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.

the company gave Leo another flash disk and he handed it to Cassandra immediately. Finally, all the attendees

a wonderful experience for them to see with their own eyes the things they heard slowly unfolding in front of them. They had been impressed by her description, and the pictures gave them another visual shock. They praised

wit saved her and perfectly solved the crisis. Her misfortune turned out to be an actual blessing. Rufus was surprised to see the awe of impression on

made to him yesterday. He felt elated and the cause of it all was

later. However, judging from the way they commended Cassandra, it was no doubt that Tang Group would win the bidding this time.

bear hug

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

the back while casting

his eyes, and it was filled

but she was hit by a sudden inspiration when her eyes met Rufus'. Then she gathered up all her

out to be perfect. Almost everyone in the room recognized her efforts. All went well and ended

from a brand known for quality, but she wondered how could it failed

slowly averted his eyes away from Cassandra and fixed them on Cloris.

earlier that Cloris went to the ladies' room before Cassandra's presentation. She looked tense and was gripping something in her hands. Moreover, he heard a weird tinkling of something metal colliding with the lavatory.

much-loved, sweet, little

go of her sister and reached out her hand to Rufus in an awkward attempt to shake his

just like Cloris did in front of so

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

gave her hand a slight but

engineers to see if they

voice loud enough for Cloris to hear. He did

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

disk that was not working. She was scared that Rufus would learn the truth and was eager to take the disk with her. However, Cloris didn't

to Cloris and placed

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

turned to face Rufus.

souvenir, and this will serve as

care about the data at all, and he had already confirmed what he needed to

deep breath of relief after hearing that

aside, the smile on Cassandra's face was as bright as before. She had no idea that a storm was on its way to shake her firm ground

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

want to show you my appreciation. Congratulations!"