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.

all the attendees were absorbed in

it to Cassandra immediately. Finally, all the

slowly unfolding in front of them. They had been impressed by her description,

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.

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

things and the results would be announced several days later. However, judging from the way

to Cassandra and gave her a bear hug after she stepped down from the rostrum.

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

patted her on the back while casting a quick glance at

couldn't help but notice the myriad expressions in his eyes, and it was filled

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

relief, it all turned out to be perfect. Almost everyone in the room recognized her efforts. All

the quality of her flash disk. It was made from a brand known for quality, but she wondered how could it

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

him earlier that Cloris went to the ladies' room before Cassandra's presentation. She looked tense and was gripping something in

Cassandralearned that her much-loved, sweet, little sister stole her flash disk from her, she must be

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

Rufus would give her a hug just like Cloris did in front of so many people. The shaking hands were her escape.

and he just went with the flow

as Rufus gave her hand a slight but endearing

it to the engineers to see if they can restore the data

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

and interrupted, "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 make it up with what I have done, a

Cloris had stealthily taken Cassandra's disk away and replaced it with another disk that was not working. She was scared that Rufus would learn the truth

and placed her hand over her

important for our company and it's improper for you to just take it to some friends of yours!"

she turned to face

keep the disk as a souvenir, and this

data at all, and he had already confirmed what he needed to know. It made no difference if Cassandra wanted

his thoughts till he noticed that Cloris took a deep breath of relief after hearing that Cassandra

as bright as before. She had no idea that a storm was on its way to shake her firm ground and the

were interrupted when Arthur stopped in front of Cassandra with his hand extended to

want to