A Graduation Gift

"I'm sorry, Cassandra! I shouldn't have mentioned it..."

Stella shut her mouth immediately, realizing she had completely disregarded Cassandra's feelings. She would have felt terrible finding out something like that.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. They're all over the news. I already know this."

Cassandra feigned a ghost of a smile on her face bitterly. She tried not to pay attention to news like this, but it was inevitable for her to come across it every now and then.

Whenever it reached her, she smiled speechlessly at the words they used: the Golden boy and Jade girl; the business tycoon and the amazingly talented, beautiful lady; a heaven-made match and whatnot.

All the possible words they could use to describe couples were used to describe Rufus and Amanda. Cassandra simply pretended like she saw nothing and heard nothing. She made herself trust Rufus. However, no matter how much she tried, her belief was always broken by the reality that hit her everywhere she went.

If they were a perfect match, what did that make her? Was she simply Rufus's other woman?

"Cassandra, as your friend, whatever I'm saying is for your own good. Rufus might not be the man you knew anymore and he is definitely lying to you. Please, stop trusting him and move on. If he really cared about you, he wouldn't have been engaged to Amanda. How can you stand this!" Seeing how broken her friend looked, Stella decided to speak her mind.

like a fishbone stuck in Cassandra's throat. She was neither able to swallow it nor spit it out. Stella was done supporting her sinking fantasies. She really wanted to shrug her off this

the fishbone would be there forever and rot in her flesh, brewing nothing but pain for her, eventually becoming a scar

to leave, but Cassandra decided to stay. Stella left soon, leaving

on the desk shed soft light on her face, making her eyes shut. She was too tired and decided to take a break. When she opened her eyes again, she caught a

strong hands before she could utter a sound. A voice spoke to

"It's me, Cassandra!"

beside her ears, making her eyes well up with

was the person Cassandra had been craving to see. Somehow, he always approached her like a shadow and left without a trace. She could never comprehend when or how he would show up and disappear. She could never anticipate how long it would

with its own accord. She wondered if she would ever be capable of making him stay.

relaxing and took his hand off her mouth, finally appearing in the light and greeting

didn't show up. So I assumed you'd

filling Cassandra up with warmth, as if he had just kissed her. She stared at his face overwhelmed with love but Rufus couldn't see the moisture in her eyes under the shadow the lamp cast on her

been so occupied these past days. My aunt's husband, Jasper's company was in trouble and I needed to

aiming at the members of the Dark Night group were on the move again. Rufus helped Jasper to deal with them but hadn't expected it would get stretched to such an extent. He felt