A Graduation Gift

Upon hearing Horace's words, Jenks Tong looked towards the woman and smiled.
Then, he said with pleasure, "You're Cassandra Qin. Am I right?"
Cassandra had tried to hide her face by lowering her head and letting her hair cover her face, from the second the old man
entered the room. She didn't want him to notice her.
However, her efforts failed, as he easily picked her out of the crowd, calling her by name.
With no place to hide anymore, she raised her head and met his gaze. Everyone in the room was staring at her.
Apparently, he was not surprised to see Cassandra here at all.
She didn't realize that the man had known who she was the day they met.
Anyway, Cassandra put herself together and said, "Nice to meet you, Director Tong."
There was not much to say. The only thing on her mind now was the story she had shared earlier about the canary and the
birdcage. She feared that he would let slip the story.
She shouldn't have worried at all, as Jenks gave nothing away concerning their meeting. Instead, he went straight to discussing
the construction of a new branch of the hospital with Horace.
At the end of their conversation, Jenks praised, "Rufus is a great man. Two days ago, he came to me and floated an idea for the
project and I must say I was impressed. That's why I chose your company."
Hearing the praises heaped on Rufus, Horace smiled with satisfaction. It gave him great joy to hear someone speak so highly of
his son.
Jill, however, wasn't happy about the new development. Two years ago at a dinner party, she remembered Mrs. Tong agreeing to
Lionel taking up the same project.
She wondered why Rufus was getting a deal to which his brother had already committed. Did Horace find it right to shortchange
one son for the other?
If things went on like this, Jill feared Lionel would eventually lose his current position at the Tang Group.

The only consolation she found in the whole arrangement was that Horace still needed Cassandra to undertake most of the
major construction projects, like this one. But then again, Cassandra too would lose, if Rufus was to be favored against everyone
else.
Out of the blue, Lionel cut in, with an unrelated subject. Listening to Horace, he had noticed how willingly his old man agreed to
an arrangement that would unsettle their earlier deal. So Lionel decided to disrupt their scheme. For now, all that he needed was
just something downplay the discussion. If he could derail their meeting, that would allow him time to plot a come back. He
wasn't going to stand on the fence and watch his brother gain unfair advantage.
"By the way, Father, Cassandra and I are planning to have a child. I wonder if Uncle Jenks could recommend one of his doctors.
Maybe we'ill need some help along the line."
The diversion worked like magic. No one in the room had seen that coming.
Horace burst into laughter at once.
As a fact, he knew that Lionel's marriage to Cassandra was the result of pressure from the two families. The parents on both
sides had their own interests in forcing the marriage. But now, everyone knew that Cassandra and Lionel did not get along well
with each other. Why did Lionel seem to have such a sudden change of heart?
Something was not adding up. For example, Lionel for the very first time had taken Cassandra to the hospital. All the other times,
when she needed medical attention, he had left it to his parents to take her to the doctor. But since they came back from the
hospital, Lionel seemed to have changed, although Horace doubted if that was for the better. In particular, the old man had
realized the abrupt, almost make-believe manner of Lionel. 'Why is he suddenly trying to feign affection for Cassandra?' Horace
only hoped that the young man would change for real.
"You should have had a baby earlier. If you did there would be more laughter in this house, and especially you'd have saved your
mother unnecessary stress!"
The old man's reprimanding voice made Jill uncomfortable.
But she agreed. She'd be a happier woman if Lionel had a child. More so, a son - the first grandson of Horace. That would give
Lionel a bigger chunk of inheritance. A big advantage over of his half-brother, Rufus, who was still unmarried.
Listening to the unexpected talk, Cassandra got very concerned. 'So this is what Lionel didn't want me know earlier.
A baby? With Lionel?'

That's ridiculous! Cassandra had never even thought of it.
She was sick of his touch, let alone having a baby with him.
Reacting to the unnecessary drama, Rufus clenched his fists in anger, forgetting that he had a wound.
It was Cloris who first noticed the blood on Rufus's gauze and in a panicked voice interrupted the meeting.
"Rufus! Is your wound bleeding again?" she asked, trembling.
When Cassandra turned to look, she was mortified by the sight of blood soaking through his gauze and the furious way he
clenched the fist.
"That's too much bleeding. Call the driver now. We must send him to the hospital!"
Horace ordered immediately.
"I'll go with him!"
Cloris volunteered.
More anxious than anyone else in the room, Cassandra couldn't turn her eyes away from the red gauze. Her heart raced, feeling
his pain cut through her. But she fought to hide her feelings, especially with Lionel and Jenks nearby.
The former was suspecting an affair between her and Rufus, while the latter knew her story about the birdcage.
If she did anything wrong, they would all suspect her intention. So, to keep her emotions in check, she bit her lip and lowered her
head, to avoid looking at Rufus.
After Cloris and Rufus had left the hall, Horace and Jenks's conversation continued for a while before Jenks took his leave.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Lionel dragged Cassandra to their bedroom.
As soon as he closed the door, Cassandra tightly grasped her neckline.
With an unyielding voice, she cautioned, "Lionel, we are only nominal couple. You can't unilaterally decide to have a baby. That's
not going to happen!"
But with an air of arrogance, Lionel loosened his tie and approached the little woman gradually.

"Haven't you read the Marriage Law?" he asked nonchalantly. "As your husband, I'm legally entitled to conjugal rights. You know
what that means?"
An oppressive aura filled the room, completely surrounding Cassandra. She feared she'd suffocate.
Desperate for an escape route, she looked around the room. She knew that Lionel wouldn't easily relent.
Somehow, her nervousness moved his heart. On instinct, he wanted to comfort her, and allay her fears.
But when he stretched his hand to stroke her face, she tightly closed her eyes and bit his fingers.
Little had Lionel expected such a strong resistance. He had terribly underestimated her hatred toward him.
When his hand started to bleed, he stared at the wound in disbelief.
"Cassandra, are you insane? How could you bite me?" he shouted.
But Cassandra didn't mind whatever he thought of her. Unafraid of him, she just stood there and watched, anticipating his next
move.
"Lionel Tang, you're such a jerk!
Do you even remember your promises?" she sneered. 'Did she just call me a jerk?' Lionel thought.
Then he teased, "Don't you forget that we are legally married! As long as we are married, I deserve my conjugal rights! And by
the way, if you have anything against our marriage, you should blame it on your father. He desperately pleaded with my family for
this marriage,"
Lionel said with derision.
After listening to him gloat, Cassandra reminded him, "As you said, our marriage was only meant to serve the interests of our
families. There's absolutely nothing like love between you and me. Why would you want us to have a kid, whom we all know
we'd end up hating? What satisfaction would it give you, getting a kid whose mother you loath, disparage and mistreat? Would it
fulfill you to have a miserable, neglected child?"
Suddenly, Lionel stood up and walked past her toward the closet. He took out a quilt and threw it to Cassandra.

Then he pointed at the sofa and said conclusively, "That's where you'll sleep tonight!"
Then, he went to the bathroom.
At the door, just before he went in, he warned without turning to look back, "Don't try to escape, or I'll sexual assault you right
here and now!"
By the tone of his voice, Cassandra knew he wasn't kidding.
'But it looks like I'll be fairly safe if I play along today... Is it because of what I've told him? Have my words touched him that
much?' she wondered.
Weighing her options, she really hoped that Lionel wouldn't change his mind. Out of fear, she wrapped herself tightly with the
quilt, and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
In earnest, she prayed to God that Lionel wouldn't touch her. Not today, or any other day.
Meanwhile, a Rolls-Royce Phantom roared in the evening wind and rain.
On the back seat was Rufus, being driven back to the Tangs' residence from the hospital.
His tightly bandaged hand would probably not be able to bend for a week.
Beside him was an apparently tired Cloris, who had fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.
Rufus watched rain drops falling on the window and sliding down in slow rivulets.
Suddenly his phone rang. An incoming call from Victor, who in a low voice reported, "Well, at least he didn't force Cassandra to
have sex with him.
It seems she's pretty safe at least for now."
Rufus looked at the Cloris who was still asleep, and answered in a low voice as well, "Have someone to keep monitoring them. If
something happens, you know what to do."
Rufus then hung up the phone and heaved a sigh of relief.
'That's a good news but... it can be actually a bad news, ' he thought.

'Why didn't Lionel force her to sleep with him after the announcement? Could he be planning something else that we can't guess
at the moment?'
But no matter what was in Lionel's mind, Rufus would stop him, if he wanted to hurt Cassandra.
What Lionel didn't know was that he was being watched and there was already someone close by to deter him if he dared touch
Cassandra. Right now, on the foliage-covered wall near the window of his bedroom, a man in all black was lurking in the
shadows like Spiderman, watching and ready to strike at any moment if Lionel crossed the red line.
Just in case something happened, Rufus was well-prepared as always.
Information was an asset in this battle. And on that score, he was ahead of the game.
On this cold night in the late autumn, a hawk-eyed Rufus squinted, waiting for the real storm ahead.