A Graduation Gift

Joel was pissed and irritated. Ivy always asked him to get down in the dirty business. And now she condescendingly accused
him of doing those same things, conveying utter disdain.
"You are the one who messed with him in the first place. How is it my fault now?"
Joel asked, annoyed and didn't even wait for her to respond before turning around and leaving.
Seeing her brother walk away like that frustrated Ivy extremely.
Their parents died a long time ago, when they were very young. They had to start working at a very young age, to sustain their
sophisticated lifestyle. Now their life was finally stable and they didn't need to worry about basic livelihood. Ivy, though, felt like
she had come to a deadlock.
She just didn't know how to keep going anymore. But what was done couldn't be undone. Truth of the matter was, she was at a
loss.
Suddenly, her eyes shifted to her right. She noticed a USB flash drive next to her computer. An idea unfurled in her head, making
her heart beat faster.
She had to do it. Only that could make Clark trust her.
This USB flash drive was stolen by Adrian. Ivy ran and grabbed it, clutching it tightly, as if it was a piece of precious jewelry.
She took a deep breath, and composed herself. Finally, she took her phone out and called Clark.
"Clark, I've got what you wanted. Do you want me to bring it to you?"
Ivy tried her best to stay calm on the phone.
But on the other side of the phone, Clark simply squinted as a broad smile spread across his lips.
"Okay, why don't you come over to my place and give it to me?"
And with that being his only sentence, he hung up on her. He turned to Arthur cheerfully, as if he knew all along this was going to
happen.
"See? I got what I wanted without lifting a finger."

After Joel slammed the door behind him, he called the girl he met last time. He really wanted a good company right now.
"Hey...I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me tonight? My treat!"
Honestly, he was only looking to date someone to overcome his frustration.
Luckily for him, she said yes. He sped up and arrived at the school within a few minutes. Her eyes lit up the moment they landed
on the man.
They headed for a cozy restaurant nearby. Hand in hand, they walked in together and took a table near the entrance. What they
didn't notice was Cassandra and Rufus were also present there, sitting all the way in the other corner.
Rufus cut his steak into smaller pieces, poured some sauce on it and served the pieces to Cassandra.
"Here is your steak, madam.
Are you satisfied with the service?"
Rufus asked jokingly, lifting his eye brows, his attention focused solely on Cassandra.
Cassandra smiled sweetly, taking some steak in her plate.
A waiter brought them a dried meat floss cake, which Rufus had ordered specially for Cassandra.
"I know how much you love these cakes. They make really good ones here. Their head baker is a French professional. Take a
bite and tell me if you like it."
Rufus smiled at her with empathetic eyes. He felt sorry for her. She had lost a lot of weight lately and needed to eat more so she
didn't look so weak.
"You've ordered too much food, Rufus. I cannot eat all of this!"
Cassandra said, looking at the cake and blushing with embarrassment. Although she truly loved these cakes, her stomach was
too full to devour the delicacy right now.
"I remember how much you like dried floss meat cake, too!
Why don't you have some?"

Cassandra passed the cake to Rufus.
"What? I never eat dried meat floss cake. I don't like it ever since I was a child. We can ask them to pack it if you're full. You can
take it home and eat it, in case you're hungry later,"
Rufus said as he started to eat his steak. But what he had just said startled Cassandra.
"What's wrong, honey?"
Rufus noticed her surprised face and asked with an earnest concern.
"No... nothing."
She was lost and confused. She didn't know where she could even begin to explain.
He simply gave her a smile, held out to squeeze her hand a few times reassuring himself that nothing was wrong, and continued
eating.
But Cassandra was overwhelmed with a mix of weird feelings.
She clearly remembered the day when she ran into Rufus and Amanda in the cake shop. She hid herself behind a plant pot to
observe them from a distance. It was then that she heard Amanda saying she wanted to buy Rufus's favorite cake for him.
Later that night, Rufus showed up at her door with a dried meat floss cake. Cassandra got pretty mad at him when she saw the
cake. She thought he was simply passing on the cake Amanda had bought for him.
But if he had never liked these cakes, as he told her just now, it meant that the cake he brought over wasn't the one Amanda had
bought for him.
Cassandra was deeply embarrassed, not knowing how to act.
Rufus cared for her, and remembered her likes and dislikes. He was just being thoughtful when he got the cake for her. And what
did she do? She misunderstood him and threw it into the trash can out of jealousy, instead of thanking him.
It was so petty of her to think like that. Their relationship was already hanging on a fragile thread at the time. That could be their
last chance at making this work.

She regretted her ill behavior and was upset with herself now. She wondered if there were any other things she had
misunderstood.
She always kept arguing about trivial things with Rufus, which was what ruined their relationship eventually.
She sat introspecting her mistakes, taking a deep breath. Finally, she took the cake, and flashed a genuine smile at Rufus as she
took a big bite from it.
Rufus raised his eyebrows, wondering what had changed her mind. But he didn't ponder upon it too much. As long as she ate it,
it didn't matter.
Cassandra hoped Rufus would notice it was her way of apologizing. All she wanted was to make up for her foolery.
"Cassandra? What a coincidence!"
Cassandra turned her head at the familiar voice to see Whitney and Courtney smiling at her.
Whitney looked classy and elegant as always. She was wearing a cheongsam with a fur coat over it. Courtney stood behind her,
reading Cassandra's face minutely.
"Auntie Whitney!"
Cassandra exclaimed and stood up, surprised. She hadn't seen Whitney in a long time.
"Hi! I just came back from abroad. I needed to take Courtney to see a few doctors. I heard about your father's company when I
came back... Why didn't you call me at the time? I could have helped you save it!"
Whitney's hand reached out for Cassandra's. She sounded genuinely sorry for whatever had happened. The next moment, her
eyes shifted to Rufus.
Whitney wasn't in constant touch with Cassandra. But she knew the girl and Rufus had gone through a lot. Their relationship
really wasn't easy to maintain.
"Anyway, Cassandra. We should head to our table and have dinner too. I'll see you next time. I do have something to tell you
tough."
She pressed her shoulder in an insinuating way, giving her an encouraging look. She didn't want to disturb her date with Rufus.

A waiter led Whitney and Courtney to a table away from them. Many customers had left, leaving a rather deserted atmosphere
around them. Only one girl sat at a table next to them, clicking innumerable selfies.
"Order whatever you like, Courtney. I remember how much you love the cakes in this restaurant."
Whitney looked at her daughter lovingly. Courtney's long hair covered her shoulders, falling smoothly, like black velvet.
She was doing much better now and had almost recovered fully. It made Whitney extremely glad to see her daughter living
normally. It had been so long since she was struggling. She deserved to get some peace.
Courtney smiled back at her and started to order. At the same time, a man came walking to the table next to them, and sat in
front of the girl. Courtney got dumbstruck the moment she saw his face.
Joel had just come back from the bathroom. Smiling, he sat down in front of the girl.
"The steak isn't ready yet?"
Joel asked, looking at her beautiful, adorable face.
"Yeah...It's been so long! I'm starving..."
she said sweetly, putting down her phone.
Whitney noticed how pale her daughter's face had suddenly become.
"Courtney, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
she asked, nervous and worried. Courtney clenched her fists tightly, her face gloomy and eyelids twitching. Whitney grabbed her
fists anxiously. Something was terribly wrong.
Her eyes looked horrified. Slowly, Courtney stood up and walked towards Joel, with her gaze fixed on him.
The man realized he was being stared at. He turned around and spotted Courtney, who seemed to have appeared by his side
suddenly. He didn't know what was wrong.
"Hi, young lady. Do I know you?"
Joel asked, completely clueless. He seemed to have completely forgotten Courtney.

"You...don't remember me?"
Courtney asked, slowly. The past started to come back to her as she stared at his face, which had retained in memory for what
seemed like forever.
She had been tortured by all those painful memories and nightmares. All that time, she had hidden her feelings. At last, she
couldn't suppress it anymore and resorted to injuring herself as a form of coping mechanism, hurting not only herself but also her
family.
Fortunately, she was rescued. Gradually, she understood hurting herself wasn't worth the man who had so heartlessly left her.
She decided to forget him, and not to waste her time thinking about him.
But here she was, face-to-face with him again. All the haunting memories came back to her, rendering her still like a dead man.