The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 28

Brandon glanced at his phone screen and shrugged, "Beats me."

"But this bracelet." Don pointed at the bracelet in the girl's hand, "Isn't that the one you gave to Yolanda when you guys were kids?"

He'd known Brandon since they were little tikes, so of course, he knew Yolanda too.

Back in the day, Brandon was always kind of a lone wolf because of his mom's passing, always kept to himself. Only Yolanda, the good little girl that she was, liked to quietly stick by his side.

Back then, Don was clueless about the whole life and death gig and was at that impish age where he loved to butt heads with Brandon. He'd blurt out whatever came to mind, no filter. Seeing Yolanda glued to Brandon's side, he and his buddies would crack jokes about them being an item, predicting she'd end up as Brandon's bride someday. Little did he know what 'an item' or 'bride' even meant – he was just parroting stuff from the soap operas.

Yolanda, bless her, she was thin-skinned. Even though she didn't quite get the meaning, she sensed it was something positive at her tender age and ended up with tears in her eyes. That was the first time Don got a taste of his own medicine – a good wallop from Brandon.

After that beatdown, Don got his act together and even started to hero-worship Brandon a bit, shamelessly shadowing him just like Yolanda used to. So, he totally remembered that bracelet being Brandon's birthday gift to Yolanda.

When eight-year-old Brandon had his birthday, Patricia, eager to bond with him, had gifted him a top-notch white jade necklace with his initials engraved on it. Later, when Brandon's dad wanted to give him a birthday gift, the usually silent Brandon piped up with a request to pick his own. Naturally, his dad was over the moon and let him choose. And what did Brandon pick? A bracelet modeled after his white jade necklace but with Yolanda's initials on an emerald bracelet. Patricia had told him that engraving his name on the necklace would keep him safe and sound, so he wanted to pass on the same good vibes to Yolanda. Since Yolanda was still little and he was worried about her getting choked by a necklace in her sleep, he went with a bracelet design – but with a twist. It was a convertible design that could be worn as both a bracelet and a necklace.

Although Don hadn't witnessed the gifting moment, he knew about it and had seen Yolanda treasuring that bracelet like it was her life. Even though he was a boy at the time and couldn't quite recall Yolanda's face, that bracelet was etched in his memory. After all, it was tied to the second whooping he ever got.

When Brandon gave him the cold shoulder, Don would entertain himself by teasing Brandon's little sidekick, Yolanda. At that age, teasing a girl meant yanking her hair or snatching her toys and pretending not to give them back. He accidentally pulled off Yolanda's bracelet and held it high above her head, just out of reach. Watching her get all flustered gave him a sense of pride, and he wanted to tease her even more. He never saw it coming when Yolanda jumped up to grab it back, breaking the chain. Yolanda, not one to cry easily, got teary-eyed again. And Don? He got his life's second beating, courtesy of Brandon.

So, even after all these years, Don recognized that bracelet in a heartbeat. The memory was too vivid, and the design was too unique.