Heartstrings On Fire

Chapter 297
He remained silent, as if waiting for Agnes to give an answer. Agnes began, “On the day Mamie was mobbed by her fans, Jared
and I took her to the hospital. You came later, so we left. But I’d left my coat on a chair in the corridor, so I went back to get it.
That’s when I saw...”
Agnes trailed off.
She’d hardly believe it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.
She’d seen Ivan kissing a sleeping Mamie.
His eyes were shut tight, his lips pressing against hers.
His face looked like he was in a world of pain. Agnes had never seen him like that before.
His hand clenched the bedsheets. Even from a distance, Agnes could see the veins on his hand bulging.
That’s when the penny dropped for Agnes.
The affection Ivan had for his sister was not the regular sibling thing.
Ivan’s pupils constricted and his face turned dark.
So, Agnes had seen it all that day.
No wonder!
He had kept this secret for years, nobody knew, not even Mamie.
He had planned to keep it a secret forever, even if it killed him.
Just like Agnes said, he couldn’t bear the thought of Mamie getting married and having kids, completely out of his life.
But after all, Mamie was his sister. Even though they were not blood-related, they had grown up together.
He didn’t know when his forbidden love started.
He feared Mamie would be disgusted if she found out.

Truth be told, he was disgusted with himself.
On the surface, he acted as if it didn’t bother him, but these past years, he had suffered a great deal because of this.
Agnes revealing his secret today, felt like a release from his repressed pain.
Ivan sank into the couch and said, “Agnes, I know you must think that I am perverted now I fell in love with the younger sister I
raised by myself.”
Agnes was silent for a bit, not knowing what to say.
But Ivan began to confide. Some things had been suppressed in his heart for too long, and now he had finally found an outlet.
Those intense emotions poured out like a flood breaking a bank.
“When I first met Mamie, she was only four. She had passed out from hunger on the street, so mom took her home. I was
shocked. How could a kid be so frail? || was friendly to her, but when I found out my parents wanted to adopt her, I was upset,
even started to dislike her. But she didn’t know any of this. She’d call me ‘brother’ every day, always following me around. She
didn’t understand anything at that age, but I couldn’t accept this sudden sister, didn’t want to share my parents’ love with her”
Ivan seemed to be lost in deep memories.