A Graduation Gift

So can you tell me what kind of animal is a deer?

The encyclopedia says, The deer is an even-toed ungulate. They are mammals that belonged to the Cervidae family. Typical characteristics among deers include long, powerful legs, a diminutive tail, and etc. The males tend to be larger than the females, generally, and in most species, only males possess antlers. There is a wide diversity of deers and according to legends, those deers pulling Santa Claus' sleigh are called elks.

He was beginning to entertain the idea that Cassandra was more like a deer, and he found it interesting. Yet he was at a loss of words to comment.

On the back of his mind, he searched for images of the deer he had seen and looked at Cassandra at the same time. Doing so made his perception even stronger, indeed Cassandra resembled a deer—a graceful and elegant one.

Drowned by the noise of the bustling crowd, he raised his voice and shouted out to Cassandra, "See you later! Miss Deer!"

Without turning back, Cassandra placed her hands on her head, imitating the antlers of a deer.

Her silly respond caused him to draw a sweet smile. Looking down at the business card, he couldn't help but keep on repeating her name on his mind, "Cassandra Qin, Cassandra..."

Cassandra, on the other hand, didn't look back, as her tears had begun to streak down her delicate face.

She didn't like the idea of crying in front of a stranger. The tears came so suddenly and so unexpected that all she wanted was to be somewhere far from that place.

Having such a shallow tears, she cried at the thought of the deer. She had once watched a documentary about deers.

In the documentary, deer usually inhabited the vast forest.

As beautiful and mild as they were, they were timid but alert at all times.

Poaching the deer's coat had endangered majority of its species. In order to get the deer's beautiful fur, poachers exerted a variety of extremely brutal means.

The most brutal one was to take advantage of the deer's kindness.

The poachers would first hunt a fawn or a baby deer so as to lure the adult deer they wanted to kill. The fawn would serve as the bait to catch the bigger deer.

The deer would be allowed to come near the fawn before finally shot to death.

Cassandra closed her eyes to stop the tears from falling, yet the tears won't stop.

Her heart sympathized the deer. Just like a helpless deer, she was set up by her own sister.

The fawn this time was so dear to her that the moment she caught sight of it, she immediately drew near. She had no idea that there were poachers lurking around the corner waiting to shoot her.

Yet for the deer, its death would be simpler. Whilst on Cassandra's case it was more complicated. The fawns laid in front of her gave her no choice. They all lead to certain death.

She had no options - she was forced to live with Grace Zhang in the small town when she was young; sadly when she grew into a lovely lady, she had to marry Lionel who she didn't love, and become unexpectedly attached to Rufus in an affair, and worst of all, be deeply hurt by Cloris, her own sister.

Why on earth would all the betrayal and misery happen to her? What had she done to deserve all these?

wind kept her company over the whole span of her childhood. Whenever she dreamed of that place, she could always smell the

had passed away a couple of years ago. Since her death, Cassandra had never gone back to that place. For her, Grace's death was not just a loss of a second mother or a friend, it was a loss of a

had been so cruel with her all this

I do to free myself from all these

heavy heart, she had no idea that she was

he was watching her desolate look, her engaging conversation with the stranger, and her bitter tears

for her. He didn't want to see her in such a

reassuring hug. He wanted to

sad that she couldn't hold her tears despite the inquisitive gaze of the passers-by

heightened by the snowflakes that drifted down profusely

the winter. It has frozen her already-numbed

and everyone was hurrying to where they were going as if threatened by the melancholy

tree. The girl squeezed her

is snowing! Wow, this is amazing!" the

of the girl's excitement. 'Snow and winter are not fun! It would be cold and the streets would be slippery, no fun

cold! They look odd. But why? Why a part of

the snow was falling heavier, she looked for

or occupied every time she hailed one, maybe that was because of the heavy snow.

the bus instead. She thought,

The dense crowd and the

what stopped her was the question

Qin family? No way, she had been married off, and she wasn't supposed to return to her maiden home.

cottage she had lived

Oh! The confusion took its toll upon her, she felt her heart... was twisted

what to do, just sat on the bench at

She wanted all her pains to just drift away with the buses, she wished they could

of the song was faintly borne along with the busy bus station.

clearly remembered the title. It was called 'Contentment' by

rainbow, how to embrace the summer wind. The stars

will I collect and have them? If someone but me makes you happy, could it be that

for you. When your back disappears

into her senses, 'Maybe I desire way too much than I ought to. I have a career, I needn't worry about having

fresh new tears kissed her pale and

however, failed to make her heart feel a little less cold. She wept while silently humming. Her face betrayed the bitterness of

guess what the song is saying is true - the smile in distress is the bitterest, '

'Why don't I just end that now? My complicated affair with Rufus has caused so much trouble already.

something to

faint smile faded. She buried her face in her hands in frustration

was raging and she could feel