A Graduation Gift

In the five-star ballroom, among the lively chatter, Cassandra, with her superb insights and ideas, unexpectedly closed a deal
that few had expected would go through.
Even Rufus started to admire Cassandra. After coming out of the hotel, the woman still felt embarrassed about last night's fling.
However, Instead of talking about it, they drove straight to the party.
"Miss Qin, you're indeed the most unique designer I have ever seen, and your ideas are refreshing. I had already given up the
collaboration with Tang Group, but your insights have rekindled my desire to work with them,"
holding a glass of wine in his hand, the boss from the collaborating company did not hesitate to praise Cassandra and said.
Cassandra lowered her eyes, her face showing a light but sweet smile. She was not good at handling the elation of such an
occasion.
"I'm flattered. Thank you for giving Tang Group another chance," she answered in her natural courteous manner. "I will do my
best to carry through it."
With the echo of colliding wine glasses, the rising sound of a piano started to play in the ballroom. Turning away, Cassandra
immediately met Rufus's gaze.
The throbbing of their hearts in that moment of glory was synchronized. They had finally completed a major task together.
Standing next to her, Rufus's face beamed with a satisfied smile, his eyes lighting up with appreciation.
This woman always looked confused in a lovely way. However, in the workplace, she looked calm, mature and intelligent, which
surprised Rufus a lot.
"Mr. Luo, we look forward to a successful collaboration. Miss Qin is a really gifted, intelligent woman. I think you two are a match
made in heaven,"
The boss again joked. In the process, he took note of Rufus and Cassandra's moment of interlocking gazes upon each other.
"Mr. Wang, we are not..."
Being praised like that made Cassandra somewhat uneasy. But before she could explain their relationships, Rufus interrupted,
"Thank you, Mr. Wang, we also look forward to working with you."

Then slowly, he raised the rim of the glass to his thin lips and guzzled down the red wine in large gulps. When he spoke,
unmistakable joy crowned his husky, confident voice. A smile formed at the corners of his mouth and his deep eyes were set on
Cassandra, with a hint of playfulness that made her blush.
"Since our work here is done, can we return to G City?"
After the party, Rufus and Cassandra sat inside the moving black Lincoln Continental. Riding alone with Rufus in the same car
gave Cassandra such a feeling of flutter in the belly that she spoke so softly, almost in a whisper.
Just before she was called on for her business pitch, she had butterflies in her stomach and wondered whether she was going to
make it. But thankfully, she pulled through without a single hitch. So when she went to the dinner party she tried to mollify her
nerves with an extra glass or two of wine, more than her usual light intake. Now, it was causing her to bloat.
The feeling made her sit uncomfortably next to Rufus who kept stealing glances at her with his thin lips rising slightly into a
enchanting smile.
"The night view of H City is quite breathtaking. Can I take you there for an experience?"
It was a request, but his tone made it sound like a statement.
"No, let's go back as soon as possible. I, um, I want to..."
Looking straight at his face, Cassandra started to breathe heavily. She declined his offer, and quickly turned to face the window
with a sort of guilty haste, trying to avoid looking at Rufus.
"If you don't want to go out tonight, it's understandable. Maybe you want to do something else with me instead?"
Rufus was deliberately teasing her. He appeared to enjoy being around her.
"Rufus! We are on a business trip, not on a vacation,"
said Cassandra objecting to his suggestions. Although soon she found herself fantasizing about him in bed. In that brief instant
she had to suppress her resistance.
"If it wasn't for your period, you would have been all over me last night," said Rufus, smiling.
As he raised one of his massive hands over Cassandra's seat, the fragrance of the perfume he was wearing engulfed her in an
instant.

"Enough! Stop it!" Cassandra warned. "How dare you flirt with a married woman like this, Rufus? That's shameless. Don't you
think so?" she added, eager to know if he had any scruples about their relationship.
Last night was too crazy. Cassandra simply just didn't want to think about it. Feigning toughness, she glared at Rufus who was
wearing an evil, insouciant expression on his face.
"From a girl to a young woman...in deed...I am honored to participate in the most important development work of that," Rufus
teased.
He raised his eyebrows in an instant, and the smile on his thin lips became more and more reckless. As soon as his sentence
was dropped, Cassandra got so angry that she was speechless.
Interrupting her line of thought, Rufus announced, "We will go back tomorrow morning. How about we just celebrate and enjoy
our time together tonight?"
The tone of his words was more serious this time round. Probably he had woken up to the fact that she was determined to return
home straight away, if he didn't give her a good reason for staying out tonight. As if in a trance, Cassandra felt she was floating in
the air, a dark, gloomy cloud driving her into the halo around Rufus.
Like a sudden jolt of thunder, she remembered the death of Rufus's mother. In essence, she realized that he was still grieving
and as a coping strategy, he kept pushing himself, to more and more work. Thinking about this, Cassandra's heart to go back to
G City was not as determined as before.
Aware of his predicament, Cassandra thought to herself, 'I'm having my menses. Would that guarantee that we can hang out for
the night without making love?
I can take it as a causal date with a friend. That would be good, just to enjoy his company one last night.'
"Okay, but you have to promise me not to take advantage of me, again," she demanded.
That line alone immediately changed the atmosphere inside the car with Cassandra's compromising voice weakly heard. The
charming smile on Rufus's face reappeared, beaming even brighter than before.
At this point, it was already twilight outside. In the distance, the setting sun emitted an awe-inspiring red glow. The wind blowing
on their faces through rolled-down windows was cool and soothing. And it was sheer pleasure driving through the scenic
landscapes.

Meanwhile, at the lobby of the five-star hotel "I'm sorry, Mr. Tang.
I'm afraid that we can't give you confidential information about our customers. That's against the company policy," the
receptionist explained to Lionel at the front desk. Eventually, Lionel had rushed to H City, and quickly arrived at the hotel where
Rufus and Cassandra stayed.
"I don't need any information from you. You just need to tell me if they stayed in the same room last night!"
The mission was to track them down here and catch them in bed. Lionel seethed with anger while his assistant standing next to
him had been calling Cassandra.
"I am sorry, we can't provide this either,"
A young lady at the front desk told him uneasily. She didn't recognize Lionel. Although she was somewhat apprehensive of his
status, he made such unreasonable demands that she really could not do it.
"So where are they now?"
Turned down by the receptionist, Lionel sought to escalate the issue directly to the manager. This hotel was owned by a
colleague and friend of his, so he had thought he could get whatever information he wanted from the receptionist using the
connection.
By all means, he needed evidence and witnesses, proving that Rufus and Cassandra were really together last night. 'Once I get
my hands on those information, I could easily get rid of Rufus and Cassandra, ' he thought in hubris.
But why did he feel so uncomfortable and angry when he thought about the affair between Cassandra and Rufus?
"Mr. Tang, the call went through."
At this time, Harry, who had been making the call, handed the phone to Lionel. Blinking in surprise, Lionel quickly took the
phone, from which came Cassandra's familiar voice.
"Hello, this is Cassandra. Who's calling?"