A Graduation Gift

Cassandra stood at the side of the road, holding the phone in her hand and dumbfounded. She didn't know what had just happened.

She heard something loud. Where could it have come from?

Suddenly, she had a good guess on what had happened so she turned around and ran back to the Garden Villa immediately.

The wind blew across her face as she breathed heavily and quickened her pace.

Her heart was beating rapidly and she could only see darkness but she held on to the one person who was keeping her going.

It was Rufus! Rufus!

Rufus could feel his body aching all over when the terrible car accident happened. But nothing could compare to the ache his heart was nursing.

"Cassandra..."

Rufus murmured the little woman's name. A glimpse of a familiar figure was suddenly running towards him.

Was it Cassandra? Or an illusion?

Rufus couldn't tell who the figure was because he couldn't even open his eyes. Before he knew it, he had already fainted.

Cassandra saw Rufus's Range Rover crash into a wall from a distance—the front of the car looked quite damaged.

Her chest tightened at what she'd seen; her heart began to beat so fast that she felt it would jump out of her chest anytime soon.

She ran and ran until she'd closed the distance between them.

When she arrived at the car, she saw Rufus slumping over the wheel. His legs were stuck inside the car and he looked terrible. It was hard to digest the entire scene.

Cassandra felt as if someone had grabbed her heart and crushed it—she couldn't breathe.

She tried to ram the door open but it was locked and she couldn't break it from the outside.

She then tried to smack the window hoping that Rufus would wake up to the noise but he didn't even flinch. He wasn't moving at all. Did he just faint or was he...dead already?

Cassandra was crying and shrieking, "Rufus, wake up! Don't leave me! Rufus!"

What Rufus had said before came true.

only way he'd let Cassandra leave him

won't leave you anymore, Rufus! Don't do this, Rufus! Wake up!' Cassandra shouted in her

inside the car. However, they were in

an idea came to her. She dialed Rufus's number and hoped that the ringing would

Rufus just lay there,

wake up! Please! You're

She was starting to get worried as Rufus had already stayed in an oxygen-deprived

idea—she used her keys to try to break the

window started to show some cracks, but her hands were already red and

cracks had shown, she took a deep

the while, her hand was shivering. She reached inside the car and grabbed Rufus's body in an attempt to

big while she was short and slim—she wasn't

gathered all her energy and soon, she was able to drag him out of the car in one piece.

resuscitate him—she tried pumping his chest hard and fast with

continued doing this as she wished in her heart that Rufus would open his eyes to look at

she fought through the bitter taste in her mouth; she fought through the exhaustion—but to no avail, Rufus remained unmoving.

to lose hope. She was crying, scared and

to you, I'm so sorry! Open your eyes and look

in her heart that

up with him. She thought she was doing the right thing. She'd been thinking over this break up for quite awhile—now she just

Stay with me, I'm so

continued to breathe life back into him.

chest heaved. Cassandra

and blow air into his mouth. She had more hope now.

him felt stuck

darkness but he could hear a familiar voice. Cassandra! It was

in his arms. He wanted to

he didn't have the energy to do so as he couldn't feel his body anymore.

air into his mouth. Rufus could tell that it was Cassandra's lips that had touched his cold ones; as soon as their lips met, Rufus felt his heart warm up.

you, Cassandra? Are you saving me?' Rufus thought to himself.

the bitterness of the tears that ran in Cassandra's mouth. He couldn't help but feel his heart ache at the thought of Cassandra crying endlessly.

to gaze into her eyes, reach out to touch her hair, and tell her that he loved her so much. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Hard as he tried, he just couldn't make himself move. He felt disconnected from his body as if everything was too heavy for

beat quickened when he sensed how scared Cassandra

I'll protect you, I'm here,

bawling only motivated him to push his body more—he wanted to speak to