A Graduation Gift

Cold sweats were running down Cassandra's forehead. She didn't know what to do considering that she was the center of attraction and everyone was staring at her. She stood awkwardly alone on the rostrum with her face as pale as the bare walls. Obviously, there was something wrong with her.

Arthur knitted his eyebrows in confusion and anxiously leaned back in his chair.

"What's going on with her?" he tilted his head to his assistant and asked.

His assistant, however, just shrugged his shoulder because he had no idea what was happening. Judging from their previous experiences in doing businesses with the Tang Group, they had witnessed what Cassandra was capable of and they dared not to underestimate her.

They had come and prepared for whatever Cassandra had in store for them, but now it seemed that it was the other way around. Something wrong was happening to her.

Rufus sensed the oddity in the way Cassandra held the flash disk on her clenched fist. He stood up without any hesitation, walked to the organizers and whispered something to them.

He was planning to ask them to give Cassandra another thirty minutes. That would buy Leo some time to go back and fetch a backup copy. He was surprised when Cassandra had braced herself and snapped back right away.

She waved up the flash disk for everyone to see and slowly explained her tight spot.

"It seemed that my flash disk has decided to leave me hanging alone, and it's not good timing," she spoke in no hurry as she shrugged her shoulders with a helpless expression on her face.

Everyone present in the room smiled at her frankness.

"The reason I bought this flash disk was that it got the coolest, most attractive, and had the most unique appearance amongst all the products of the same brand, but it turned out that it didn't serve its purpose. It has a nice appearance but of little use," she continued.

The room was filled with laughter.

Rufus straightened his back and fixed his eyes on Cassandra interestingly.

He was curious about what she would say next.

Then, she changed the topic.

"When I was a little girl, I thought that the most important thing in a certain design was an attractive appearance, but the longer I worked in this industry and the more I learned, the better I understand that the final purpose of design is practicality. The utility should not be sacrificed on behalf of beauty," she narrated emotionally.

The audience she was speaking to was a group of experts when it came to design and architecture. Thus everyone seemed to get the implication of her statement as they nodded their heads in approval.

They had seen the designs of both Tang Group and Dawn Star Group in the past. The former was conservative and practical while the latter focused on the novel appearance. To cover up the unexpected emergency brought about by her broken flash disk, Cassandra compared and contrasted the two design plans taking the example of her own experience.

In the next few minutes, she briefly introduced her design and the reasons behind such a proposal.

small incident earlier, all the attendees were absorbed in the picture she portrayed.

from the company gave Leo another flash disk and he handed it to Cassandra immediately. Finally, all the attendees were able to view a concrete

they heard slowly unfolding in front of them. They had been impressed by her description, and the pictures gave them

on his chair when he realized that there was no need for him to help her out. Cassandra's wit saved her and perfectly solved the crisis. Her misfortune turned out to be an actual blessing. Rufus

his face when he thought about the promise she made to him yesterday. He felt elated and the cause of it all

be announced several days later. However, judging from the way they commended

bear hug after she stepped down from the rostrum.

job, Cassandra! You're the best!" she

patted her on the back while casting a quick glance at

myriad expressions in his eyes, and it was filled with joy and

by a sudden inspiration when her eyes met Rufus'. Then she gathered up

be perfect. Almost everyone in the room recognized her efforts. All went

despised the quality of her flash disk. It was made from a brand known for quality, but she wondered how could it failed to work only several

eyes away from Cassandra and fixed them on Cloris. He looked at

texted him earlier that Cloris went to the ladies' room before Cassandra's presentation. She looked tense and was gripping something in her hands. Moreover, he

her much-loved, sweet, little sister stole her flash

towards them. Cassandra let go of her sister and reached out her hand to

just like Cloris did in front of so many people. The

her hand, and he just went with the flow and looked at her

red as Rufus gave her

your flash disk. I'll take it to the engineers to see if they can restore the data in it," he asked

in a voice loud enough for Cloris to hear. He did that on purpose so he could gauge

"I was the one who recommended the flash disk to Cassandra the other day, and I feel so guilty that it almost ruined such a big occasion. So to

another disk that was not working. She was scared that Rufus would learn the truth and was eager to take the

to Cloris and placed

and it's improper for you to just take it to some friends of yours!" she scolded her.

she turned to face Rufus.

it can be restored or not. I'll just keep the disk as a souvenir, and this will serve as an important lesson for me. It'll

didn't care about the data at all, and he had already confirmed what he needed to know. It

he noticed that Cloris took a deep

that a storm was on its way

in front of Cassandra with his hand extended to congratulate

and I want to show you my appreciation.