Chapter 51
Kent just didn’t get it. Why the heck did they need to dig into Sophia’s childhood past? Couldn’t they just straight-up ask her if something was up?
He recalled that although Brandon and Sophia had split, they weren’t exactly at each other’s throats.
Brandon wasn’t in the mood to spill the beans. “Just do it,” was all he said.
Kent asked, “Can I just hit up Ms. Yearwood directly?”
To him, it seemed like the no-brainer way to go. But Brandon gave him a glance that said, “Do I look like I’m all mouth and no trousers?”
Kent clammed up. Brandon sure had that ‘button your lip’ vibe going on.
Brandon could see right through him. “What’s with the face?”
Kent straightened up, “Nothing.”
Then, pounding his chest for emphasis, he promised, “I’ll get to the bottom of it, for sure.”
But his curiosity got the better of him again, “Mr. Crawley, can I ask why we’re digging into this?”
He blurted it out but worried about setting Brandon off, quickly adding. “It’ll help me zero in on what I need to find out.”
“You don’t need to zero in on anything,” Brandon shot him down. “Just suss out her relationship with her family, check if she’s the real deal Yearwood kid, any special stuff from when she was a nipper.”
“Huh?” Kent was baffled again, his curiosity rearing its head, “But why?”
As soon as he looked up, he was met with Brandon’s icy stare and promptly zipped his lips.
“I’ll get on it right away,” he managed to say after regaining some composure.
“I want an update by tomorrow.”
After dropping that, Brandon ended the call, and the peace returned to his ears.
Wherr Brandon glance at his phone and then at Sophia’s tightly shut room door, his thoughts drifted to the surprised look on Sophia’s face that morning when she saw Marian’s bracelet. It was a look of pure bewilderment.
He didn’t know why Sophia had that vacant, lost look, as if she recognized the thing, but when they later talked, she denied it. Yet, her denial was tinged with an unfamiliar confusion that perhaps she herself couldn’t fathom.
The phone in his palm was idly spinning as his fingers pressed down rhythmically.
Brandon was well aware that Sophia might not be Yolanda Frost, and he was perhaps unintentionally merging Sophia with Yolanda in his mind.
Even a glance, a detail, any slight resemblance between them would send his heart racing, afraid he’d miss something.
He didn’t know why he was so fixated on seeing them as one, even though Sophia had clearly stated she wasn’t Yolanda. But Brandon knew deep down, he couldn’t bear the thought of anyone but Sophia being Yolanda.
The young Yolanda had been with him through the darkest and loneliest times of his life. Her presence back then was too wonderful, a kind of beautiful solace he had only felt with Sophia.
How could Sophia not be Yolanda?
How could she not?
The phone in his hand stilled, and Brandon abruptly stood up to call Martin, Yolanda’s brother. The call cut off after two rings.
Glancing at the wall clock, he realized it was the dead of night back home, and Martin was likely asleep.
He knew better than to disturb him further; it wasn’t urgent enough to wake Martin. But while reason was one thing, the clamor in his heart had him redialing the number.
After a long wait, the call was finally picked up.
“Who’s this?” The voice was terse and groggy with sleep, but the underlying manners prevented a more explosive reaction.
“It’s me.” Brandon’s tone matched the brevity.
Martin’s sleepiness receded as he sat up, “What’s up, calling at this hour?”
“Yeah,” Brandon walked to the window, “I’m in Wye City. Ran into a girl a few days ago who might be Yolanda.”
“Yolanda?” Martin was now fully awake, “Where did you see her? Where is she now?”
Brandon replied, “The Starlight Hotel.”
“Got her contact info?”
“No,” Brandon looked out at Apex Engineering University, “But ! stumbled upon her work badge. She seems to be a student at the School of Architecture of Apex Engineering University.”
“If it’s cool with you, come by tomorrow,” Brandon suggested.
“Sure, I’ll be there,” Martin agreed without hesitation, “Keep an eye on her for me. Let’s not tell the family yet to avoid getting their hopes up.”
“I understand,” Brandon nodded, “Call me when you get here, I’m at the Starlight Hotel.”
“Got it.”
After the call was hung up, Brandon’s gaze lingered outside towards Apex Engineering University before slowly turning back to Sophia’s closed door, deep in thought.
In her room, Sophia was sitting at the table, resting her cheek on one hand, looking somewhat dazed.
She was supposed to be sketching out some design drawings, with her papers and pencils all spread out, but she just couldn’t get into the groove. Her thoughts were all over the place-one second she’d be flashing back to that image of Brandon going rogue and planting one on her in the parking lot, and the next to that accidental lip-lock when she was covering for him, the look he gave her, and the way he suddenly dipped his head to kiss her-that controlled yet unbearable tenderness that zapped her right back to the night of the alumni get-together. When he drove her home, they looked at each other before they slowly melted into a kiss. The desire that night was real, the loss of control was real.
Sophia was pining for the Brandon from that night, his eyes clearly brimming with an intense love that was screaming to be let out, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why that intensity had gone in their courteous day-to-day life. Was it because he had mistaken her for Yolanda that night?
Her mind wandered back to bumping into Marian that morning, and Brandon’s stunned look when he saw her bracelet. She felt a tightness in her chest, but even as she was suffocating in her thoughts, she drifted back to that familiar sense of bewilderment.
She thought about the bracelet Marian was wearing.
Sophia didn’t know why she was so fixated on that bracelet, zoning out even though she’d never seen it before. Yet the moment she laid eyes on it, her brain felt like it was engulfed in fog, clueless and lost.
Sophia couldn’t make heads or tails of her feelings at that moment, and even now, she was clueless as to why her thoughts froze, hypnotized by something she had never seen before.
She didn’t know if this was linked to the chunk of memory she was missing, and she couldn’t help but wonder, could she actually have some connection to Yolanda?
Sophia thought she was losing it, didn’t know if she was getting all messed up because of Brandon, or why else she’d suddenly hatch such a wild guess.
Just like Brandon, Yolanda was from the West district, but not Sophia. She was picked up by her dad, Haley, in the north. It was only later that their family moved to the West district, so there was no way she could be connected to Yolanda.
But that crazy speculation was growing like wildfire in her heart, and Sophia couldn’t control it. Like she was possessed or something, she grabbed her phone and dialed her dad Haley’s number on a whim.
