A Graduation Gift

Cassandra sighed. Rufus was being too persistent, and she knew there was nothing she could do but give in. He wouldn't
change his mind once he had set it on something. "Do you really want to know? Are you sure about that?"
Cassandra asked, her eyebrows knitted in challenge as she looked up at Rufus who was pinning her down on the couch.
"Of course. I won't let you go until you tell me," he insisted, mirroring her earlier by raising his eyebrows himself.
Seeing the stubborn expression on his face, Cassandra took a deep breath, thinking where to begin.
"Get off me first. I can't talk properly like this. I won't escape, I promise. Then I'll tell you everything."
It was hard for her to breath with Rufus lying on top of her, his solid body framing hers. If she was going to be telling him
everything, she had to get him off first. He was already distracting enough from a safe distance. They were so close that she
could almost feel the flutter of his eyelids.
Rufus, damn him, of course knew it. The blush coloring her cheeks as she turned sideward to avoid his eyes told him more than
enough. Deciding to tease her, he moved a bit, holding up the upper side of his body with both arms and raising his chin a little.
"Here you go. This is more than enough space. Tell me now."
He lifted a hand to her chin and forced her to look at him. "I'm waiting, Cassandra." He grinned wickedly at her as his eyes
twinkled with mischief. With his arms around her, Cassandra was effectively trapped.
She knew that he would not let her go until her answer satisfied him. This bastard!
"Fine! It was a little boy, my first love ..."
But before she could proceed, she was interrupted by Rufus.
"It definitely wasn't a girl," he said, fighting back a chuckle and trying to keep a serious expression. "Please get to the point. What
was his name?"
Rufus narrowed his eyes at her, as if a beast focusing on its prey.
"To be honest, I didn't know his name..."
Cassandra lowered her voice in her embarrassment and Rufus was drawn back in genuine surprise.

"So you held a torch for him and never let him know?" Rufus found himself asking.
He knew she was timid, but he didn't expect that it was to the point of not being able to ask the name of the boy she was fond of.
"Maybe..."
Cassandra replied vaguely, and Rufus almost could not believe it, but he felt anxiety creep in his chest.
"What did he look like?"
he asked again, wanting to know more. That boy must have been very handsome, otherwise Cassandra wouldn't have had
feelings for him without knowing his name.
"He was the most beautiful boy I've ever seen in my life. I know that 'beautiful' isn't normally used to describe what a boy looks
like, but I can't think of any other fitting word,"
A mist rose from her eyes as she talked, as if she had lost herself in her remembrance.
"He was good-looking, gentle and tall! I hardly reached his chest that time.... Hee Hee!"
A smile found itself on her lips as she spoke. Rufus didn't miss the soft curve of her lips. A myriad of feelings weighed in his
chest as he watched her. It was almost painful. He fixed his eyes on her face, not even daring to blink for the fear that he would
miss any one of her expressions.
It was ridiculous that he, a grown man, would be this jealous over a boy who only resided in her memory.
"Who looks better? Me or him?" he blurted out, unable to stop himself from asking the nonsensical question.
He was almost embarrassed after hearing himself say it, but he found himself waiting eagerly for her answer.
Cassandra's smile grew wider with amusement. He pinched her on her waist when she just looked at him and did not answer.
"Ouch!" She slapped his hand. "Stop pinching me! You were the one who wanted to know!"
She let out a chuckle. Rufus knew it was ridiculous. It was he who forced the truth out from her, but in the meantime, he didn't
want her to say anything good about her first love. He was contradicting himself.

"Keep talking..." he said simply, then leaned close to her ears. "Or else ..." he whispered, trailing one of his hands dangerously
down her waist, to the spot where he had pinched her earlier.
It had the desired effect.
Cassandra hurried to raise her arms in surrender.
"Alright, alright! I get it. I won't stop until you know everything. So please don't interrupt me again!" she complained.
Honestly, there was also a part of her that was annoyed because he had cut her off from her fond remembrance abruptly, but she
decided to just let it go and continue.
"You better choose your words carefully. I'm not sure of what I would do if I don't like what I hear," Rufus said, in equal parts of
humor and threat.
Cassandra huffed again and continued. "He had always looked lovely. But of course, you're better than him. I was a little girl at
that time. People's tastes change over time,"
she explained, not wanting Rufus to freak out again.
Rufus held back a laugh and nodded at her to continue.
"The truth was that I only saw him once, but I had always kept him in my memories through my entire childhood. My heart would
grow tender every time I thought of him. Even now, I feel some sort of fondness when I remember..."
Her lips curled into a smile once again.
"He gave me a unicorn toy, and it was the very first toy I've ever received in my life. I've kept it for a long time. I even held it to
sleep every night, telling it of everything that happened around me—the good and the bad. It was my only source of comfort at
that time. I remembered the boy every time I saw the unicorn toy, and I would imagine that it was him listening to my stories, and
looking at me with his warm eyes."
Cassandra finished her story. Her eyelashes fluttered and she turned to Rufus silently, her eyes meaningful, as she waited for his
response.
From above her, Rufus stared at his woman with wide eyes.

"The boy you're talking about...It's me, right?" he asked in a low voice.
His throat was dry, but he managed to pronounce each word clearly.
He couldn't believe his own ears and wondered if he was only imagining what he wanted her to say.
Her warm hand pulled him back to reality. She smiled up at him and said, "Right, it was you. It has always been, and will always
be you and nobody else. I didn't know when it started, but before I knew it, my feelings have been planted deep and just grown
bigger day after day. I was thinking of the boy all the time. I remembered the warmth from his fingers when he was passing the
unicorn to me. Every time I thought of him, everything seemed a little more hopeful, no matter how desperate I was."