Heartstrings on Fire novel Chapter 228

Beatrice was consumed by envy as she watched Jared hand over a plate. In her hopeful excitement, she thought the plate might be for her. However, Agnes seemed preoccupied, lost in her thoughts while staring at the shrimp. Jared’s behavior left Agnes wondering about his intentions. Was he trying to make amends?

After dinner, Agnes had planned to retreat to her room, but Jared remained on the sofa, engaged in a conversation with Preston. Laura approached Agnes and requested her assistance in cutting some fruit, providing her with a task to distract her. As Agnes headed to the kitchen, she returned to find Preston had already left.

Meanwhile, Beatrice was enthusiastically chatting away beside Jared, and they both seemed engrossed in something. Curious, Agnes walked over to see what had captured their attention. To her surprise, Beatrice had brought out an old photo album to share with Jared, who appeared genuinely interested.

As Agnes rarely took photos, most of the images in the album were from the time when her mom was still alive, and she was just a young girl.

But there were a lot of Beatrice's photos. She always loved to doll herself up.

Because Laura also loved photography, most of the photos in the album were of Beatrice.

There were only a few photos of Agnes.

Beatrice said excitedly, "Look, this is a photo of me when I was five years old. It’s so cute, right? When I was five, my mom took me to shoot advertisements and I was even on the cover of magazines. This is my middle school graduation photo. At that time, I was the prettiest girl in the whole school. And this..."

Beatrice continued talking, but when she finally looked up, she realized that Jared hadn't been paying any attention to her at all. Instead, he was fully absorbed in examining a picture he held in his hands.

The photograph featured Agnes and her mom when Agnes was just five years old, the edges now tinged with yellow from the passage of time.

The picture had casually slipped out from the album as they were flipping through its pages, capturing Jared's interest for an extended period.

This discovery filled Beatrice with fury.

Had all her efforts to explain herself been in vain? It seemed like she could never manage to capture this man's attention. Even when they were looking at photos together, his focus was always on Agnes.

Beatrice quickly flipped through the album.

In the end, she found a photo tucked in between pages.

Beatrice pulled out the photo and feigned surprise, "How is this photo still here? I thought Agnes threw out all their photos after she broke up with Elton. I can't believe there's still one here."

Sure enough, Jared's curiosity was piqued by the name "Agnes." He glanced at the photo in Beatrice's hand, and she pretended to be shocked as she spoke, "I really didn't mean to. Agnes and Elton were together for ten years, and their relationship was very deep. Agnes is a sentimental person, so it's understandable that she kept a photo of them. Please don't be mad. I think Agnes just wanted to hold onto a memento, and there's no other meaning behind it."

Jared's gaze fixated on the photo, capturing the moment when the boy and girl in the picture leaned their heads together, wearing radiant smiles filled with joy and vitality. Agnes, at that time, had a sweet smile resembling a blooming spring flower—bright and dazzling. The boy's eyes were filled with love as they rested on the girl's face in the photograph.