A Graduation Gift

Rufus frowned and looked at her, confused.
"Who are you waiting for?" he asked.
Cassandra pulled her collar up subconsciously. She didn't seem to be bothered by the wound on her neck. As the collar could
not hide it completely, she tucked her neck a bit as she avoided Rufus's touch.
"There's another guy who is interested in the studio. I need to wait for him so I could show him around..." Cassandra replied.
She wanted to make sure that everything was settled for Lyndsy as soon as possible. That way, she could concentrate more on
the shoot and her plastic surgery treatment abroad. Suddenly, Rufus interrupted her before she could even finish her words.
"It's me. Let's go. I'll send someone to sign the sale and purchase agreement with you,"
he said, feeling relaxed now. He initially thought that Cassandra just downright rejected him. As it turned out, she only wanted to
make sure that the office sale was taken care of as soon as possible.
"What? It's you?!"
Cassandra's eyes widened as she looked at him in surprise.
"I didn't expect Amanda to get here before I did. Otherwise, you would not have been hurt," he replied ignoring her expression.
Her reaction satisfied Rufus very much. A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
"Why do you buy this place? What are you going to do with it?"
Cassandra asked with furrowed brows.
"You will know it when it's time," he replied simply.
He did not want to tell her his plan just yet. He wanted it to be a surprise.
Cassandra looked at him with suspicion. In the long time that she had known him, she still found it difficult to read him
sometimes.
Rufus smiled and held her in his arms. Then, he put his chin on her head and smelled her hair.

"I didn't know that my hesitation would cause you pain until today when I saw what she did to you. I'm sorry," he apologized.
There was guilt in his voice. His heart ached seeing the scratch marks on her fair neck.
Still, Cassandra remained sorrowful despite his words.
'You hurt me a long time ago, Rufus. You just didn't know it.
The wounds on my body are visible. But what about the wound in my heart? You can't see it nor feel it. You know nothing about
my pain, ' she thought.
Rufus had expected that she would react positively to his apology. However, she only lowered her head. She didn't even say
anything. In her eyes were sadness and loneliness.
His heart stung. She was very strong-willed and did not yield easily. But now, her pained eyes and expression made his heart
ache. She looked so vulnerable.
He reached out and pressed her into his chest even more tightly.
"Let's leave this city. Okay? Leave with me, my darling," he whispered.
The longer they stayed in G City, the more uneasy he felt. There was so much danger and he did not want to leave Cassandra in
this terrible place.
"I can't leave with you now,"
Cassandra said as she tried to push him away but failed. Rufus was determined to keep her close. He would not let her go that
easily.
"Why?" he asked.
Sometimes, he found it difficult to understand Cassandra. No matter how honest he got with her, she still felt so distant. He
couldn't feel her heart the way he did before. What had happened between them? How did it get to this?
"You made a mistake. If you leave without making up for it, my heart would never be at peace,"
Cassandra spoke with a low yet determined voice.

"Are you talking about the Tang family? Huh! Even if I didn't come back to the Tang family, Lionel still would have perished in the
war with Arthur!" he argued.
Rufus knew that Lionel was a fool when it came to business. He had no contingency plans whenever he deployed business
strategies against the Dawn Star Group. Even without him, Rufus was sure that Lionel was going to lead the Tang Group to its
fall.
"But if you didn't borrow money from the bank to expand Tang Group, things would be different. At least, Lionel would not be so
helpless in dealing with the loan,"
Cassandra answered back. She was not a fool. When Rufus applied for loans from the bank to expand the company, everyone
thought he did so to gain a bigger share of the market. It was only now that Cassandra realized his true intention. He did that to
bury the company in debt and leave Lionel to deal with it.
Rufus distanced himself from the crisis but what he did was fatal.
Breaking the Tang Group's cash flow would give rise to several other problems. Its state would worsen until it went bankrupt.
That was the domino effect that Rufus instigated.
"Why do you always defend them, Cassandra? I don't get it."
Rufus looked at her, puzzled. To him, it became more and more difficult to understand what was going on in her mind.
"I just don't think your mother would rest in peace if she saw you with so much hatred in your heart,"
Cassandra said, hoping that the mention of his mother would be enough to persuade him. Rufus, however, loosened his grip on
her.
"She's already gone, Cassandra. And you know why? It's because of the Tang family. And I will never ever help them get out of
this. Don't ever talk to me about this again, ever,"
he replied, frustrated. The fact that Cassandra could not seem to understand his feelings annoyed him.
"If all you want to do is take them down, then I would rather that you stop talking to me altogether!"
Dropping the sentence, she turned around to leave. Cassandra, too, was disappointed. But before she stepped out, she
suddenly stopped as if she forgot something. Then, she turned to face Rufus and said, "I am not going anywhere with you unless

you help the Tang Group get out of this crisis."
After she finished her words, she took off, leaving Rufus alone with his fists still clenched.
'Why, Cassandra? Even Amanda supported me and took the initiative to terminate the agreement with the Tang Group. Why are
you doing this? Why aren't you standing by me?' he thought sadly.
Cassandra sighed helplessly as she left. 'Rufus, my darling, there is no real hatred among family. When will you realize that?
When will you let go of your desire for vengeance and instead accept your family with forgiveness?'
When she was thinking about family, the faces of Vernon and Edith appeared in her mind. It was probably time to pay her father
a visit. 'I hope this winter would not be as cold as it was last year, ' thought Cassandra.
Amanda walked to her car in tears. Ivy had been waiting for her inside.
Amanda had never cried so like this before. She felt so ashamed with what Rufus had done to her. She could not believe that he
asked her to leave and said all those humiliating things in front of Cassandra. She felt as if he trampled her pride.
"Amanda, don't cry anymore..."
Ivy said, looking sullen. She had to leave the place because Rufus drove her out. She did not really know what happened next.
But seeing Amanda cry so intensely, Ivy guessed that Rufus must have driven her out too. He must have sided with Cassandra.
Otherwise, Amanda would not have lost her cool.
Amanda could not stop crying. Memories of her and Rufus started to play in her mind.
They met and fell in love at the very beginning. Later, they broke up because of her father's objection. But fortunately, God
brought them back together again.
She had sacrificed so much for Rufus's sake, in her opinion, but why did she still end up with nothing? Why didn't he love her?
"Are you crying because of Cassandra?" Ivy asked. "Amanda, dear friend, you need to cheer yourself up. Instead of crying, find
a way to crack that woman down!"
This was her opportunity to cook something up. She figured that Amanda's hatred towards Cassandra was the best weapon to
end that woman, once and for all.

"How will I do that? In Rufus's eyes, she's perfect no matter what she does,"
Amanda replied, sobbing spitefully.
"No matter how perfect she is, a woman would be worth nothing if she were to act dubiously,"
Ivy said with suspense.
Immediately, Amanda stopped crying as she processed what Ivy said.
Dubious behaviors? Cassandra was living with Clark right now. Still, she would never associate her with Clark. What else could
she do?
"I've got a plan. She and Lionel have met several times. Lionel seems to still have feelings for her,"
Ivy shared her information. There was a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Amanda's eyes immediately lit up.
Indeed, she did not want to offend Clark, but there was another man too: Lionel!
"But...how do we make them meet and stay together?"
Amanda murmured. She could not yet imagine how their plan would be carried out and her brain was not yet functioning very
well as she was still occupied with what happened with Rufus.
"The Tang Group is a mess now. Horace came to Rufus asking for help but Rufus refused him. The stress sent Horace to the
hospital. Also, news about Horace's affairs in his younger years are all over the media. With all those happening, the Tang Group
is in dangerous waters. Even if I were in Lionel's place, I would definitely ask for Cassandra's help to persuade Rufus into
helping the company out,"
Ivy deduced confidently to lure Amanda into her plan.
"So are you telling me I could ask Lionel out, pretending to be Cassandra?"
Amanda was a clever woman. It did not take her long, despite her grief, to understand what Ivy was insinuating.
"You are smart, Amanda. I'm sure you'll do better than me,"

Ivy agreed. Right when Amanda finally understood what she was saying, Ivy distanced herself and left Amanda alone with her
plan.
Amanda didn't suspect her, though. All she thought about at the moment was how to expose and defeat Cassandra. Ivy's
reactions were the last things on her mind right now.
The war of these women would go on until their dying days.