The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate



"Brandon! Brandon!" Daniel was freaking out, yelling his lungs out by the river's edge, but the roaring rapids swallowed Brandon's voice whole. Daniel couldn't hear squat, couldn't see a thing, and the pitch-black river got his heart pounding like a drum solo.

Throwing caution to the wind, he spun around and yelled at the stunned crowd like a madman, "What are you gawking at? Get moving and rescue her!"

Snapped out of their daze, everyone was all over the place, reminding each other to stop work and start the rescue.

The concrete mixer which was in operation, amidst the chaos, ground to a halt too in everyone's panic.

Some people were jumping into the river, some calling 911, others trying to dismantle the foundation pillars; it was a total mess.

The moment Brandon plunged into the water, he was shouting Sophia's name, diving over and over, but despite his frantic searching, there was no sign of her, no response.

All around him, just the sound of the rushing water, fast and furious.

"Sophia!"

Brandon's voice started to shake, his blood running cold, a kind of terror he'd never known coursing through his veins. He couldn't even bear to think about it, surfacing for air before diving back into the depths once more.

But the undercurrent was wild, the darkness imprable, nothing in sight. Sophia had vanished into thin air, nowhere to be found.

His eyes red and raw, Brandon kept moving downstream, shouting Sophia's name, each dive longer than the last, becoming more frantic by the second.

The cold winter river water and the prolonged soaking and diving were taking their toll on his strength, but Brandon wouldn't give up, his calls for Sophia growing more desperate, his voice more hoarse and shaky, until at last, he was so spent he could barely make a sound.

The workers who'd joined the search were just as frantic, but like Brandon, they found nothing. Sophia had disappeared without a trace, except for that unusual "plop" when she fell. No cries for help, no splashing sounds.

It defied logic. Even someone who couldn't swim would thrash around in survival instinct for a bit, and have the energy to last a while. But not Sophia. Unless...

No one dared to think it, but their eyes involuntarily drifted to the towering foundation pillar above the water.

Sophia had fallen right above it. If she'd accidentally fallen in there, there was no chance of survival.

Brandon, resurfacing, his eyes bloodshot, stared closely at the pillar, too; he went berserk, screaming at the crew still extracting concrete on the shore, "Hurry up!"

After his roar, he grabbed a hammer from a worker trying to dismantle the mold and smashed it against the pillar's exterior, but the mold didn't budge. Brandon was hammering like a man possessed, his palms raw and bleeding, but the mold wouldn't crack.

Eventually, the hammer slipped from his powerless hands. The grim reality of not finding Sophia turned Brandon into a cornered animal. He pounded the column with his bare hands until his knuckles bled, ignoring his depleted strength, and plunged back into the water, desperate to find her.

Sophia couldn't have fallen into the pillar; she just couldn't!

"Mr. Crawley! Mr. Crawley!" The workers aside saw Brandon's energy fading and tried to pull him out, worried sick.novelbin

But the moment they touched his arm, he shook them off fiercely, "Get off me!"

He seemed crazy; his voice so hoarse it was barely human, his eyes were either wet with water or tears; it was hard to tell. There was no time to figure it out, as Brandon had already dived back in.

The workers quickly followed suit.

On the shore, Daniel saw Brandon losing it and started pacing frantically, shouting Brandon's name to no avail.

Anxious and agitated, he turned to the others and barked, "Get him out of there, now! This is gonna end badly."

Those hesitating on the bank finally jumped in. Almost in the blink of an eye, the dark searchlights suddenly came on, turning the night-time river as bright as day. But among the bobbing heads, there was no sign of Brandon or Sophia.

Kent had just rushed to the scene, and before he could get close, he took in the chaotic scene, his face tensing up as he hurried over and asked urgently, "What happened?"

Daniel, grabbing onto him like a lifeline, shouted, "Quick, save Brandon, he's still in the river; he's not gonna make it."