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.

was 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

forever and rot in her flesh, brewing nothing but pain for

Cassandra decided to stay. Stella left soon, leaving her alone as she

a break. When

then her mouth was covered by a pair of strong hands before she could utter a sound. A voice spoke to her, after which she held back her desire to let

"It's me, Cassandra!"

familiar, low voice rang right beside her ears, making her eyes well up with

left without a trace. She could never comprehend when or how he would show up and disappear. She could never anticipate

accord. She wondered if she

off her mouth, finally appearing in the

I assumed you'd

of light, 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

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

members of the Dark Night group were on the move again. Rufus helped Jasper to deal with them but hadn't