A Graduation Gift

Chapter 25 Abrupt and Unexpected

Cassandra felt her blood pound in her ears as Rufus walked closer to her. The sound of her heartbeat was deafening in the silent room. Her breath came out in short gasps. She gathered up some courage and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as she put her hands on his hard chest and tried to push when he stepped up to her.

"Go away!"

It happened in the blink of an eye, but Rufus seemed to have foreseen her move. He retreated swiftly, still staring at her. A sly grin surfaced on his face. Cassandra lost her balance, staggering forward a few steps. Her arms flailed as she reached out for support.

Just as her body was about to hit the floor, she tried to grasp at anything that would break her fall. Her hands gripped on the sleeves of the man, though it was not her intention. The sleeves weren't strong enough to entirely support her, so the accident occurred anyway. Cassandra's firm grip accidentally pulled Rufus forward and he lost his footing. They went down together with a thud.

Clumsily, Rufus fell right on top of her. It all happened so fast that he had no time to catch himself.

Cassandra had originally intended to push him away, but instead pulled him closer. Lying on the floor, she felt his heaviness press onto her and groaned in pain.

"Seems to me that you're always coming up with new ways to touch me,"

Rufus teased her, although he knew the fall wasn't intentional on her part. He flashed her a wicked smile as he looked down at her. They were so close that he could feel her breath on his skin. Before she had a chance to push him away once again, his lips descended on hers.

It was an abrupt and unexpected kiss. His lips moved against hers with urgency.

She kissed him back with fervor, but he pulled away at once.

"It's not very appropriate to do this here. Don't you think?" He gave her a naughty grin when he posed the deliberate question.

Cassandra opened her eyes as if waking from a dream, suddenly realizing that they had been kissing wantonly. Her face flushed with anger and shame as she pushed his chest once again. This time, she succeeded. Rufus swayed back as she sprang up and straightened her clothes, flustered.

"You shameless man!"

she shouted with raising voice. What the hell was he up to? Once again, he had taken advantage of her. Her heart fluttered; whether out of guilt or excitement, she didn't know. She registered with shock that she hadn't, in fact, been averse to the kiss. Had she actually enjoyed it?

"You obviously enjoyed that,"

Rufus pointed out as if he had read the question in her mind. Cassandra blinked at him, too embarassed to admit the truth. He was trying to put her on edge. She turned her head to the side to show her discontent. Rufus bit the insides of his cheek at her petty behavior. It was entertaining to see her so embarrassed and unsettled because of him.

"Enough of that! You molested me! Don't think that I should be grateful to you just because you have saved me!"

His teasing smile flustered her even more and she narrowed her eyes at him. He wasn't wrong. She couldn't deny to herself that she had indeed enjoyed the kiss.

Rufus was still looking at her when he was reminded of last night. His slanted eyebrows snapped together in realization. At the moment, he looked like an eagle hunting for its prey. The mini camera on the table, the drug in her drink, and the assistant who was waiting on her, they all added up now. It was a trap, a carefully designed plot to defame Cassandra, Lionel Tang's wife.

It would damage her reputation beyond repair if someone caught her throwing herself at a man in the office.

'She just returned to the city. Who could have possibly done it?' Rufus wondered. Obviously, the perpetrator was able to enter Tang Group at a time of his or her choosing. He or she must be at a high position to have that kind of clearance. Rufus put the pieces together. Cassandra kept waiting for a response as Rufus indulged in his train of thoughts. After what felt like a lifetime, she finally turned to face him again, finding his silence bewildering.

"Why are you so quiet?"

she asked with curiosity. Rufus snapped out of his thoughts. The expression on his face turned solemn, replacing the previous carelessness.

Cassandra drew back a little. She had never seen him look so serious before. It made her slightly uncomfortable.

"Your assistant is gone. Did you know that?"

he asked her out of the blue. After he took Cassandra to the hospital, Rufus took a look at the surveillance recordings of the night. He found that Joel was the only person who had entered her office that night.

Cassandra was stunned. Someone had obviously put the drug in her coffee yesterday, and Joel was the obvious suspect.

However, it was all so strange. She had never met Joel before and couldn't have possibly caused him any trouble in the past. Why would he do such a thing on her first day of work? At first glance, he had seemed so sunny and amiable.

"Yesterday was the very first time I met him. Why would he do this to me?"

Cassandra blurted out. She found herself in a conundrum and couldn't make head or tail of what had happened. Why would Joel hold a grudge against her?

"There are two possibilities. One is that he was enchanted by your beauty," Rufus smirked, "the other is that he was assigned by someone else. Of course, the possibility of the former happening is almost negligible. Anyone in his right senses wouldn't be a victim of such an outrageous thought."

Folding his arms, he looked over the woman in front of him with an imperceptible smile on his face.

Cassandra flashed him a contemptuous look. Suddenly something struck to her, making her turn pale immediately after.

"I know who it is!"

She suddenly had an idea of who had orchestrated the entire episode.

"Oh? Who would that be?"

Rufus asked, feigning interest. He had already knew who it could be. After all, he had just handed out a massive hint to her.

Cassandra was struck dumb. Her lips quivered and she suddenly lost the strength in her limbs. Retreating to sit on the couch, she twined her fingers in her lap and cast Rufus - who himself seemed unperturbed - a worrying glance.

"We both know that someone put the drug in my coffee. If you had not been there last night, I would not have been sitting here right now. The most horrific thing could have happened and been recorded on

the camera. Someone wanted the evidence of me being disloyal to Lionel, so that my reputation would be slandered and I would be kicked out of Tang family."

She finally had a clear picture of why it had happened, thanks to Rufus's meddling. Tears began to well up her eyes. She had a name in her mind. Only someone with a lot of hatred and disgust for her could have done something so cruel.

It was someone who truly loathed her, and someone who couldn't stand her presence in the family.

It could only be one man.

"You mean, someone wanted to defame you, so you would be thrown out of the Tang household?"

Rufus repeated her words, although he had known that already. He just wanted to prompt her to speak out the truth.

"That's probably it. I didn't know his hatred for me was so great that he would resort to this disgusting method to get rid of me,"

Cassandra stated in a daze. Disbelief still lingered in her tone, although by now she had deemed her assumption to be a fact. Unknowingly, she bit her lower lip and shook her head, as if to deny what she had just uncovered. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

A marriage without love, to her, was the most grievous tragedy - where two people bound by sacred law lived like strangers under the same roof.

"You think it was Lionel?"

Rufus finally brought up the name in her mind.

Cassandra still looked absent-minded. She looked back at him but did not reply. Her lack of response was an answer in itself. They came to a silent conclusion together. Except for Lionel, she couldn't think of anyone else who could detest her enough to do this. She still found it hard to believe that Lionel could be so cold-blooded. How could he carry out something like this inside the office?