A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 146

Lionel's eyes grew big with anger as he stood outside the coffee shop. He was watching Cassandra and Rufus who seemed to be happy, drinking coffee, talking and enjoying each other's company.

Rufus and Cassandra, on the other hand, were unaware that they were being watched. They continued chatting and laughing while taking a sip from their mugs. Lionel's blood brewed in rage at the display of affection. In his eyes, the way they talked with each other revealed that their relationship was more than that of a boss and an employee. He had always been doubtful about their relationship.

Upon hearing from Amanda that she saw Rufus and Cassandra in the coffee shop near the company, Lionel instantly left his office and headed towards the coffee shop. Judging from their interaction, his suspicions were now confirmed. He wanted to walk in and confront them right in their faces but refrained from doing so. Since he had divorced Cassandra, he discerned that he had no right to question her about her relationship with Rufus.

Just as Lionel was fumbling his mind whether to confront them or not, Rufus and Cassandra walked out. Afraid of being caught eavesdropping, he was about to hide. However, he was held frozen when he saw what Rufus was doing with Cassandra.

Rufus put his arm around Cassandra's shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Blushing instantly and bashfully pushing Rufus away, Cassandra turned around and headed toward the company building.

With the mirth evident on his face, Rufus looked at Cassandra's back until it disappeared at the corner. Then he walked to his car, got in and drove away.

He had to host a meeting for the Union of Real Estates. Before his departure, Cassandra told him to come home early and asked what he wanted to eat for dinner. "I want you!" he whispered, which was the reason why Cassandra walked away with a blushed face.

When he arrived at the building of the Dawn Star Group where the meeting was to be held, Rufus was warmly greeted by Arthur, the leader of the Dawn Star Group.

This was the first meeting since the founding of the Union. To show the importance he had attached to the meeting, Arthur waited on the first floor to welcome all the members who were coming to attend the meeting.

"Welcome, Mr. Luo! The Dawn Star Group is greatly honored by your presence. The meeting room has already been set. Let my secretary lead the way,"

Arthur said politely as he shook hands with Rufus, who in return responded with a ceremonial smile. Although Arthur treated Rufus and the Tang Group as his biggest opponent, in such a condition he had to pretend to be nice and respectful because Rufus was the Director of the Union.

Arthur had already known that Cassandra and Lionel had recently got divorced. That was really a piece of good news for him!

He had planned to isolate Cassandra from the Tang Group. Before he could carry out his plan, however, Cassandra herself terminated her marital relations with Lionel and moved out of the Tang family house.

If Cassandra resigned from the Tang Group, they would have sure lost an excellent designer who could outwit the designers of the Dawn Star Group in project biddings.

Arthur had carefully studied the government's planning of the entire tourism industry. He got the conclusion that the architectural design in this particular field should be both practical and aesthetic, and that was just what he was good at. Without Cassandra competing with him, he confidently believed that his company could win those projects easily.

These past days were really good days for Arthur. His company had stolen several big projects from the Tang Group. The only regret he had was that he had to share the amusement park project with the Tang Group.

Originally, he could get the renovation projects of the amusement park in the bag. However, Jasper Li, his investor, intervened and asked him to cooperate with the Tang Group on this project.

At first, he freaked out at the unreasonable request. Not wanting to confront his investor directly, he controlled his rage and tried to persuade him, "Mr. Li, my company has already won this project. I'm confident that we could handle the job perfectly. If the project would be a success, which I am sure would be, we will have an advantage in cooperation with the government in the future. You're my investor, and that would definitely be good for you as well. I really don't understand why you ask me to share it with the Tang Group. Can you give me an explanation?"

Last time when he competed with Rufus for the position as Director of the Union, Arthur was forced by Jasper to give up. Although that was against his will, he gave in for the sake of wanting investment from Jasper's TY Group. But this time, Jasper intervened again by making another unreasonable request.

"Young man, the enterprising spirit is a credit to a businessman. But if you seek to prevail over others in everything, that's not good for you. The construction of the tourism industrial area is a huge project. The Dawn Star Group can't take it alone, neither does the Tang Group. You have to let other companies have a finger in the pie,"

Jasper said with a slow and deep tone, which was a typical feature of this calm man.

"Since so, why not volunteer to give a small part of this project to the Tang Group for the exchange of a good reputation in the industry? And the Tang Group in return would be less hostile to you. I know the Tang Group is your biggest rival. But you two companies are both important members of the Union, you have to learn how to seek agreement while shelving differences. Remember that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," he continued.

Syncing his mind into what Jasper was speaking, Arthur thought he was right. Currently, the Dawn Star Group was not strong enough to play head to head with the Tang Group. After a moment of silence, he said with a discontented tone, "So you mean that I must make a concession? But I'm not going to give the impression of weakness!"

Arthur had always been proud and boastful, not always willing to be outdone.

"You're not showing weakness, Arthur, but friendship. You must show the Tang Group that you're a friend and not an enemy. Money is earned endless. But if you do not know when to stop, no one wants to cooperate with you. Then how could you carry on your business? The Dawn Star Group has still a long way to go. It is unwise to make a lot of enemies,"

Jasper stated more seriously. He knew that Arthur stole the amusement park project from the Tang Group. He despised and looked down upon this kind of improper practice.

Anyhow, what Jasper had said worked its way through Arthur. He began to reflect on himself.

Arthur had grown up with hate towards Lionel and his family. He swore that one day he would exceed Lionel's achievements, and his Dawn Star Group would replace the Tang Group's leading role in the industry. For the last two years, he had been anxious to achieve quick success and get instant benefits. It would probably be effective in the short run, but was not sustainable. His father was sick, bed-ridden, and couldn't give him any advice. He appreciated that Jasper was there to give him advices.

Definitely, Jasper was right. Harmony brings wealth; earning money and fame at the same time would be the right thing to do. Rome was not built in a day; and the Tang Group could not be defeated by just one project.

"Which part do you think I should give to the Tang Group?"

Arthur asked sincerely.

"The Ferris wheel. I heard that Tang Group has already begun the design on that. If you like, you could also give them some small entertainment center projects,"

Jasper said with a sigh of relief, which of course could not be seen by Arthur on the other end of the telephone line. Finally, he managed to carry out the task Rufus gave him. Actually, he didn't understand why Rufus asked him to do that. Rufus could easily take back the whole project from Arthur by himself. Anyhow, Jasper did it. Arthur played a stroke of big luck and got such an important lecture for free.

He took Jasper's advice. Instantly he arranged for people to go to the project leader and show his willingness to cooperate with Tang Group.

The leader, who was tired of dealing with Rufus, was naturally most welcome for Arthur's compromise and approved the Dawn Star Group and the Tang Group as the co-contractor at once. Several days later, the contract was signed.

Arthur was glad to see that the Dawn Star Group, was presented as the main contractor. For once, the Tang Group was falling behind them.

However, what he didn't know was that his opponent Rufus didn't pay much attention to this project at all. He took all the efforts to get the Ferris wheel design project just for the sake of Cassandra.

Rufus still remembered how excited Cassandra was when she saw the Ferris wheel. Her bright eyes were full of longing and excitement at the same time.

She had expressed her ideas boldly about the design of the Ferris wheel. And it turned out that her design was excellent. This Ferris wheel project would be a milestone for both the Tang Group and Cassandra. Thus, Rufus made up his mind to take the project back from Arthur and help Cassandra realize her dreams.

The agenda of the meeting of the Union was to talk about the construction of the tourism industrial area. Almost all the member companies were undertaking some projects, big or small, in this industrial area construction.

They each expressed their own opinion. The Tang Group would assimilate all the different opinions, made a conclusion and would present it to the responsible leaders in the government.

After the meeting, people left one by one. A man came to Arthur, patted him on the back and said with a tone of admiration, "Hi, Arthur, I heard that you got an investment from TY Group. Nice work! TY Group's boss has high requirements in choosing where to invest. Lots of people want to seek investment from them, but failed."

The man was the boss of a small company. He had tried to seek cooperation with TY Group, yet he was rejected.

"I'm honored. TY Group chose to invest with us because of the sincerity that we show,"

Arthur replied politely. He was pleased to receive these compliments.

Rufus who was walking behind them clearly heard their conversation. A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth and then vanished before anyone could see it.

'Huh! Be honored?' Rufus sneered in his heart. Dawn Star Group was just a 'useful chess piece' TY Group needed in this game.

They were just a pawn that Rufus took use of to facilitate the realization of his plan. Ridiculously, Arthur was quite conceited and was elated with himself.

'Arthur, the game's still on, you'd better watch out for yourself, ' Rufus thought in his brain as he shot a disdainful look at Arthur.

Meanwhile, in the Tang Group, Cassandra handed in her resignation notice and her employee ID card to the personnel department. She shook hands with everybody there and bid each one of them goodbye.

The employees of Tang Group had heard that Lionel and Cassandra got divorced. Their marital relationship was made public just lately. Little did everyone think that they would get divorced so abruptly.

Actually, there were lots of rumors around the office about Cassandra and Lionel.

Cassandra took a deep breath and braced herself ready to leave. Just as she was going to step out, the door was kicked open and a cold-faced man burst in.

"I haven't approved your resignation yet. Take back your ID card!"