yearwood" many times before, it never sounded as distant as it did this time.

It was as if, really, it was over.

"Better head back and get some rest. Don't be late for the meeting tomorrow," Brandon said, giving the boot in his usual cool tone. "Alright."

Kent didn't dare ask any more questions, just nodded and quickly packed up to head back to his own room.

The next day's meeting was about acquisition negotiations.

Brandon was personally spearheading an acquisition case where the Starlight Group intended to buy out the Horizon Group's mall in Skyrim City, making it the Starlight Group's first major hypermarket project in the city.

Horizon Mall, one of the city's first modern shopping malls, was a piece of Skyrim City folks' collective memory.

The locals had a soft spot for this mall.

But with the city's development over the years, the Horizon Mall, being a bit of an old-timer, had seriously fallen behind in terms of facilities and competitiveness. However, because it carried the youth and memories of a generation and held a unique place in the city, it was hard to let go.

Its parent company, Horizon Property, was in the same boat, slowly being left behind by the times, no longer able to renovate this once emblematic mall of Skyrim City's urban memories.

The company was teetering on insolvency but didn't want to give up this project, a symbol of their past glory, hence the search for a partner. Before coming here, Brandon had already had a few encounters with Gavin Temple, the big boss of Horizon Property, and this time he was here to clinch the deal.

The negotiation site was set in the office building of Horizon Property, located in a swanky skyscraper in Skyrim City's CBD.

A few years back, Gavin had rented this office space in the CBD to boost the company's image. Unfortunately, without any top-notch products to push in an increasingly competitive industry, even the fanciest office environment couldn't stop their decline.

Gavin had high hopes for the partnership with Brandon and had come specially in a chauffeured car to pick up Brandon and Kent from the hotel. Brandon and Kent went with Gavin to the company.

Though Horizon Property's office was in a high-end building, they only rented a single floor for their workspace.

To reach the meeting room, they had to pass through the open-plan area where the employees worked.

Brandon and Kent's striking looks and cool aura immediately drew everyone's eyes as they passed through. The onlookers were visibly excited and surprised, especially a young girl who had just come out of the chairman's office.

Her gaze upon Brandon was a mix of admiration and shyness, yet with a dash of a young girl's boldness.

As they approached, the girl cheerfully called out to Gavin, "Dad, who are these two?"

"This is the President of the Starlight Group, Mr. Crawley," Gavin introduced them with a smile, "And this gentleman is Mr. Crawley's assistant, Mr. Kent."

The girl reached out her hand to Brandon with confidence, "Hi, I'm Tia Temple."

Her voice was sweet, and it was clear she was a lively and charming young lady, the 'complementary type' as Sophia had mentioned.

Suddenly, Brandon remembered what Sophia had said.

He glanced at the girl but didn't bother with greetings.