A Graduation Gift

With a grumble, Arthur came in the door in frustration.

"What happened, Arthur?

Why do you look so upset?" Cloris asked, looking confused

The phone call he was on was simply too disappointing to him. There must have been something wrong.

Shooting a glance at Cloris, he opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but nothing came out.

It was Clark whom he was on the phone with. After he was told that Cassandra had gotten the Tang Group's tender from Horace, Arthur thought about what their next steps should be. If Cassandra helped the Tang Group, he had a strong feeling that Clark would lose this competition.

It just so happened that Arthur had dealt with Cassandra often in the past. From those experiences, he knew that Cassandra had the tendency to be extremely competitive and he had been defeated by her for several times already—he was rather scared of confronting her.

When Cassandra was still with Lionel, Arthur had to rack his brain about how to deal with her, doing all he could to get her into trouble. It was a great relief when he heard the news that the couple had gotten a divorce, and after Cassandra left the Tang Group, the company's business plummeted.

It was unbelievable that Horace had persuaded Cassandra to help the Tang Group. What could he do to prevent it?

Suddenly, Arthur thought of something when he noticed Cloris's presence. She was grabbing at him, concerned.

"Cloris, I think I'd better give up this bid,"

pretending to have made up his mind, he spoke firmly to Cloris.

"What? Why? Haven't you already poured so much time and effort in it?"

With eyes wide open, Cloris asked him in disbelief. Ever since she came back, Arthur had been talking about his competition with the Tang Group for a project. He had put numerous hours into it.

With a sigh, he continued, "Cloris, Cassandra is your sister.

Now that she's involved, I don't feel comfortable competing with her. I don't want this competition to influence your relationship. I want you two to get along."

He did a good job playing the part of the worried partner because Cloris believed him wholeheartedly.

"Arthur, what do you mean?" she asked, looking anxious already. "I don't understand. Why is Cassandra involved?"

His words puzzled her—why was everything about Cassandra?

"Cloris, someone just tipped me that Cassandra was helping the Tang Group revise the tender this time. And you know that when I went against your sister before, I lost. I don't want that to happen again.

I'd rather quit," he explained bitterly, irritating Cloris to the core.

quit? You've sacrificed so much of our time to work on this project. You've invested so much

a part of the

about it. Why would Cassandra help the man who kicked

I really don't want this to influence your

this. The more concession he made, the more

worry about it. Cassandra and I

Cassandra once wanted to ruin her reputation, Cloris

hoped that her sister would fail in whatever she was doing. Therefore, Cloris couldn't let Arthur quit—it was an easy route to Cassandra's success.

support you, every step of

would only mean that he wasn't as competitive and clever

"Cloris…

to compete with your

rest of my life with you. Of course, I'm on your

buried her face in his chest.

as he stroked

But to be honest, I don't have any confidence in this bid since your sister is helping the Tang

when she heard Arthur's

from helping the

could she allow

a flash drive. She's probably revising it by now. I don't think there's much we can do about

frustrated. But Cloris wasn't deterred.

that was the case,

course, she had done it

her

"I've got a plan!"

crept into her

"What have you got?"

through his head, he could do nothing. If Cloris

something, Cloris would come forward and defend

Arthur wanted to let Cloris take the bullet for him.

a self-destructive program in the new flash drive and swap it with Cassandra's. When the time comes, I'll start the

such a thing so she felt

"But…

switch them? You could

risky…" Arthur

"Don't worry. I

need to coordinate with

wasn't as innocent as it used to