A Graduation Gift

In wine, there is truth. Through an intoxicated haze, Lionel recalled the first time he laid eyes on Cassandra.

The Qin family was the one who reached out to the Tang family for the proposed marriage. Still, Cassandra behaved like an arrogant and proud princess. She didn't even look him in the eye.

Lionel grew annoyed at that time. 'Who do you think you are giving me that look! I don't want to marry you either!' he thought. Both of them looked down upon each other.

The Tang family entertained Cassandra and her parents to dinner. When a waitress served the meal, she accidentally knocked over a plate. Horace became very unhappy and was about to lose his temper to yell at the waitress with his face darkened. But Cassandra did something surprising.

She walked straight to the waitress and asked her if she was hurt or burnt. Then she accompanied her out of the room to get some medicine for her wound. The waitress escaped from a disaster.

It seemed like her attitude towards this waitress was completely different from the one towards him. Lionel felt extremely curious so he found an excuse to follow her outside.

Cassandra was whispering something in the waitress's ears. She told her to be careful later. Tears could be seen rolling down the waitress's cheeks. It was clear that she was touched and appreciated Cassandra's concern.

"Just don't be so careless next time. Go and get some medicine now," Cassandra said softly to her.

The waitress was grateful. She then walked away, leaving Cassandra standing in the corridor with her back leaning against the wall.

The corridor was dim and her tiny figure looked so lonely standing there.

It was just a small incident. Cassandra was very young at that time. The waitress looked to be the same age as her so maybe Cassandra felt pity for her because of that.

However, Lionel continued to remember the image of that lonely figure in the corridor. How he wished he could have asked Cassandra, who was defensive against him at that time, whether they could just get along!

But, the truth was cruel. They had no feelings for each other and there was nothing but pain throughout their marriage. Ivy almost lost her life in a car accident and Lionel assumed Cassandra was at fault.

Why was she so arrogant? Why did she look down at him? Anger suddenly replaced the curiosity to discover more about her in his heart.

Lionel felt guilty towards Ivy. So he did whatever she asked of him later. Ivy became totally a different woman. She was no longer the obsequious girl but rather a tough and strong woman.

Lionel, on the other hand, was not as faithful as when he was younger. He started to go around and went out with different women. Even with that, he kept his love for his first girlfriend, Ivy.

After all these years, however, his love for Ivy seemed to fade as he became more and more interested in Cassandra but he couldn't seem to win her heart.

The very drunk Lionel had no idea that the woman lying beside him was not Cassandra, but Ivy.

Ivy stared at Lionel with vicious eyes which could freeze people.

a recurring nightmare that kept coming back to my

thank God they already divorced. But she took his heart away as

She clenched the corner of the quilt, hatred flooding her

you got in my way. I can make you

nowhere to be seen. A piece of thick cloud covered

Spring Festival Eve, Cassandra and Rufus snuggled together on the couch, watching the Spring Festival gala on television. Cassandra laughed easily at the sketch

really that

cute when she laughed. He observed that her eyes would turn crescent

This is my first

a serious tone when there

"Oh? How come?"

for the gala, but this was a new opportunity to get to know Cassandra some more

and take me home for New Year's Eve dinner. When the night fell, Grandma and I would sleep in a small room in the villa of our house. I could hear Cloris's and mother's laughter from downstairs in the living room. I knew they were watching the gala. But I couldn't join

from long ago. What happened during those times made her

you

his own daughter away from watching the television, wasn't that

Cloris was there. Somehow, she was scared of me when she was a little girl. She would hide whenever she saw me approaching her. Mother and Father did not want to see her all fussy and angry so they asked my grandma to take me back to the

made her

would freeze whenever they saw Cloris trying to hide from her so they would find any excuses to send her away. Cassandra had no

why

of a

student, she didn't fear me anymore like before. And that was it. But we were

her arms around her bent legs, with her chin resting on

at all. She snored loudly. It was too noisy.

the television. So she wouldn't wear her slippers and

downstairs and be a part of the family while watching those shows! But it wasn't

her was to listen to their voices by the door

the

and held her in his arms. What a

I would still

voice

that I was excluded from my family. So I was quite a loner