A Graduation Gift

Mr. Wang finally stood up, design plan in his hands. He nodded to Cassandra with a satisfied smile on his face, his curious expression now long gone.

"Ms. Qin, I believe that your company's success will be beyond expectation. You have the ball at your feet! Please accept my congratulations in advance!" he smiled sincerely.

Cassandra's sheer confidence dispelled whatever doubt he had before. He looked at her approvingly before turning to leave her office.

Cassandra thanked him eagerly and promised to not let him down.

Once he was out of earshot, she squealed in delight for successfully nailing down the business transaction.

Her happiness was short-lived, however, when it finally dawned on her how exhausted she had been. Since she was the operator of the group, her mother was unable to help and her sister was too young to understand, she had to do most of the work herself. But no matter how frustrated she was, Cassandra knew it was all worth it. Her father must have felt the same when he started the group. She smiled to herself.

Although she had won several grand design prizes before, Cassandra promised Lionel that she wouldn't work on designing in the next two years, which somehow restricted her to gather a larger clientele for her company.

Most of the cases they undertook were similar that of Mr. Wang, and many clients came to her for the sake of her previous works. She quietly hoped that the group could provide them with some brilliant works in order to establish a long term cooperation relationship. Facts speak louder than words. However, if she was just able to design again, she knew she could have gathered a larger network of prospective customers.

A loud clap of thunder broke her from her thoughts as she suddenly felt her feet quake beneath her. She got dizzy as she noticed the glass windows rumbling.

Cassandra knew it wasn't vertigo, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She closed her eyes until the shaking subsided.

As if on cue, her phone beeped to alert her of the news. She quickly took her phone out to check.

It said that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck A city. The alerts updated her every other minute. The earthquake and the thunder shower triggered several landslides and there were still unconfirmed reports on casualties. The earthquake was strong enough to affect the surrounding cities.

G City wasn't very close to A City, but citizens there also felt the strong vibration.

Taking several deep breaths, Cassandra slowly stood up from her chair despite her dizziness.

When she opened the door to leave her office, the hallway was in utter chaos. Her employees were all scattered outside, discussing the earthquake.

"It was so scary! I saw the ripples in my mug and thought that I shook the desk by accident!" a female employee said.

Her voice was trembling and shaky.

"My uncle and his family are in A City. I tried calling them but I still couldn't reach them! I'm so worried," another employee cried out.

She was about to burst into tears and some of her colleagues gathered around to comfort her.

they don't have time to call you. That, or the connection might just be too busy because everyone's doing the same thing. Just try

worry. I'm sure they'll contact

cleared her throat when she approached the huddled crowd, and all of them quickly grew quiet and

all call it a day! The weather report says it's also going to rain soon. Please be careful, and make sure that all of

thing to do. Primarily, her employees would be safer if they weren't at work, and they wouldn't even be

outside to look at the dark clouds forming in the distance,

surprised by her words. All of them smiled and sighed in

much, Manager Qin!" "You're seriously the best boss I've

thank you, Boss! I was just

rode my electrical bicycle here today, and it'll be impossible to ride it home in such a

coming as they piled their things

within the rush hour. She grabbed her things quickly back in

away. The gust was so strong and cold, and the fog had started

towards the Garden Villa without much delay. It suddenly came to her that she forgot to close the windows this morning. She had to get home as fast as she could otherwise it would the house

arrived, Cassandra dashed to her door and hurriedly closed the windows. Right at this moment, the rain drummed on the

for the remote and turned on the TV. Just as expected, the news was

the thunder, the rain and the lightning flashing across the sky. Fears were raised up in Cassandra's heart and

outside, rattling her windows from the strong gusts of wind. To her, it sort of

about Rufus. If only he were here, she might

and he would've caressed her face tenderly. She would be safe in his arms and that would have been enough for her.

was only her fantasy or daydreaming. All she had at the moment

beside her, Cassandra saw the two flower planted in the yard.

were incredibly fragile under the strength of the storm.

her, and if they were blown away, she would never forgive herself for

to protect them. However, once she opened the door, the storm roared against her small frame.

prevent her from getting to the plants. When she made it, she quickly spread her oversize raincoat and secured around the bottom with some heavy rocks, covering the

like tiny stones hitting on her shoulders. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew up and she choked, coughing and swallowing

approach her from behind. And the next second she was lifted up into a warm embrace. Cassandra screamed in the rain until she saw Rufus's wrathful face in front of her. A

both of them back inside the house. Rufus kicked the door open, walked in and closed the wuthering outside behind them. Then he turned to the woman,

doing outside? It is raging storm outside, for God's sake!

concerned. Only Cassandra could trigger both emotions at the same time, and

and weak. What was she thinking exposing herself to the rain? Rufus looked at her, glaring as he checked her face for any sign of guilt. Cassandra merely looked back,

and hugged him tightly, feeling his strong, speedy heartbeat. She didn't dare say anything else. Despite shivering in damp clothes, she felt incredibly warm