Chapter 272

272 Things Don’t Go Well

Cedric put the box back onto the bookshelf and said, “Mr. Austen doesn’t like it when people suck up to him. He is a luminary in the design industry and an old master, a man of principle.”

“Did you tell him about my father?” Isabella asked.

“The reason why he helps me is that he pities me?” Isabella was curious.

Cedric smiled and looked into Isabella’s eyes. He said, “Because I told him that you are my girlfriend.”

Isabella was stunned and then she gave him the thumbs up. She said, “Cedric, you are smart. No wonder he would help me!”

Cedric didn’t know what to say. He looked away unnaturally and lowered his head, saying, “Look at the photos in the box. They took it in the Golden Pencil Awards 17 years ago.”

Isabella nodded excitedly.

She leaned over and was surprised when the box was opened, “What happened to the photos?”

Almost every one of the old photos in the box was half bright and half dark, and the color of the photos was abnormal.

.....

“It seems to be caused by the dampness,” Cedric said.

Isabella took out all of the photos at once and saw a photo of Carl and Mr. Austen. But, unfortunately, the part of the photo on which Mr. Austen was holding the manuscripts was blurred because of the dampness.

Isabella was disappointed and said, “Why is it the part with the manuscripts that is blurred?”

“Don’t worry,” Cedric comforted.

He took a photo of the picture and said, “Whatever, we can take a photo and I will let the technicians use some programs to deal with it. Maybe they can restore the blurred part.”

Isabella nodded with disappointment.

Although Cedric helped her a lot, things still didn’t go well. Isabella began to worry about it but she could only rely on Cedric. She was unhappy now.

“There was an accidental fire in the old mansion. Although the fire was put out in time, they damped some photos and papers when they used water to put out the fire,” Mr. Austen said.

He was standing at the door with a cane when Cedric and Isabella were leaving. He asked, “Are those photos so important to you?”

Cedric glanced at Isabella and said, “Yes, they are important. But we can’t do anything now. Thank you for your help, Mr. Austen.”

“I am not being helpful, sorry,” Mr. Austen said.

He waved his hand and looked disappointed Isabella, “If you wanted to see the manuscripts, you can go to the winner directly. The winner must have the photo, too. But his photo should be preserved well.”

They said goodbye to Mr. Austen and got in the car. Cedric stared at Isabella and said, “Although the photo is blurred, I know some technical people who can restore it. Don’t worry.”

“No, I just feel sorry to trouble you with this,” Isabella said.

“No, I am glad to help you,” Cedric replied.

Then he added, “If the photo can’t be restored, I will go to Carl and ask for the photo from him.”

“No, no, no!” Isabella refused.

She explained, “If his drawing had problems and my father’s death was related to it, he would not give you the photo. And he will be alerted and destroy the evidence. I should think carefully before I decide what to do next.”

Cedric hesitated and said, “You are right. But the manuscripts in the archive were destroyed so Carl must have destroyed the photo in his hands, Mr. Austen said that there was a fire in the study room. I think the fire has something to do with Carl.”

Isabella was frightened and she shook her head, “I think that the photo is still there.”

“Have you seen it before?” Cedric asked.

Isabella thought about a moment and said, “No. But Carl values fame and money. You have mentioned that the Golden Pencil Award is an honor and Carl started his career from the award. So, Carl would not destroy the photo...”

Cedric held Isabella’s hand gently and said, “You have to be careful. Come to me if you need me.”

Isabella nodded. Then she saw the skyscrapers outside so she asked, “Can you stop the car there?”

“There?”

Cedric looked outside and said, “Joey.”

Joey knew what Cedric meant.

He pulled over and parked the car. Isabella said, “I have something to do here. Thank you for today!”

“It’s almost 5 pm...” Cedric hesitated.

He looked at his watch and said, “I can have Joey do it for you whatever you want. We can have dinner together.”

“Thank you. But I want to do it myself. I will take you somewhere great one day.”

“I must do it myself,” Isabella said.

Cedric smiled and said, “Alright then. I will call you when the photo is restored.”

“Thank you, Cedric!” Isabella said.

The black Rolls-Royce left. Cedric was thinking about something when he saw Isabella in the rearview mirror.

Isabella looked around and sat on a stone bench, taking out her phone.

“Mr. Cedric, if you liked Miss Isabella so much, we can wait for her and have dinner together. Or midnight snack is acceptable,” Peter said.

Cedric smiled.

He looked still gentle but more complicated and thoughtful after Isabella left. He asked, “Can you see that I like Isabella?”

“Of course,” Peter said.

Joey said, “Mr. Cedric, you are not so warmhearted usually. But you forgot your work and helped Miss Isabella all day.”

Cedric smiled as if mocking himself and said, “Yes, this is the first time that I treat a girl like this. But even you two can see that I like her, why Isabella doesn’t know it?”

“Miss Isabella refused you?” Joey asked.

“I didn’t tell her. But I implied it just now. I don’t know if she didn’t understand it or she was pretending it.” Cedric thought about a moment and said, “Forget it. She just broke with her boyfriend so she was not in the mood. You two should watch your mouths and don’t tell her what we said today.”

“Can’t we tell her that you like her?” Joey said.

Cedric tapped his fingers and said, “You can. But you can’t now. I don’t want to frighten her.”

Cedric smiled and said, “Isabella will be mine because we knew each other when we were young. We are meant to be because I saw her again after so long. It makes no difference to me whether we are together now or later.”

...

Isabella didn’t know what Cedric meant when he said it because she was thinking about how to set him up with Jane.

Jane and Cedric both liked good-looking people. Most importantly, Jane was a wild and crazy girl so Cedric should like her when he saw her.

Isabella began to imagine the scene when Jane and Cedric walked into the church hand in hand...