Chapter 126
Kent nodded in agreement, “You can do it too, just gotta save up some cash.”
Mentioning this, Cindy was upset.
“I heard it costs an arm and a leg, like hundreds of thousands. If that’s true, I can kiss
my
dreams goodbye.”
Cindy sighed heavily, unwittingly following Kent to the staff cafeteria, her chatter non-stop. “I was gonna add that girl on WhatsApp to get the lowdown, but she wasn’t having it, so no luck there.”
“It’s normal. After all, it’s personal stuff,” Kent responded without any judgment, “Having a bit of guard up is no biggie.”
“I get it,” Cindy said, still a bit bummed out, “But she doesn’t know me, and I don’t know her, so who am I gonna talk to?” Kent let out a dry chuckle.
Brandon quickened his pace to distance himself from the chatterboxes. He really wasn’t a fan of the never-ending buzz in his
ears.
Kent, who was good at reading the room, zipped his lips as soon as he noticed Brandon’s reaction, knowing they were being too noisy.
Cindy, the newbie who only knew Kent and wasn’t familiar with Brandon, cluelessly followed Kent, mimicking his every move as they got their food and sat down together.
Kent, who followed Brandon’s lead, felt uneasy when he saw Cindy tagging along and sat down with them, sneaking a glance at Brandon.
Brandon just kept his head down and ate, ignoring the duo.
Cindy, young and lively, was itching to keep the conversation going, but Kent gave a little cough to hint at the situation.
Even Cindy, a bit slow on the uptake, got the hint that she was talking too much and clammed up, sneaking curious and puzzled glances at Brandon.
Kent, noticing her sneaky looks and not wanting to annoy Brandon, especially since he had personally brought her into the company, coughed again, reluctantly steering the conversation back to work. “How are you settling in at the company?” Cindy nodded, “Yeah, it’s all good.”
Then she looked puzzled at Kent, “Oh, by the way, Mr. Dempsey said during my interview to shadow the head designer. Who is that? I don’t think I’ve seen her.”
Kent nearly choked on his food, talk about hitting a nerve.
He couldn’t help but steal a glance at Brandon.
Brandon was still serenely eating his meal.
Cindy looked at Kent, puzzled.
Kent gave another little cough, “You’ll meet her later.”
He quickly shifted the topic back to eating, “Let’s focus on the meal for now,” all the while sneaking looks at Brandon.
Brandon had put down his cutlery. His phone had rung.
Kent saw Brandon look at his phone, his brow furrowed in confusion, then he picked up the call, “Hello?”
It seemed there was no response on the other end.
Kent watched as Brandon’s frown deepened, then he took the phone away from his ear, glanced at the screen, cut the call, and dialed back.
Kent, unable to help himself, craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the phone screen. He saw the number and a long string of digits he couldn’t quite make out, but when the phone switched to call forwarding, Kent saw “Wye City” flash on the display, his heart skipped a beat, immediately thinking of Sophia, and he looked at Brandon.
Brandon held the phone steadily to his ear, his expression calm but with a hint of barely perceptible anxiety.
Sophia hadn’t noticed her phone was ringing.
Her phone was on silent mode and after leaving the police station, she went straight to the nearby old town district.
The old district had an ancient alley known for selling local specialties and West district crafts, including several high-quality
costume stores.
With half a day to spare before heading back to Wye City, Sophia wanted to pick up some gifts.
It was the start of the summer holidays, peak tourist season, and the alley was so crowded it was almost impossible to walk.
Sophia held her phone, dodging through the crowd, and accidentally hit the side lock button, which lit up her phone and unlocked it when it caught her face.
Sophia didn’t notice, focused on navigating the sea of people, her hand accidentally swiping across her phone screen, opening recent calls, and somehow dialing Brandon’s number-the same one he had insisted on getting when he sent her home back in Wye City. She had accidentally called him.
By the time Sophia realized, a few minutes had passed. She had just picked out two children’s costumes in a store and was about to pay when she noticed a string of missed calls on her phone.
Confused, she clicked on it, and upon recognizing the familiar number, she paused.
The cashier, noticing her hesitation, called out, “Miss?”
Sophia snapped back to reality, gave her an apologetic smile, left the recent calls screen, paid with a scan of her phone, and took the clothes. Only then did she open the phone log again and saw her accidental call amid the red missed call notifications.
Sophia felt a bit embarrassed and hesitant as she stared at the long list of red missed calls. Her fingertip hovered over the screen, and after a moment’s hesitation, she dialed Brandon back.
The phone was picked up almost instantly.
“Hello?” Brandon’s low, restrained voice came through.
Sophia gripped her phone tighter, “Sorry, I was out shopping and accidentally dialed your number. I didn’t realize you had called back,” Sophia explained softly, “I just saw it now.”
“Hmm,” the voice on the other end was still calm and deep, with a hint of relief that Sophia couldn’t quite make out.
“Should I hang up?”
Sophia said as she walked out of the store, her mind on the call and not noticing the crowd surging towards her. Someone was shoved into the large wooden sign in front of the store, causing it to suddenly fall.
Sophia kinda heard someone yell “Watch out!” out of the blue and, on instinct, she whipped her head around just to see a wooden sign hurtling straight for her.
Screams erupted all around.
Brandon, who was just about to hang up with a casual “Mhm,” suddenly looked panic-stricken. “Sophia?”
Kent got the jitters from Brandon’s reaction, his face tensing up too, “What’s up?”
Brandon ignored him, his handsome face all screwed up with tension as he stood up and made a beeline for the door, barking orders at Kent as he went. “Gotta step out, axe the afternoon meeting.”
“Uh, okay.” Kent scrambled to keep pace with Brandon, huffing and puffing, and asked while they hustled, “Did something urgent happen to Ms. Yearwood? Do you need a hand?”
“I don’t know.” Brandon, though wound up, kept his cool, phone still glued to his ear, calling out Sophia’s name in a steady voice. But all he got back was a cacophony of noise and chaos, not a peep from Sophia.
Amidst the disarray on the other end, a voice finally came through, but it wasn’t Sophia’s, it was an anxious and flustered stranger. “Hello, who are you to the phone owner? She’s hurt and can’t talk on the phone right now.”
“I’m family,” Brandon said, already at his car, yanking the door open and asking in a composed tone, “Where is she now? How bad
is she hurt?”
