A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 120

The dining room was luxurious. It made Cassandra feel as if she were back in the Middle Ages.

The steak was perfect. Cassandra was so impressed and she had to express it.

"Auntie, the chef you hired is incredible. This is the best steak I've ever tasted!"

she said before taking another bite.

Whitney couldn't help but smile when she saw that Cassandra enjoyed her meal so much.

"Courtney will not eat food cooked by anyone else," Whitney said.

This surprised Cassandra. She did not expect Courtney to be so picky. Then again, a picture of her cold face came back to her and Cassandra realized that it was, indeed, highly likely.

"Is Courtney sick? She didn't come down for dinner,"

Cassandra asked. To be honest, it would have made her feel better if she found out that the girl were just feeling unwell.

"Courtney… likes to eat in her bedroom,"

Whitney replied with sorrow in her eyes. Talking about her daughter seemed to bring her pain. Cassandra felt as if she wanted to tell her many things, but was working hard not to.

A part of Cassandra wanted to bring up the business deal—the initial reason for she visit.

After much thought, she decided that it was best not to ruin the trust that Whitney had given her by bringing up something she explicitly said she did not want to talk about.

She would have to be patient. Besides, she doubted that the Tang Group knew where Whitney's place was. As of now, she had an advantage.

Cassandra bid Whitney goodbye after dinner and waited for her ride back to the hotel. Suddenly, she received a call that the driver would not be able to come and get her.

"Stay the night. I'll ask the servant to prepare a room for you,"

Whitney offered. Then, she asked one of her helpers to clean the guestroom.

A stranger to Norway, Cassandra accepted the offer. She did not really have much alternatives.

She stayed in a room on the third floor, in the middle of a corridor.

Upon opening the door, she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

It looked like the princess bedroom every little girl dreamed of having.

The bed was European style with a frame carved with delicate patterns. The dresser next to it was decorated with flowers. It was so nice to look at. Even more so, to sleep in.

"Do all the guest rooms here look like this?"

Cassandra asked the butler in disbelief. She could not believe what she was seeing.

"Yes, they are all designed to look like rooms for princesses, but they all look different from each other,"

the butler replied.

"Oh, may I peek at the other rooms?:

Cassandra asked the butler. She was so curious. These guest rooms looked even more luxurious than the hotels she stayed in. Whitney must have invested a lot of time and money decorating these rooms.

The butler agreed and led her to the other rooms. True enough, they all shared a general theme but had different color schemes and furniture pieces.

Some were painted yellow and purple while others were painted blue and pink. There was one particular room that left a deep impression on Cassandra. It was designed with a Gothic style, all black with a few white accents.

Every piece of furniture and decor in each of the rooms were distinct and unique.

Cassandra felt on top of the world. It was inspiring to see someone make so much effort designing such beautiful rooms.

"Who stays in the guest rooms on regular days?"

Cassandra inquired. It felt like such a waste if the rooms were left unused.

"They are left unused, actually. But Courtney can choose to stay in one of them, if she wishes. These are actually more like Courtney's bedrooms than guest rooms,"

the butler answered.

Cassandra didn't know what to say. She was envious.

After all, Courtney was born in a wealthy family. She could afford it.

Despite Courtney's cold facade, her mother seemed to believe that she had a childlike heart. This must have been why she built this palace for her.

Cassandra returned to her room which was a room painted with pink and white. Looking around, Cassandra felt somewhat upset.

She used to dream of having such rooms for herself, too. But unlike Cloris, her dreams never came true.

Vernon brought Cloris a house of toys. Her room was filled with Hello Kitty and Winnie The Pooh, which were her favorites.

Cassandra, on the other hand, had a very simple room.

As a child, she also liked cartoon dolls. She would have wanted to paint her room and get some toys, but every time she wanted to ask, Vernon's serious and menacing expression always managed to scare her away.

In college, she bought herself a white unicorn. This was the first and only toy she had.

Thinking about Vernon gave Cassandra mixed feelings.

She came to Norway to save her father's business; but now, she realized how wealthy Whitney was. She feared that she would not be able to name a sufficient price for Whitney to sell her shares.

She went through so much just to find Whitney. It was a long flight to Norway and a long search for where she stayed. As it all dawned on her, Cassandra felt exhausted.

Not wanting to think about her father's business anymore, she took a shower and went straight to bed.

Cassandra had a very restful sleep. She was not the kind of person who had difficulty settling into new places. Besides, it was a very beautiful room, after all.

Cassandra had a dream. She was walking in a dark place. Suddenly, a light appeared and broke the darkness. She followed the light and kept walking until she arrived at an open space.

Looking around, she realized that she was on a narrow street surrounded by bustling shops.

Further forward, she saw a little girl.

She was wearing a t-shirt and a short skirt. Slim limbs dangled from her body. Her hemline swung and her white shoes looked oddly familiar.

Cassandra realized that it was her when she was still in middle school!

Little Cassandra carried her bag as she walked home. Suddenly, she stopped in front of a toy store.

There was a clip doll machine in front of the shop from which electronic music played, luring passengers to give it a try.

A few young people were playing at the machine. One guy even helped his girlfriend get a doll. They walked away happy as she kissed his cheek.

Little Cassandra, curious about the foreign machine, walked up to it slowly.

When she tiptoed to look at the prizes inside, she saw so many dolls that smiled sweetly. Their eyes seemed to be calling out alluringly for anyone who came by, to get them.

A doll in the corner caught her eye immediately. She fell in love with it right away.

It was a white pony which had almond-shaped black eyes and a smile spread across her face. Her cuteness was multiplied by the horn that stuck out of its head.

Little Cassandra remembered that she had some coins in her pocket. She took out one, inserted it into the slot and started to move the clip to get the doll.

But the manipulator seemed too weak to grab hold of the pony.

The little girl didn't want to give up, so she inserted another coin. But again, she got nothing.

Beads of sweat began to form on her nose. She was determined to get the doll.

She opened her bag and took out all the coins. She inserted them into the machine one by one. However, no matter how many coins she inserted and how hard she tried, she ended up failing again and again.

Finally, she reached her last coin.

Little Cassandra looked at it in her palm. It was a little wet because of her sweat. After a little moment of hesitation, she finally inserted it.

The manipulator began to move. She aimed at her target doll and pressed the button.

The manipulator sunk, opened and caught the pony! Unfortunately, it fell again.

Cassandra felt very upset seeing her dream doll lying in the corner again. She took a last glance at her and turned around, ready to leave.

Suddenly, an older boy who looked like a high school student, walked towards the machine and inserted a coin.

The manipulator moved towards the white pony. It sunk and caught the doll.

Then it dropped the cute doll to the exit door of the machine.

The boy took out the pony and gave it to Cassandra. He said gently, "There you go. Here is your unicorn. You don't know how to catch a doll. Next time try not to play this game. It will only disappoint you. Disappointment isn't a good thing."

From what he said, Little Cassandra learned that the pony with a horn was called a unicorn.

She watched him disappear on the other end of the street as she held her new doll in her arms—her first doll in her life.

While she was having her sweet dream, Cassandra felt her bed sink.

She woke up immediately.

She opened her eyes. It took her a while to adjust to the darkness. Then, she realized that someone was sitting on her bed!