A Graduation Gift

"Yeah, this is the only way. But Lionel...be careful. Don't get involved with her again. I would never agree to something like that
again!"
Jill warned Lionel strictly. Alas, the mother couldn't see the sadness in her son's eyes.
He couldn't tell her he wanted to get back together with Cassandra. In fact, he deeply regretted his decision of divorcing her
before. However, it was sad that she just didn't want him anymore.
"Don't worry, Mom. I understand what you are thinking,"
Lionel said with a forced, bitter smile on his face.
He turned his head around to look inside the hospital room. Horace lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Rufus's hatred towards his own father had completely destroyed him, despite how powerful he had been in the industry all his
life. Now, every day was nothing but a nightmare for him.
Horace's mind started to fly back to the times when he was young. He was so ambitious and capable at the time. It was in those
days that he had met a young woman from Ling family at a party, and had immediately fallen in love with her.
Lucky for him, she had fallen in love with him too. Soon, they started dating. But something always bugged Horace. It was the
inheritance right of the family business.
The Ling family had already started to lose its power and status. They couldn't have helped him get the inheritance right. That
was where Jill came into picture.
At that time, the Xie family was very powerful and influential. Jill was their favourite daughter. Tactically, it only made sense for
Horace to be with her in order to get the support of her family.
Horace couldn't resist the temptation. He started to avoid seeing the Ling family's daughter and chose to get engaged to Jill
instead.
What he didn't know was she was already pregnant with a boy. The boy in her womb was no one else but Rufus. She wanted to
meet Horace and talk about him, but he simply refused to see her.
The Ling's daughter didn't want to kill the baby and go back to her family for support. She was left with no choice but to abandon
her family and move out of the house. She not only bore Rufus for nine months in her belly but also raised him all alone.

All of this was due to Horace's ignorance. His faults made Rufus suffer for a very long time, eventually resting in his heart like a
deep wound that could never cure.
Horace thought back his whole life. He'd been respected, envied and praised by so many people. And now...at this stage of his
life, when he needed support the most, his own son had nothing to give him but hatred.
It confused him. What had he been even fighting for his entire life if he had no love? He abandoned the woman he loved for Jill's
wealth. He lost the chance of giving his son a good childhood and didn't see him growing up. All of these compromises, for
what? Only to find out from his deathbed that he had miserably failed to take the moral path in life, and that even when he tried
to make up for it and build a good relationship with his son, it didn't work out.
Now, he was old. Lord knew how much time he had left. Besides, he had already lost all will and energy. The group that he had
kept afloat somehow all these years was now going to go bankrupt. All of his hard work, his tactics, and his intellect seemed to
have been wasted.
He was tired both physically and mentally.
He just couldn't keep up the fight anymore. His health alternated between good and bad. He had lost a lot of weight in the past
few days. No one would know if they could hope for his well-being anymore, or was it already too late?
Lionel saw his father's condition and it worried him sick. He had to act quickly. He walked away from his mother and finally made
the call. Part of him was convinced that she wouldn't pick up. Just when he was about to give up hope, she answered. "Hello..."
Cassandra said, in that same melodious voice he remembered.
"Cassandra...I know this is abrupt. But I had no other way..." Lionel said, almost confessedly. Something in him felt like it was
melting. "Do you think Rufus will forgive us if my mother apologised to him?" he continued. Cassandra didn't say anything back.
He fell quiet too. Summoning courage, he spoke again, "Can you go and talk to him first, and tell me what he thinks?"
On the other side of the phone, Cassandra listened intently, with a surprised look plastered on her face. She had never expected
Lionel to call her, let alone asked her for a favour like this.
"Did your mother agree to this?" she asked, finally.
In all honesty, Cassandra had lost all intents of helping them the last time she was rejected by Lionel. But now, he seemed
desperate, needy and most importantly, genuine.

They were willing to apologise to Rufus. This really was a pleasant surprise.
"Yeah. See, my dad is in a really bad condition right now. If he doesn't make it...my mom will not be able to handle it. As long as
Rufus agrees to come back and help us save the Tang Group, she can make a compromise. It's not as important as saving the
company and with that, saving my dad."
Lionel had a hard time communicating with such honestly and vulnerability. His pride seemed to be injured. While he felt good to
be talking to Cassandra, it pained him that he had to bow down to Rufus. It was unfortunate that this was the only way.
Tang Group, which had been in power for so many years was now being knocked out by Dawn Star Group. Many people in the
industry were waiting to see Tang Group go bankrupt, and they were afraid it would influence their own companies as well.
Dawn Star was more powerful than ever, with no other companies in the position to compete with it. It seemed like it had a very
strong ally supporting it financially. No one wanted to cross them by trying to help Tang Group.
"Okay, I will talk to Rufus. If he agrees, I will call you and arrange a meeting."
Lionel heaved a sigh of relief. Cassandra was determined to help him.