A Graduation Gift

There was fire in Rufus's eyes. He could not believe what was happening.
"You can't do that,"
Rufus said furiously as his grip on Cassandra's wrist tightened.
"Rufus, you're being ridiculous. I expected more from you. Right now, you are just acting like a spoiled brat! You show up when it
pleases you and before I know it, you're gone without so much as a goodbye. Where were you when I needed you? Whenever I
asked for an explanation, you never gave me one. Instead, you decided to keep your secrets and keep me in the dark. What the
hell were you thinking?"
Cassandra glared at Rufus, mustering all the courage she had to finally speak her mind. Finally saying all these things felt like a
huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.
Rufus looked at her, dumbstruck as he slowly realized Cassandra's image of him: complicated and suspicious.
As it turned out, she saw Rufus as a jerk.
He came and went as he pleased without even considering how she must have felt. Because of him, her life became full of
uncertainty. He never gave her a stable life or a promising future.
"Cassandra, I am doing this for your own good,"
Rufus said. There was hesitation in his voice, possibly brought about by Cassandra's face that was red with rage. She seemed
absolutely fed up with the situation.
"For my own good? You want to do something for my own good? Let me give you a very good suggestion: Disappear from my
life for good and leave me be!"
Cassandra shouted as she broke free from Rufus's grip, turned, and walked away.
She had had enough of the drama. She did not want to put up with Rufus's childish whims anymore. His actions did not make
sense to her. There seemed to be a huge disconnection between the mature and independent image he portrayed in public and
the childish and unreasonable way he acted when he was with her.
But Rufus was not about to let her get away so easily. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into his arms.

Cassandra struggled as Rufus slowly looked straight at her face. Staring straight into her eyes, he decided to tell her the truth.
"Fine, I will tell you what I am doing," he started.
His eyes seemed to say so many things. Cassandra could almost feel his thoughts buzzing. Finally realizing the significance of
the moment, she stopped struggling and lifted her head to look back at him.
"As a child, my mother told me that my father was dead. It was only a dozen years ago that I learned he was still alive,"
he narrated, looking deep into Cassandra's eyes. Cassandra stood still and listened to him quietly.
"When I did, I turned into a problem child overnight, from being a straight-A student. I started to miss all of my classes. Everyone
worried about me and didn't know what to do. My mother could not stop crying. I blamed her for giving birth to me. I told her that
she should have had an abortion instead of having me and giving me a life without a father."
The hallway was empty and the light was dim. Rufus's voice was the only thing that could be heard apart from the deafening
silence.
"When my mother fell ill with a serious disease, my aunt took us abroad to have her treated. But before I left, I went to see
Horace in front of the Tang Group. That day, I swore that I would come back and destroy him,"
Rufus said. There was coldness in his voice. It made Cassandra shiver.
"Then, you know what happened. I founded the TY Group to prove myself. Then, I hid my identity, came back to Horace, and
took over the Tang Group. I wanted Horace to see everything he built and worked for, go down in shambles. I wanted him to
know how it felt like to lose something he loved. I wanted him to know that his biggest mistake in his life was leaving my mother
and me," he finished.
Hatred burned in his eyes. The realization of the anger that Rufus had been tending to get through the years weighed down on
Cassandra.
"Rufus, Horace was wrong and I'm not going to defend him. However, you don't need to punish yourself because of his mistake.
Life isn't all about hatred and revenge. Does that make you happy? Living in anger?" Cassandra said.
Truth be told, she found Rufus's story very unsettling. She could not believe what Rufus would do to Horace, his biological father,
the man who gave him life. No matter what Horace did, it did not change the fact that he was his flesh and blood.

"I don't care about my own happiness. All I knew was that he was the reason why my mom suffered almost all her life. The day
my mother fell ill was the day he stopped being my father. It was so unfair. How could he marry someone like Jill, bear a child like
Lionel, and live a life of fortune and opportunity while my mother and I spent our days looking for shelter and struggling to make
ends meet? The moment my mother died, I swore to make Horace pay. I wanted him to learn how his own selfishness and vanity
were the things that destroyed him. He deserves this!"
Rufus said, gritting his teeth. Everytime he remembered his poor mother and Horace's absence, his hatred and anger towards
him grew stronger and stronger.
"Rufus, if your mother were still alive, I'm sure that she would not want you to do such things. Otherwise, she wouldn't have
worked hard to bring you up all by herself. Also, she would not have told Horace about you," she explained.
Cassandra had never seen Rufus this angry. Grabbing his arms, she realized that his whole body was stiff. Clearly, he was in
pain just thinking about all of this.
Cassandra rubbed his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down, but her efforts were useless. Rufus was so overwhelmed with
anger. It was out of control.
"And what did that get her, huh? Her kindness only brought her tragedy. Well, I'm different. I live to bring him what his absence
has brought her," he replied.
Rufus was stubborn. Nothing that Cassandra said got through to him.
"But he is your father. Now that your mother isn't here, he is your only family. You shouldn't hate him. I'm sure he also had his
own battles during that time. He was also trapped in his own circumstance. Besides, he already realized that he was wrong. He
even made efforts to correct his mistake by making you part of the Tang family and allowing you to take over the Tang Group.
Rufus, let it go. Please don't live in the past. Destroying the Tang family because of the hatred that has consumed you is not
worth it. Just move forward,"
Cassandra said, wanting to make Rufus change his mind. Still, he remained unmoved. Years of hatred had hardened him. In
fact, it was almost a part of him. They were not something he could easily discard.
"What kind of father is he? My mother was disowned by her own family because of him. She even renounced her father and
changed her last name to her mother's maiden name. She wasted her youth raising me all by herself. For the first half of my life,
I never had Horace there. Now that I'm all grown up and I'm doing better, he suddenly steps up and wants to be my father? What
the hell is that? He allowed my mother to die. Why does he deserve anything better?" Rufus replied.

Memories of his mom and of his childhood filled Rufus with so much rage. He found it hard to control himself.
Cassandra bit her lips, not knowing what to do.
She was afraid that the more she tried to calm him down, the angrier he would become. So, she thought that it would be best if
she just remained silent and accompanied him through this ordeal.
"I hope, now, you know why I didn't tell you about this. I was plotting revenge against my father and I did not want you to get
involved. Now that you know about it, I hope you will do what is best by staying out of it. All I ask you to do is to wait for me. Be
patient with me. When I finish with all of this, let's go away. Let's leave this wretched place together, find a home somewhere
else, and start over," he said.
Rufus took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Then, he looked at Cassandra with love and sincerity.
"What if...I don't want you to push through with your plan of revenge?"
Cassandra replied as she looked into Rufus's eyes.
"Cassandra, you can't stop me. I have been working on this plan for so many years. There is no way I can give up,"
Rufus replied immediately. How could he give up? That was impossible! What goes around comes around. For years, he had
wanted nothing but to take Horace down. He was not going to give up.
Cassandra took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She was sure that there had to be another way and she was determined to
find out what it was.
"I want to check on my mother. She has to stay in the hospital for a while,"
Cassandra suddenly realized, and then she turned to leave.
"Don't you sense something strange?"
Rufus said as he furrowed his brows. Cassandra stopped. Slowly, she turned around and looked at Rufus, confused.
"What do you mean?" she asked.

Truth be told, she did have a bad feeling in her gut about the situation. What Rufus said seemed to have confirmed that it was
not something she was only imagining.
"It couldn't be a coincidence. Right after I arranged for your mother to leave, she fell ill. Do you think Clark did it again, like what
he did to your voice?"
Rufus said suspiciously as he touched his jaw in thought.
Cassandra's heart sunk. Her face suddenly turned gloomy.
If it were Clark, then clearly he didn't want Edith to leave.
"Don't worry. Your mother is currently safe here in the hospital. Clark won't be able to touch her. For now, just pretend that you
don't know anything. I'll do my best to figure things out as soon as possible," he replied.
Seeing her pale face, Rufus felt sorry for Cassandra. Now that she was Clark's target, the people around her were also at risk.
"What happened between you and Clark? Did you fight because of business?"
Cassandra asked, frowning at Rufus. She did not mind being in a dangerous situation if it was to protect Rufus. Now that her
family was involved, however, that was a different story. If anyone hurt her family, she would not be able to forgive herself. She
could not afford to put them at risk.
"I bet he has seen me as a pest for as long as I can remember. To be honest, I never took him seriously. Now that he's coming at
you, however, let's just see what he gets,"
Rufus replied with squinted eyes. Clark had started the fight and he was not about to sit back and do nothing.