A Graduation Gift

Cassandra was the person Dylon least expected to see here. The situation had been so dangerous, with aftershocks seizing the location every other minute. It boggled him how Cassandra managed to drive up here despite the risk.

"I can't go back now. I need to find Maggie's uncle and his family!"

Cassandra said stubbornly.

Dylon looked at Maggie whose eyes were red and swollen. Her hand was being held by Cassandra tightly. He frowned slightly before answering, "Park the car at the town hall nearby and get on the ambulance with us!"

Dylon pointed at the vehicle he just got out of.

Cassandra smiled at him, grateful with his offer.

"Thank you so much, Dylon!" she exclaimed as she hurried over to the car and drove towards the town hall.

Once she was done, she and Maggie ran to the ambulance and rode with Dylon on the way to A City. Everything was in ruins. The roads were all destroyed, and buildings kept crumbling apart.

"My team was dispatched to the site near the home of Maggie's uncle. You two can come with us. But you must follow me closely,"

Dylon explained to Cassandra and Maggie. They had started to formulate a plan just to ensure all their safeties.

Maggie's uncle lived near the school, where he and his wife worked as teachers.

The house was crumbling and bound to fall any time soon. It was just a good thing that her uncle and his family weren't there. However, some necessities in the house were gone.

Cassandra noted that the towels and quilt were gone. "Your uncle must've come back to take them out somewhere else. Don't worry, Maggie. They probably went to an emergency shelter nearby,"

Cassandra reassured. Maggie's face softened upon hearing her manager's words.

"Thank you, Manager Qin. I'll go and search around in a bit. I saw some tents by the playground when we passed,"

Maggie said excitedly, trying to look for a few supplies before heading out herself. Cassandra followed suit.

The playground was crowded with people. Maggie searched around several times but failed to see her uncle and his family.

Cassandra, however, was determined to find him. She took Maggie to the broadcast station and asked the broadcaster to page Maggie's uncle for them over the loudspeaker.

It only took a few minutes until a middle-aged man peered out of one of the tents. Maggie immediately recognized him and ran towards the tent. The man smiled as she rushed over to him.

"Maggie! What are you doing here?"

The man's eyes were watering from happiness. He never would have expected for Maggie to appear in A City.

"Uncle!"

her uncle's arms and wailed. She was

and felt a lump in her throat. It was so precious to see this family reunion. She revelled in the comforting feeling of bringing the family together, trying to dispel the ache in

her father, Vernon, nor her mother, Edith, was the type to hug

of her thoughts. "Uncle, this is Manager Qin. She came with me all the way to A City to search for

at

pair of glasses to frame his face, which shifted downwards as he looked at Cassandra, holding his hand out to

to bring Maggie here. Your journey must have been so dangerous. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so

such a dangerous place. It also was a rare sight to see a manager

Maggie's uncle had been just as worried about Maggie's well-being, especially when he lost contact with her. At least he could rest easy now, since they were

has my dear cousin brother contacted

cousin brother had contacted his father to

Who? I have

in a cold and angry tone. The mere mention of his son's

held her tongue back. She didn't want to spoil such a good

cousin sister are not far from here. I'm sure you'd want

and tugged at it. However,

evacuation center. We do have enough food with us, however. Would you like to

Cassandra immediately shook her head

intrude on such a nice family reunion. Please, I insist. Maggie, just go and spend time with your family. I'll go to see if Dylon needs anything, or see if there's a search and rescue team that I

them, who were strategically planning their entry into one of the abandoned buildings. Maggie smiled and thanked her once again, before turning

Dylon, who she found waiting in front of

entire place was in shambles. What was once a tall building had been reduced to two floors. The first floor had sunken so far below that it caved into a basement. Cassandra noted that because of the storm and earthquake, the area was covered in a sludge of dirt and mud. It seemed that there was going to be a sinkhole

to still be intact but only barely, which was why the search and rescue teams were under

extremely focused and diligent with their work; a complete

wrong? Are there people still trapped

she approached. He was worrying a pen in between his

were only a few business centers inside. However one of

in his eyes, and it tugged at Cassandra's heart to see such an expression. The rescue teams hadn't rested since they arrived, because they were all too busy trying to rescue the others who

team managed to retrieve people, he

stuck for a day already? The aftershocks

lives at stake. The rescue team was just about ready to go inside;

do a rescue operation. But it's a risk we have to take. We can't just

and sighed. He was

be another collapse? It's so risky to bring them

lip between her

why we're all nervous. It's such