A Graduation Gift

There was fire in Rufus's eyes. He could not believe what was happening.

"You can't do that,"

Rufus said furiously as his grip on Cassandra's wrist tightened.

"Rufus, you're being ridiculous. I expected more from you. Right now, you are just acting like a spoiled brat! You show up when it pleases you and before I know it, you're gone without so much as a goodbye. Where were you when I needed you? Whenever I asked for an explanation, you never gave me one. Instead, you decided to keep your secrets and keep me in the dark. What the hell were you thinking?"

Cassandra glared at Rufus, mustering all the courage she had to finally speak her mind. Finally saying all these things felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.

Rufus looked at her, dumbstruck as he slowly realized Cassandra's image of him: complicated and suspicious.

As it turned out, she saw Rufus as a jerk.

He came and went as he pleased without even considering how she must have felt. Because of him, her life became full of uncertainty. He never gave her a stable life or a promising future.

"Cassandra, I am doing this for your own good,"

Rufus said. There was hesitation in his voice, possibly brought about by Cassandra's face that was red with rage. She seemed absolutely fed up with the situation.

"For my own good? You want to do something for my own good? Let me give you a very good suggestion: Disappear from my life for good and leave me be!"

Cassandra shouted as she broke free from Rufus's grip, turned, and walked away.

She had had enough of the drama. She did not want to put up with Rufus's childish whims anymore. His actions did not make sense to her. There seemed to be a huge disconnection between the mature and independent image he portrayed in public and the childish and unreasonable way he acted when he was with her.

But Rufus was not about to let her get away so easily. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into his arms.

Cassandra struggled as Rufus slowly looked straight at her face. Staring straight into her eyes, he decided to tell her the truth.

"Fine, I will tell you what I am doing," he started.

to say so many things. Cassandra could almost feel his thoughts buzzing. Finally realizing the significance of

my mother told me that my father was dead. It was only a dozen years ago that I learned he was still

Cassandra stood still and listened to

miss all of my classes. Everyone worried about me and didn't know what to do. My mother could not stop crying. I blamed her for giving birth to

was dim. Rufus's voice was the only thing that could be heard apart from the deafening

to have her treated. But before I left, I went to see Horace

There was coldness in his voice. It made Cassandra

myself. Then, I hid my identity, came back to Horace, and took over the Tang Group. I wanted Horace to see everything he built and worked for, go down in shambles. I wanted him to know how it felt like to lose

Rufus had been tending to get through the years weighed down on Cassandra.

him. However, you don't need to punish yourself because of his mistake. Life isn't all about hatred and

unsettling. She could not believe what Rufus would do to Horace, his biological father, the man

I knew was that he was the reason why my mom suffered almost all her life. The day my mother fell ill was the day he stopped being my father. It was so unfair. How could he marry someone like Jill, bear a child like Lionel, and live a life of fortune and opportunity while my mother and I spent our days looking for shelter and struggling to make ends meet? The moment my mother died, I swore to make Horace pay. I wanted him to learn how his own selfishness

his teeth. Everytime he remembered his poor mother and Horace's absence, his hatred and anger towards

sure that she would not want you to do such things. Otherwise, she wouldn't have worked hard to bring you

angry. Grabbing his arms, she realized that his whole body was stiff. Clearly, he was

calm him down, but her efforts were useless. Rufus was so overwhelmed with anger. It

Her kindness only brought her tragedy. Well, I'm different. I

that Cassandra said got

he was wrong. He even made efforts to correct his mistake by making

him. In fact, it was almost a part

to her mother's maiden name. She wasted her youth raising me all by herself. For the first half of my life, I never had Horace there. Now that I'm all grown up and I'm doing

of his childhood filled Rufus with so much

her lips, not knowing what to

tried to calm him down, the angrier he would become. So, she thought that it would be best if she just remained silent and accompanied him

not want you to get involved. Now that you know about it, I hope you will do what is best by staying out of it. All I ask you

took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Then, he looked at Cassandra with love

to push through with your

she looked into Rufus's eyes.

have been working on this plan for so many years. There is no way