A Graduation Gift

Cassandra felt her blood pound in her ears as Rufus walked closer to her. The sound of her heartbeat was deafening in the silent room. Her breath came out in short gasps. She gathered up some courage and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as she put her hands on his hard chest and tried to push when he stepped up to her.

"Go away!"

It happened in the blink of an eye, but Rufus seemed to have foreseen her move. He retreated swiftly, still staring at her. A sly grin surfaced on his face. Cassandra lost her balance, staggering forward a few steps. Her arms flailed as she reached out for support.

Just as her body was about to hit the floor, she tried to grasp at anything that would break her fall. Her hands gripped on the sleeves of the man, though it was not her intention. The sleeves weren't strong enough to entirely support her, so the accident occurred anyway. Cassandra's firm grip accidentally pulled Rufus forward and he lost his footing. They went down together with a thud.

Clumsily, Rufus fell right on top of her. It all happened so fast that he had no time to catch himself.

Cassandra had originally intended to push him away, but instead pulled him closer. Lying on the floor, she felt his heaviness press onto her and groaned in pain.

"Seems to me that you're always coming up with new ways to touch me,"

Rufus teased her, although he knew the fall wasn't intentional on her part. He flashed her a wicked smile as he looked down at her. They were so close that he could feel her breath on his skin. Before she had a chance to push him away once again, his lips descended on hers.

It was an abrupt and unexpected kiss. His lips moved against hers with urgency.

She kissed him back with fervor, but he pulled away at once.

"It's not very appropriate to do this here. Don't you think?" He gave her a naughty grin when he posed the deliberate question.

Cassandra opened her eyes as if waking from a dream, suddenly realizing that they had been kissing wantonly. Her face flushed with anger and shame as she pushed his chest once again. This time, she succeeded. Rufus swayed back as she sprang up and straightened her clothes, flustered.

"You shameless man!"

he up to? Once again, he had taken advantage of her. Her heart fluttered; whether out of guilt or excitement, she didn't know. She registered with shock that she hadn't, in fact, been averse to the kiss. Had she actually enjoyed

"You obviously enjoyed that,"

read the question in her mind. Cassandra blinked at him, too embarassed to admit the truth. He was trying to put her on edge. She turned her head to the side to show her discontent. Rufus bit

me! Don't think that I should be grateful to you just because

more and she narrowed her eyes at him. He wasn't wrong. She couldn't deny to herself that she had

on the table, the drug in

reputation beyond repair if someone caught her throwing herself at a

have that kind of clearance. Rufus put the

are you

thoughts. The expression on his face

never seen him look so serious before. It

is gone. Did

the hospital, Rufus took a look at the surveillance recordings of the night. He found that Joel was

in her coffee yesterday, and Joel was the obvious

Why would he do such a thing on her

the very first time I met him. Why would he do

She found herself in a conundrum and couldn't make head or tail of what had happened. Why

possibilities. One is that he was enchanted by your beauty," Rufus smirked, "the other is that he was assigned by someone else. Of course, the possibility of the former happening is almost negligible. Anyone in his right senses wouldn't be a victim of such an

over the woman in front of him

a contemptuous look. Suddenly something struck to her, making her

know who

suddenly had an idea of who had orchestrated the

Who would