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 was

you anymore, Rufus! Don't do this, Rufus! Wake up!' Cassandra

call then continued to look for a way to break inside the car. However, they were in a deserted area and no one was even passing by. She started to get desperate.

Rufus's number and hoped that the

just lay there,

wake up! Please! You're scaring

open the car. She was starting to get worried as Rufus had already stayed in an oxygen-deprived space for too

idea—she used her keys to try to break the window open from

kept trying and trying. Eventually, the window started to show some cracks, but her hands were already

she took a deep

from the inside—all the while, her hand was shivering. She reached inside the car and

and big while she was short and slim—she wasn't strong enough to

this didn't stop Cassandra from trying anyway—this was an emergency after all. She gathered all her

him—she tried pumping his chest

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

mouth; she fought through the bitter

was starting to lose hope. She was crying, scared

I never should've said all those things to you, I'm so sorry! Open your eyes and look at

that

doing the right thing. She'd been thinking over this

Rufus! Stay with me, I'm

as she continued to breathe life back

chest heaved. Cassandra

blow air into his mouth. She had more hope

sinking in a cold, dark place. Everything about him felt stuck and frozen as if he

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

that he could open his eyes and hold her in his arms. He wanted to tell her, 'Cassandra, I'm

do so as he couldn't feel his body anymore.

his mouth. Rufus could tell that it was Cassandra's lips that had touched

you saving

He couldn't help but feel his heart ache at the thought of

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

quickened when he sensed how

Don't be scared, darling. I'll protect you,

his body more—he wanted to speak to her, feel her,