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 if he

Don't do this, Rufus!

However, they were

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

work. Rufus just lay

up! Please! You're

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

her keys to try to break the

Eventually, the window started to show

cracks had shown, she took a deep breath and landed a clenched fist through the window. The window

swung the door open from the inside—all the while, her hand was shivering. She reached inside

and big while she was short

her energy and soon, she was able to drag him out of the

Rufus down on the road and started to resuscitate him—she tried pumping his chest hard and fast

her heart that Rufus would open his eyes to look at her.

that rolled down her cheeks and into her mouth; she fought through the bitter taste in her mouth; she fought

starting to lose hope. She was crying, scared and desperate.

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

in her heart that was

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

Stay with

she continued to breathe life back into him.

chest heaved.

and blow air into his mouth. She

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

couldn't see anything in the darkness but he could hear a familiar voice. Cassandra! It was Cassandra's voice! She was here and she was calling his

hold her in his arms. He

the energy to do so as he couldn't feel

from where he was and someone started resuscitating him. Someone was pumping his chest and blowing air into his

saving me?' Rufus

also taste 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

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

quickened when he sensed how

scared, darling. I'll protect you, I'm here, '

motivated him to push his body more—he wanted to