A Graduation Gift

In Cassandra's office, the Tang Group business went on as usual.
"This document is not specific enough. Please recollect the data and give it to me before you go off duty...
NIC, follow these cases. We must finish them and sign the contract before the alliance election. It's very important...
Give these materials to Mr. Luo.
And don't forget to let him sign on the contract..."
Across the sofa from Cassandra, Stella sat cupping her chin and looking at her with a sad face.
Though they were supposed to go to yoga together on their day off, Cassandra was just informed that she needed to work
overtime, and their plan went up in smoke.
Almost pouting, Stella stared at the woman who immersed herself in work, wanting to be indulged even a little.
"Alas...
I've never seen a woman work so hard...like you."
With a moan and shake of the head, Stella leaned back against the sofa in disappointment.
Her words amused Cassandra at once, she raised her head to find that Stella was bored to death.
"I've never heard of a public relations manager urging her colleague to loaf on the job," she teased with a playful smile.
Upon hearing this, Stella suddenly sat up straight and pretended to look dignified.
"Manager Qin, I apologize for what I've said. I hope you enjoy your work and don't need any time to relax and find a boyfriend."
Cassandra's heart sank upon hearing the term, 'boyfriend.' She thought in her heart, 'So Stella still doesn't know I've married
Lionel...
We have been very close yet I keep her in the dark. What if she knows my real identity? Could we still joke like this?'
Feeling disheartened at such thoughts, her smile gradually faded as she lowered her head and went back to work.

'I have a sister who doesn't believe me and a mother who treats me like a tool. My husband...we are a couple only in name.
Although I have a best friend, I can't tell her everything about me.'
Noticing that Cassandra lowered her head again, Stella was in a fret.
"I'm so bored that I'm about to fall asleep."
Without facing her, Cassandra beamed.
"I'll have someone prepare you a cup of coffee."
At the offer, Stella stood up and refused with a wave of a hand.
"Never mind, I can do it myself. It's kind of like my exercise."
Looking up at her friend, Cassandra nodded with a faint smile.
"Make a cup for me too. I prefer extra sugar please. The coffee bean tastes so bitter."
Replying with a gesture, Stella left the office and headed to the tea room.
Only Stella was in the room until a voice called out suddenly as she was about to pour sugar into the coffee.
"Don't move!"
Frightened by the voice, she almost spilled the drinks as she trembled.
Turning around to glare at the man who scared her, she accused him with a frown.
"You almost gave me a heart attack! This is my day off. What if I died in the tea room? Would I be compensated?"
Her raised voice put Victor in an awkward position. While Stella had the gift of gab, he was a man of few words, putting him at a
loss for what to do to ease her anger.
"I... I was in a hurry to..."
Stella didn't let him finish.
"What are you in a hurry for, hmm? Don't move? Are you pretending to be a policeman?"

As she told him off, Victor was absent-minded, only really seeing her lips opening and closing instead of arguing for himself.
"I don't know why Mr. Luo has chosen you to be his personal assistant. If you can't defend yourself now, you're good for nothing!"
'A handsome man clumsy at speech. What a pity!' she thought.
Staring at him in disappointment, she could only feel exasperated at his failure to defend himself.
Turning around, she flipped her hair back and continued to pour the sugar into her coffee. Suddenly, Victor took hold of her hand.
Surprised, Stella dilly-dallied for a while, thinking that she would remember the feeling of his hand forever.
It was warm and his palms were callused, putting her at ease.
After a few seconds, he snapped back to reality and pulled his hand back immediately.
"I'm sorry. I...I just want to explain!"
As it was his first time to touch a woman of his age, he was too nervous to blurt out a coherent sentence. He was ineloquent,
which was why Rufus appointed him to the role of his personal assistant and bodyguard. A man of few words was more suitable
to solve problems where Rufus couldn't step up.
After he entered the Tang Group, Victor came to know of Stella, a woman who left him with an impression of self-contradiction.
While she was a strong woman with excellent productivity during work hours, she seemed more like a child at other times, being
aggressive and unreasonable.
She was so eloquent that few people in the company dared to argue with her.
'Her temper is terrible. I shouldn't pay much attention to her. But...
why do I like the way she gets angry?
What's wrong with me?'
On the other hand, Stella hadn't come back down to Earth yet. The feeling of Victor's hand on hers came as an electric shock,
even though she had been in several relationships in the past.
Pointing at the sugar in her hand, Victor tried to explain himself in a nervous tone.

"Manager Qin needs extra sugar in her coffee. I forgot that..."
Looking at the sugar in her hand and then at the sugar box, Stella realized that the one in her hand was the last package of
sugar. Victor didn't have enough and must have come back for this one.
'But...
Victor is Rufus's assistant, isn't he? Why does he send coffee to Cassandra from the top floor?
Does he have feelings for her?'
Such thoughts entered her mind and her heart ached as her imagination ran wild.
To test her theory, she looked up at Victor and tried to figure something out from his expression. Noticing a blush creep across
his face, she thought, 'Well, he looks happy to make coffee for her.'
Stella simply put the sugar on the table and pointed at it.
"Here you go. Help yourself."
Taking the sugar in his hand, Victor left the tea room quickly for fear that something strange would happen between them again.
His heart was going a mile a minute the moment he touched Stella's hand and he couldn't restore his calm even as he found his
way to Cassandra's office.
After Victor left, Stella was lost in thought. 'Since Victor has prepared coffee for Cassandra, I don't need to make her another
cup.
Alas, he is probably helping her stir her coffee right this second.'
In her mind Stella picture the whole scene. Victor leaned in close to pour sugar into Cassandra's coffee, and stirred it well before
handing the coffee to her as she looked at him with a warm smile.
Then, Cassandra held the coffee in her hand as the two locked their gazes with one another.
The afternoon sun was casting its spell on them. How beautiful the picture was.
With the sweet and warm air around them, they looked like a couple that came out of a movie.

Shaking her head furiously to stop her from getting ahead of herself, Stella pursed her lips. 'What am I doing? They're both
single, so it's natural if they like each other. I don't need to overthink it.'
Taking a sip of her coffee, she realized it was so bitter that she almost cried out.
To dilute the bitterness, she intended to pour some more sugar into it when she remembered that Victor had just taken away the
last packet of sugar.
With vague sadness, she recalled the moment when she first saw Victor. 'He looks like a tree when he stands next to Rufus...so
why couldn't he speak even a word before me?
An ineloquent man with a handsome face and warm hands...'
There was no stopping Stella's mind from thinking about the man.
'My God! Have I fallen in love with him? What's wrong with me?'
Getting overwhelmed with such emotion, Stella shocked herself with her own idea and tried to sweep it away. 'No, it's impossible.
I can't fall in love with such a fool.
I have to stop thinking about him!'
Taking a final gulp of the coffee, she clenched the disposable paper cup in frustration.
'Stella! It's a good day outside. You should take a walk instead of wasting time here.
In fact, it should be a good thing if Cassandra starts dating Victor.'
After thinking firmly to herself and making a decision to get over the fact, she left Cassandra a message and headed out of the
building. After the little episode in the tea room, Stella thought she should take the Yoga class alone.
Meanwhile, Cassandra was having a taste of Rufus's coffee. A cup of freshly brewed coffee was the best gift for the woman who
had been working hard all morning.