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

company gave Leo another flash disk and he handed it to Cassandra

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

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 was surprised to see the awe of

when he thought about the promise she made to him yesterday. He felt

results would be announced several days later. However, judging from the way they commended Cassandra, it was no doubt that Tang Group would win

gave her a bear hug after

You're the best!" she exclaimed

patted her on the back while casting a quick glance at Rufus.

his eyes, and it

she went blank when she was unable to demonstrate her plan, but she was hit by a sudden inspiration when her eyes met Rufus'. Then she

turned out to be perfect. Almost everyone in the room recognized her efforts.

brand known for quality, but she wondered how could it failed to work only several days after she

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

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.

would happen if Cassandralearned that her much-loved, sweet, little sister stole her flash disk from her, she must be brokenhearted.

time, Rufus walked towards them. Cassandra let go of her sister and reached out her hand to Rufus in an awkward attempt to

that Rufus would give her a hug just like Cloris did

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

red as Rufus gave her hand a

see if they can restore the data

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

that it almost ruined such a big occasion. So to make it up with what I have done, a good friend of mine is skilled at data restoring. Please give it to me and I'll fix it!"

that 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 was eager to take the disk with her. However, Cloris didn't know that her voice was quivering as she spoke, totally betraying the fear

placed her hand

company and it's improper for

she turned to face Rufus.

souvenir, and this will serve as an important lesson for me. It'll

confirmed what he needed to know. It made

immersed in his thoughts till he noticed that Cloris took a deep breath of relief after hearing that Cassandra wouldn't

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 and the aftershock would be much

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

your demonstration was thrilling and impressive, and I want to show you