A Graduation Gift

Edith trotted to her daughters hurriedly and stopped right between, her eyes darting sternly between the two of them silently.
"Okay! The two of you need to sit down and work things out! Sit down, now! I am not allowing any of you to leave this house until
we get to the bottom of this!"
She had just gotten the whole story and was shocked to find the truth of what was happening between her daughters. Her
expression clearly stated that she had realized she had been a bad mother and that none of them had bothered to talk to her
about it.
Cloris had had a problem with Cassandra ever since she came back from abroad, and Edith used to think Cloris hated
Cassandra because of her relationship with Rufus, but only now did she understand the case. She had never imagined that the
sisters had gotten into such a mess.
Cloris sighed, giving a disgruntled, sharp look in Cassandra's direction.
"Mother, I have nothing to say. It happened so long ago and I had no evidence whatsoever. It's not like she would simply admit
it," she said with an impatient snort. One could sense how she just wanted to get this over with.
Seeing the halfhearted look on Cloris's face, Edith glowered at her.
"I said sit down! Don't you dare leave!" she spoke in a low voice through her teeth.
Edith seldom talked to Cloris in this way, so the shock was evident on her face. Reluctantly, Cloris sat down on the sofa.
"Cassandra, sit down. You too, Rufus, but don't say anything. This is strictly a family matter, and I want both my daughters to
give me an explanation for this mess!"
Edith wore a tough look. Frankly, she couldn't believe she didn't try to figure out the reason for the tension between them earlier.
Under their mother's strict order, Cassandra and Cloris sat down, but as far away from each other as possible. Edith sat in the
middle. She looked from one to the other, her eyebrows pressed together.
"Cloris, you go first! Tell me what exactly happened that night, spare no detail."
She decided to listen to Cloris's side of the story first.

Cloris hesitated for a while and cast a glance at Rufus. What she was about to say required courage and could cause a glitch in
her reputation. She couldn't utter a single word in his presence.
Rufus immediately got what was on her mind.
"I'm gonna go for a smoke," he said, trying to sound casual.
He then left the room without any hesitation.
Cloris told them what had happened that night from the beginning to the end, occasionally glaring at Cassandra furiously.
Although, it had been a while since it happened, she still felt terrified at its memory.
"I know it was her after what he said, even though he didn't say a lot,"
Cloris said resentfully with her eyes fixed on Cassandra, as if she could swallow her alive.
"Did you see him again later?" Cassandra asked.
She was lost deeply in thoughts, wondering why Arthur was involved here at all. It wasn't as easy as Cloris thought.
"He was taken away by the police. Why would I take the trouble and see him again?"
Cloris blurted out as if it was the stupidest question Cassandra could have asked.
"If you called the police, you would have had to go to the police station to give your statement as a victim. Isn't that common
sense?" Cassandra explained.
A new thought struck her like a silver dagger. She let out a sneer. The whole matter was suddenly as clear to her as water. This
had to be another scheme made by Arthur. But why did he keep plotting against her again and again?
Cloris was dumbstruck. She felt like she had missed out on an important detail, but she remembered the rest of it clearly.
"Maybe... because the captain knew Arthur and wanted to protect me, he refused to take me to the station..." Cloris said
rightfully, defending Arthur.
She was afraid something would get him in trouble and ruin his reputation in front of Edith.
It seemed like Cloris and Cassandra were about to start fighting again. To control the situation, Edith banged the table loudly.

"If he really was taken away by the police, there might be a record. I have an acquaintance at the police station too, and I can
ask him to look into it. But Cloris, what were you thinking when you decided not to tell me about this? I'm your mother and it's my
duty to look after you and protect you. You made a terrible mistake, my dear!"
Edith looked at Cloris with tender affection, thinking about how she herself had been a bad mother to them. Her own daughter
didn't come to her for help even when she was at the verge of being raped.
"Do you really think it would've made a difference had I told you? Truth of the matter is that she also is your daughter and I didn't
have any evidence to prove I was right," Cloris argued.
She talked bitterly. The resentment she had carried within herself could be heard clearly in her tone.
"Then, if you were simply suspicious and weren't sure, how could you hate your sister? Do you even know about the effort she
made to take hold of the entire company by herself when you went to study abroad? She had to scrimp and save to pay your
bills. She even sold her car. She did all that so you could live your life and afford your tuition and living expenses. She was
behind all of that!"
Edith spoke earnestly, patting the table gently as she tried to make a point. Cloris was spoiled since her childhood days but it
surprised her that she still couldn't distinguish between good and bad.
"Think about your classmates. Most of the students from middle-class families were working to support themselves and then take
a look at your own hands!"
She grabbed one of Cloris's hands while she spoke. Her fingers were long and thin. They looked delicate and bore no callouses.
"Do you recall doing any menial work with your own hands? All you cared about was getting manicures! Did you ever give a
thought about who is providing you with these privileges and a life of luxury? It was your father before and it's your sister now."
Edith's voice started to shake at this point. She recalled the things Cassandra had been through these past months and
continued going through even now. It broke her heart to learn how much Cloris hated Cassandra despite the sacrifices she had
made for her.
Both of them were equal to Edith now, even though she had been partial in the past. She loved and cherished them equally,
especially now after learning the reason of the dispute between them. Until now, she had simply been regretting sending
Cassandra to a small town at such a young age.

Cassandra too was supposed to grow up in her parents' care like a little princess the way Cloris had, without a care of the world.
But it was due to the disputes between Cloris and her that she was sent away by her own parents resolutely and left to grow up
all alone in a small town. That was the reason she evolved into an introverted person when she finally came back. She wasn't as
lively and cheerful as other girls, who had had a comfortable and loving childhood.
"Cloris, you've been willful since you were a baby. It's Cassandra who has been endlessly making concessions for you. Your
father and I indulged your tantrums all the time. But has it ever occurred to you that that's only because we are your family?
Nobody else will tolerate that and be all nice and rosy to you. I know you and Arthur have already broken up once. If he really
cared about you, why would he break up with you? Have you ever given a thought to that?"
Edith had just learned about their breakup a few days ago. She hadn't paid much attention to it at the time although she did feel
unpleasant about it. But things were different now. After hearing what Cloris had said about that night, she suspected Arthur was
simply using her.
She was certain Cassandra would never hire anyone to hurt her sister. She knew her elder daughter well enough, but Arthur, not
long enough. It was hard to understand a man, especially a businessman. She wasn't sure whether he was cheating on them or
not.
"Arthur would never do that to me, Mother!" Cloris shouted.
She was actually touched by her mother's words but she refused to suspect her boyfriend.
She had always had a freehand with money. She bought whatever she liked in the blink of an eye, regardless of the cost, but she
never thought of where the money was coming from.
She stole a quick glance at her sister, who was as frail as herself. Her face turned red when she thought that all the money she
had wasted was earned by Cassandra. It was as if something gnawed at her heart.
Still, she absolutely disagreed with her mother regarding the things she had said about Arthur.
Arthur was always so nice to her. He bought everything she wanted, he was sweet and a gentleman of scholarly bearing. He
would never do such despicable things.
"Okay, Cloris, let's stop here with you. Cassandra, talk about your problem,"
Edith patted on the table again and instructed Cassandra to start. But Cassandra found it hard to say anything and hesitated.

"Well? What are you waiting for, Cassandra? Tell me what you're thinking now. Hurry up! Edith urged.
She was annoyed now. Neither of her daughters seemed interested to make her worries go away. But they had gone too far now,
and they all needed this heart-to-heart session.
But Cassandra felt like a drop of water spattered onto a pan full of boiling oil.
She had just learned why her little sister hated her so much and was still shocked to find she had been framed the entire time.
This feeling was terrible.
It was possible that Arthur had plotted all of this.
Cassandra felt uneasy and restless, like there was a ticking time bomb that could explode any time.
Without a doubt, it was Arthur who had incited Cloris to steal her flash disk. Cloris was tricky but could never make such a
seamless plan, let alone carry it into action.
It was impossible for her to have come up with such a master plan on her own. The plan had been neat and foolproof. Only one
truth remained.
It was Arthur who planned all this. They broke up when Cloris couldn't help him last time but he came back to her now just so he
could frame Cassandra. He didn't love her and he was simply playing her like a chess piece.
It annoyed Cassandra that he had set her up using her own sister, more than once!
She felt her heart sinking but she didn't know how to provide an explanation to her mother as Edith waited for one, scanning her
face for answers.
She couldn't tell her mother that Lionel misunderstood her because Cloris had stolen her disk. She couldn't tell her he accused
her furiously with his finger pointed at her nose. She couldn't tell her that she was helping Horace after that embarrassing divorce
with his son.
Her mother would probably think of her as a nut if she found out any of these.
Cassandra couldn't explain why she would still help the Tang family while she paid negligible attention to the dispute between
herself and Cloris. What if her mother didn't understand?