A Graduation Gift

"What? From you?"

Cassandra was stunned, in disbelief. Lionel was thrilled at the sight of her face.

He was so proud of finally being able to surprise her.

"Of course they're from me! What, you think Rufus would ever give you something like that?"

Lionel smiled widely at her, knowing what she was thinking. He just wanted to tease her.

Cassandra couldn't hide her disappointment. Her eyebrows were scrunched together.

She had always thought that these flowers would only ever come from Rufus.

Even if she tried to refuse them, they would still be sent in anyway. He was incredibly persistent that he wouldn't even let her leave.

"Of course they're from me, Cassandra. I know Rufus has been busy recently because he was helping Miss Ke with her concert abroad. But you shouldn't trust him so easily, Cassandra. They could be enjoying a romantic time in Paris for all you know."

Lionel laughed to himself, deliberately trying to provoke Cassandra. He really wanted to see her devastated.

However Cassandra cleared her throat and held her chin up, refusing to give him what he wanted. She suppressed her devastation, trying to not look intimidated.

"We've already broken up, Lionel. There's no need for you to use him against me."

Cassandra kept her tone as calmly as she could, her face devoid of any emotion.

thing. It means you and I could get back together. Ivy means nothing to me; it's easy for

leaned closer to pluck a rose, caressing

of the rose. It had been stripped clean of its thorns; the entire stem seemed to have shed a new layer, courtesy perhaps, by the meticulous florist at the

think you're being unfair

would say such a thing. Did

for a good number of years. I'm getting tired of her, honestly. Of course I loved her at the beginning, but time has taken a lot of things away from me. Her face, for

about Ivy. To him, Ivy was disposable

didn't know what to feel about the entire situation. It wasn't that long ago when Ivy had confronted Cassandra by insisting that she would never let Lionel go. Now, Lionel was not only saying that he was sick of her, but also claiming that he was the one sending all these flowers to her. Wasn't he technically cheating

really were such heartless pigs!

I'm after your money,

she had said to Rufus when she first rejected him. She tried to

you'd rather strive to work alone than use other people's money. I

smiled, genuinely. Cassandra noted that,

was after his money, Qin Group would

truth. Cassandra too, really knew the truth anyway.

stubborn. She knew that she didn't want to live on anyone's charity. She tried to fight the tears seeping out of her eyes by roughly shaking her head and clearing her throat, her attention whirring back towards

Thank you for the flowers. But I'm sorry, I'll

the side to gesture Lionel towards the door. Lionel

Cassandra refused to move, Lionel gave up. "Fine," he started, "I'll

was seated, before cooly walking past Cassandra

in front of her and sighed, feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden. She walked over to her desk, noticing the single bright red rose

to inspect it. It looked so delicate and beautiful. She suddenly remembered the times that

tried to snap