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.

he'd let Cassandra leave him was

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

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

dialed Rufus's number and hoped

just lay

wake up! Please! You're scaring

as Rufus had already stayed in an oxygen-deprived space for too long and

keys to try to break the

show some cracks, but her hands were already red

When enough cracks had shown, she took a deep breath and landed a clenched fist

door open from the inside—all the while, her hand was shivering. She reached inside the car and grabbed Rufus's body in an attempt

tall and big while she was short and

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

resuscitate him—she tried pumping his chest hard and fast with her hands, then blowing

would open his eyes to look at her. However, Rufus

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

hope. She was crying, scared

my fault, Rufus! I never should've said all those things to you, I'm so sorry! Open your eyes and look at me! I won't leave you

heart that was filled

only knew that this would happen, she would never have attempted to break up with him. She thought she was doing the right thing. She'd been thinking over this break up for quite

Rufus! Stay with me, I'm so

as she continued to breathe life back into

chest heaved. Cassandra froze.

continued to pump his chest and blow air into his mouth. She had

about him felt stuck and frozen as if he

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

her in his arms. He wanted to tell her, 'Cassandra, I'm yours and yours only. Don't you ever

have the energy to do so as he couldn't feel his

from where he was and someone started resuscitating him. Someone was pumping his chest and blowing air into his mouth. Rufus could tell that it was Cassandra's lips that had touched

saving

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

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

when he sensed how

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

more—he wanted to speak to