A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 165

Mr. Wang finally stood up, design plan in his hands. He nodded to Cassandra with a satisfied smile on his face, his curious expression now long gone.

"Ms. Qin, I believe that your company's success will be beyond expectation. You have the ball at your feet! Please accept my congratulations in advance!" he smiled sincerely.

Cassandra's sheer confidence dispelled whatever doubt he had before. He looked at her approvingly before turning to leave her office.

Cassandra thanked him eagerly and promised to not let him down.

Once he was out of earshot, she squealed in delight for successfully nailing down the business transaction.

Her happiness was short-lived, however, when it finally dawned on her how exhausted she had been. Since she was the operator of the group, her mother was unable to help and her sister was too young to understand, she had to do most of the work herself. But no matter how frustrated she was, Cassandra knew it was all worth it. Her father must have felt the same when he started the group. She smiled to herself.

Although she had won several grand design prizes before, Cassandra promised Lionel that she wouldn't work on designing in the next two years, which somehow restricted her to gather a larger clientele for her company.

Most of the cases they undertook were similar that of Mr. Wang, and many clients came to her for the sake of her previous works. She quietly hoped that the group could provide them with some brilliant works in order to establish a long term cooperation relationship. Facts speak louder than words. However, if she was just able to design again, she knew she could have gathered a larger network of prospective customers.

A loud clap of thunder broke her from her thoughts as she suddenly felt her feet quake beneath her. She got dizzy as she noticed the glass windows rumbling.

Cassandra knew it wasn't vertigo, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She closed her eyes until the shaking subsided.

As if on cue, her phone beeped to alert her of the news. She quickly took her phone out to check.

It said that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck A city. The alerts updated her every other minute. The earthquake and the thunder shower triggered several landslides and there were still unconfirmed reports on casualties. The earthquake was strong enough to affect the surrounding cities.

G City wasn't very close to A City, but citizens there also felt the strong vibration.

Taking several deep breaths, Cassandra slowly stood up from her chair despite her dizziness.

When she opened the door to leave her office, the hallway was in utter chaos. Her employees were all scattered outside, discussing the earthquake.

"It was so scary! I saw the ripples in my mug and thought that I shook the desk by accident!" a female employee said.

Her voice was trembling and shaky.

"My uncle and his family are in A City. I tried calling them but I still couldn't reach them! I'm so worried," another employee cried out.

She was about to burst into tears and some of her colleagues gathered around to comfort her.

"Don't worry. They must just be busy ensuring they're safe so they don't have time to call you. That, or the connection might just be too busy because everyone's doing the same thing. Just try again later!"

"She's right! Don't worry. I'm sure they'll contact you once they're safe!"

Cassandra cleared her throat when she approached the huddled crowd, and all of them quickly grew quiet and looked at her.

"Let's all call it a day! The weather report says it's also going to rain soon. Please be careful, and make sure that all of you message me as soon as you're home," she said.

She knew it was the right thing to do. Primarily, her employees would be safer if they weren't at work, and they wouldn't even be able to focus since they were all too worried. That, and she also had to go home.

She glanced outside to look at the dark clouds forming in the distance, before looking back at her employees earnestly.

They were incredibly surprised by her words. All of them smiled and sighed in relief, thanking her eagerly.

"Thank you so much, Manager Qin!" "You're seriously the best boss I've ever seen!"

"Thank God! No, thank you, Boss! I was just worrying about the disgruntling commute home. You're a lifesaver!"

"I rode my electrical bicycle here today, and it'll be impossible to ride it home in such a stormy weather. I'd better hurry up before the storm comes! See you tomorrow, my sweet boss!"

The employees' praises kept on coming as they piled their things together and left one by one.

Cassandra looked at her watch and found that if she didn't hurry herself, she'd be trapped within the rush hour. She grabbed her things quickly back in her office and ran to the exit.

Upon leaving the main entrace, the wind almost blew her away. The gust was so strong and cold, and the fog had started to form in the city.

Cassandra hailed a taxi hurriedly and rushed towards the Garden Villa without much delay. It suddenly came to her that she forgot to close the windows this morning. She had to get home as fast as she could otherwise it would the house upside down.

When she arrived, Cassandra dashed to her door and hurriedly closed the windows. Right at this moment, the rain drummed on the window pane heavily.

Cassandra sighed heavily before going to her room to change. Once she was done, she dumped her damp clothes in the dryer and walked to the living room to collapse on the sofa. She reached for the remote and turned on the TV. Just as expected, the news was broadcasting the severity of the earthquake and the storm. Her stomach knotted at the horrific scenes caused by the earthquake in the news.

It was getting darker and darker outside. Different from the wind inland, the storm from coastal cities was blustering around the house, together with the thunder, the rain and the lightning flashing across the sky. Fears were raised up in Cassandra's heart and she buried herself deep in the soft sofa with her arms across her chest.

She was alone in such a huge house, which seemed emptier than usual. The violent thunderstorm was roaring louder outside, rattling her windows from the strong gusts of wind. To her, it sort of felt like the end of the world.

She started to think about Rufus. If only he were here, she might not feel as scared.

If he were here, she could burrow her entire body into his chest and he would've caressed her face tenderly. She would be safe in his arms and that would have been enough for her.

She was pretty sure, however, that it was only her fantasy or daydreaming. All she had at the moment was her large house and the noisy TV in this stormy night.

After a long while, glancing out the window beside her, Cassandra saw the two flower planted in the yard. Her heart dropped to her stomach at the sight of them.

They had just branched out a few days ago, but under the heavy rain, they were bound to die. The poor plants were incredibly fragile under the strength of the storm. As they swayed in the wind, Cassandra took it as a sign that they were asking for her help.

Rufus had planted those two flowers for her, and if they were blown away, she would never forgive herself for watching it happen.

Cassandra jumped to her feet, grabbed a large raincoat, and ran to the door without hesitating. She felt obligated to protect them. However, once she opened the door, the storm roared against her small frame. She pushed forward despite the strong winds and ran outside.

Cassandra took a deep breath and made her way to the plants. Each step she took, the wind fought back, as if it were trying to prevent her from getting to the plants. When she made it, she quickly spread her oversize raincoat and secured around the bottom with some heavy rocks, covering the flowers. Seeing the plants now safe and sheltered, she finally heaved a sigh of relief.

The rain was falling down heavily, like tiny stones hitting on her shoulders. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew up and she choked, coughing and swallowing several times.

To her horror, just as she was coughing, she suddenly felt someone approach her from behind. And the next second she was lifted up into a warm embrace. Cassandra screamed in the rain until she saw Rufus's wrathful face in front of her. A warm current of joy coursing around her body, she bit her lips and nestled her head on his shoulder.

She let him take both of them back inside the house. Rufus kicked the door open, walked in and closed the wuthering outside behind them. Then he turned to the woman, his eyes as cold as ice.

"What the hell were you doing outside? It is raging storm outside, for God's sake! You'll get sick standing in the middle of the heavy rain!" he scolded her.

Rufus sounded both furious and concerned. Only Cassandra could trigger both emotions at the same time, and she knew it.

Cassandra was thin and weak. What was she thinking exposing herself to the rain? Rufus looked at her, glaring as he checked her face for any sign of guilt. Cassandra merely looked back, eyes glistening and cheeks puffed.

Cassandra brought her arms to his waist and hugged him tightly, feeling his strong, speedy heartbeat. She didn't dare say anything else. Despite shivering in damp clothes, she felt incredibly warm inside. She knew that Rufus cared for her and that he was just too worried for her.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she murmured quietly.

Her arms rose to his shoulders and hugged him tighter. Rainwater continued to drip between the two of them.

"Again? Of course, not again! The next time you do that again I'll leave you alone and lock you out!" Rufus warned.

His actions betrayed his cruel voice. He carefully carried her upstairs to the bathroom. Then he put her in the bathtub and turned the hot water on.

"Take off your clothes," he ordered.

He sounded incredibly irresistible and Cassandra was overwhelmed by his cool voice.

She took her nightgown off and threw them aside, blushing. The wet clothing landed with a soppy flop on the tiled floor.

Rufus still glared at her, but he couldn't help swallow at the sight of her naked form.

"Are those two plants really more important than your own body? You'll pay dearly for it in the future! Everything in the world is apart and outside of you but your health, because your health is the only thing that belongs to yourself!" he chided once more, trying to not get distracted at her beautiful figure.

Rufus didn't plan to come to the Villa today, but the thunderstorm changed his mind and he was afraid that Cassandra would be terrified alone.

He drove back as quickly as possible, only to see her standing outside like an idiot.

With her back to him, she didn't notice his car and was busy covering the plants against the strong storm. Her stubborn figure reminded him of what happened during the typhoon last year—the woman also walked into rain determinedly.

Rufus felt that he couldn't breathe, and anger started to slowly boil inside him. He ran to pick her up harshly and hurried inside without talking to her due to his annoyance.

On his way to the villa, his mind was too busy worrying if Cassandra would be terrified being alone in such a big house. Seeing her standing in the rain only put his back up as he even felt hurt himself when the rain hit on his body.

"I'm sorry... I was just scared that they might be blown away," she explained shyly.

Cassandra didn't dare speak loudly when Rufus was mad at her. He only had little patience when he was angry, and it wasn't the right time to anger him even more.

Cassandra's shyness immediately softened Rufus's expression and he sighed irritably. She had become his weakness that he couldn't even get mad at her properly.

Rufus fixed his eyes at her frame; all his muscles were tensing when he saw her crouching in the bathtub. He crouched down next to the tub, right beside her head.

He held the shower head and began bathing her, hands carefully brushing over her hair and her face. Cassandra's pale skin had started to flush from the hot water. When their eyes met, he could see himself in her glistening eyes.

She pouted her lips and looked at him innocently.

"I just wanted to keep those plants alive so that I could watch them bloom, with you!" she said.