The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 173

Patricia had always been keen on patching things up with Brandon.

She was not like Daniel, who was Brandon's biological dad. No matter how tough Daniel acted, Brandon would always have a soft spot for the old man because Daniel was his father, and he wouldn't want to push things too far.

But Patricia? She was just the stepmom, and it was not Daniel who was calling the shots in the house these days, so she didn't have the guts to go toe-to-toe with Brandon.

So, in her eyes, playing Cupid between Brandon and Yolanda was the best way to mend fences with him.

Daniel, although ticked off by Brandon's shielding of Sophia, was still a dad at heart and secretly hoped his son would settle down and start his own family.

With his fondness for Yolanda and the reassurance that she was from a family that was a good match for the Crawleys, Daniel was on board with the idea of setting Brandon up with Yolanda.

They were on the same page about this.

Thanks to this mutual understanding, even after getting his feathers ruffled by Brandon, Daniel was soon calmed down by Patricia's soothing words.

After that dinner with Louis, Daniel had been thinking about finding the right moment to bring it up with Brandon, but Sophia's situation threw a wrench in the works and their relationship went stiff.

He couldn't find the perfect moment to broach the topic, nor could he swallow his pride and make the first move. He stewed in his own juice for a few days, and finally, with a nudge from Patricia, agreed to enlist Don's help.

Right on cue, Don dropped by with Sophia's revised design proposal, and after wrapping up the work talk, he smoothly shifted the conversation to Brandon.

"What's the deal with Brandon and Sophia now?" Patricia asked, sliding into the topic at just the right moment as they closed the design folder.

Don, a bit stumped by the question, especially coming from Brandon's folks who were not exactly Sophia's biggest fans, just chuckled politely, "I'm not too sure myself."

"Aren't you guys like brothers?" Daniel chimed in, "Doesn't he tell you anything?"

"Mr. Crawley, you know Brandon as well as I do," Don laughed, "He's not exactly the type to pour his heart out."

Daniel nodded, realizing the truth in that, then prodded further, "Has he been in touch with Yolanda?"

Caught off guard by the question, Don didn't have a clue. He had never heard a peep about Yolanda from Brandon.

Logically, finding Yolanda should have been a cause for celebration, but ever since she popped up, Brandon stopped mentioning her and didn't seek her out anymore.

"I had dinner with Yolanda's grandpa the other day, and Yolanda's still flying solo. They've been childhood sweethearts, know each other inside out, so her grandpa and I thought we'd give setting them up a shot," Daniel explained, looking at Don, "Brandon's been ticked off with me lately because of the Sophia thing, and we can't have a decent conversation. When you have a moment, could you feel him out for me, see where he stands?"

Don was actually on the same wavelength.

Seeing Brandon in this numb state, he was leaning towards the hope that he'd kickstart a new romance.

"I'll ask him about it," Don said, agreeing to the task without painting himself into a corner.

He was still mindful of Sophia's feelings, and before playing matchmaker, he wanted to chat with her to see what she really thought about Brandon and whether there was any chance left.

He didn't want his matchmaking to be another blow to Sophia.