A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 169

Walking her way to the hotel restaurant, Amanda instructed the manager to deliver Charlie's meals as soon as possible and then made her way back to the presidential suite. Right when she came to the door, she overheard her father's words as he talked to Rufus. "Didn't you and Amanda get together?"

With that, she pushed the door open without any hesitation. Amanda announced to her father with a firm voice that she had decided to be with Rufus.

Amanda's sudden proclamation surprised Rufus. Actually, he knew that Amanda still liked him after what had happened between them. But being a gentleman as he was, he was not willing to reject her straight away right in front of her father, and he knew it would break her heart.

Rufus himself had also been hurt by love once and got lost without knowing what to do after Amanda broke up with him. Still, he cherished the good memories of the past with Amanda. She was so beautiful and innocent when they were together and he wanted it to stay that way on his mind; thus he didn't want to hurt her now.

In fact, Rufus had already figured out her intentions when she suddenly changed the repertoire after the break at her concert.

Later, she announced that she would like to set up a piano school in G City. She even drafted a contract and asked Rufus to sign it. Thus, it led Rufus to conclude that the purpose of her visit to G City must have something to do with him.

Time had passed and people changed. Rufus didn't love Amanda anymore. Instead, his heart beat only for Cassandra.

Although Cassandra was not as famous and successful as Amanda, and her family was not as glorious as Amanda's, Rufus was deeply in love with Cassandra since the day he met her. She was so special and different from everyone else.

The reason why he liked Amanda before was just that she was truly a beautiful girl when they were both young. But his feelings for Cassandra was totally different. As a man, he just wanted her and be with her for the rest of his life.

If he were to choose between Cassandra and Amanda, he sure would settle with Cassandra, the one he loved and cherished the most.

"Amanda, have I ever told you that I already have a girlfriend?"

Rufus looked at Amanda and tried to state in a low voice because he was afraid of how she would react. However, it seemed that Amanda didn't care about Rufus's rejection at all.

"Girlfriend? Why does that matter? She doesn't deserve you at all!"

Amanda exclaimed with a confident expression. Obviously, she didn't think Cassandra was even at par to compete with her.

'She had a divorced and her father is now in prison. What's worse was that her company was at stake. She's nothing to me!

I am the youngest female pianist who had won numerous awards in the world so far. There are a lot of men who sought after me and I can just choose one to be my boyfriend. However, I only love Rufus and I believe that he is bound to be my man sooner or later. I will surely beat Cassandra!' Amanda thought while eyeing Rufus interestingly.

"Amanda, love is never about matching. It's about whether you can afford it or not. Its sharing one's soul to another," Rufus countered.

For Rufus, Amanda was still the proud little girl she was years ago. It seemed that she had not changed a bit, still simple yet capricious.

Rufus, on the other hand, had grown up and was now very mature. His childishness faded gradually and it was replaced with professionalism and integrity, which made him handle things with ease.

"Are you still mad at me for breaking up with you?"

Amanda's eyes suddenly filled with tears, and the sad expression on her face made Rufus felt sorry for her.

He turned away from her in an effort to avoid her eyes, shaking his head.

"Amanda, let the past be in the past. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Besides, G City is just a small city and it's not the right place where you can fulfill your dream. So, you'd better go back to where you're from."

Rufus turned to leave as he finished his words, but Amanda rushed up to him in a hurry and hugged him from behind.

When her body was pressed against his broad back, Amanda noticed that he was no longer the skinny boy he used to be. Instead, he had become a handsome and masculine man, and his body had grown very strong with fit muscles.

Pathetically, she missed all the good things and the experiences they could have had together. Amanda couldn't help crying every time she thought of the break-up with Rufus that year.

"Rufus, I'm not going anywhere! I just want to stay with you in G City. This is the place where you were born and I know that you want to stay in your hometown. Then I'd love to be with you and stay with you till the end of my life!"

Amanda broke down in tears. Rufus's relentless rejections had taken its toll on her.

Charlie felt distressed and was frustrated when he saw his daughter crying so sadly.

"Well, it's all my fault! If I hadn't forced you to break up with Rufus, you would never have to be miserable like this today!"

Charlie's face was filled with guilt. The tears on his daughter's face were just like needles piercing through and hurting his heart badly.

Rufus took Amanda's hands off his waist and turned to hold her shoulders. He wiped the tears on her face with his hands.

"Amanda, we are not going to be coupled anymore. If you still treat me as your friend, then I'd be quite willing to help you when you need me. But if you want to be my woman, I have to say sorry because that would be impossible. I will not love any other women except Cassandra Qin! Do you understand?"

After saying that, Rufus turned to Charlie, and bowed deeply and respectfully to him again. Then he walked towards the door and strode out of the room.

Looking at Rufus's back as he walked out of the suite, Amanda was crying so miserably that she was even out of breath.

Charlie hurried forward to support her daughter. His eyes were full of anxiety as he didn't know how to console Amanda.

"Amanda, stop crying, dear. Since he doesn't want to be with you, you should go back with me. Aren't you going to set up a piano academy? Dad will help you set up as many piano academies as you want to!"

A daughter was always her dad's sweetheart, and Amanda's tears pained Charlie a lot that his heart even felt like it was tangled with thorns.

"That bitch... What... What merits does she have? Why would Rufus prefer her over me?"

Amanda sobbed so sadly that she even twitched to catch her breath.

"Don't cry, baby girl. Listen to me. You are the best and that bitch is no match for you. There's no need to compete with her! Don't stoop down to her level."

Charlie helped Amanda sit on the sofa. He was once a proud and tough leading character in the Dark Night Group; but now he was an ordinary father who cared nothing but his daughter. And he was trying hard to comfort his broken-hearted daughter.

"Dad, I'm so sad! My heart hurts! I just want Rufus, and... Nothing else but just Rufus! Just Rufus..."

Amanda threw herself into Charlie's arms and cried harder with her shoulders trembling.

"Baby girl, it's all right. Dad will help you. Dad will help you to drive away that bitch!"

Charlie caressed her daughter's trembling shoulder with a broken heart.

"Really? Dad? Are you really going to drive her away?"

Hearing Charlie's words, Amanda was still sobbing, but she was no longer crying heavily.

Charlie proved his words were effective and then he continued to assure Amanda,"Yes! I promise! I'll help you earn Rufus's attention. It's a deal!"

As long as his daughter would be happy, he would do anything even the impossible.

"Okay. Deal! You cannot go breaking your own words!"

With Charlie's assurance, Amanda immediately brightened up. She pouted her mouth with an innocent expression and her red eyes gazed upon her father thankfully.

"Have I ever failed to do anything you want me to do? I'm your father and you are my princess. I'll do anything for you, dear. Even if you don't believe anyone else, you must have confidence in me!"

Over the years, Charlie had nothing to fear except his precious daughter.

He hadn't forced her to do anything her entire life, except once that he had asked her to break up with Rufus.

Charlie was also very upset after their break-up. If it hadn't been for his stubbornness, Amanda would not be so sad now.

Realizing that Charlie was treating her so child-like, Amanda suddenly burst into laughter. Feeling relieved, she put her head on Charlie's shoulder.

"You are so nice, Dad! I love you so much!"

In Charlie's ears, Amanda's voice was pleasant like the sound of a silver bell. Without any doubt, seeing her happy smile was the best reward for him.

In life, no matter how strong-minded a person was, he or she was bound to have his or her weaknesses; and this was what Charlie kept telling Amanda since she was still a little girl. Amanda had kept Charlie's words in her mind till now.

There finally appeared a smile of triumph on Amanda's face, who was now leaning on Charlie's shoulder. 'Cassandra, do you think that you can take my place to be Rufus' woman?

What a pity! You haven't recovered from your last failed marriage. I'm afraid that you're about to enter the darkest time in your life.' Amanda thought in silence.

After Rufus left, Cassandra sat in the dining room and was lost into her own thought for a long time.

'It was already late and Rufus won't be home tonight. Is he with Amanda now? Would he be holding Amanda and telling her all the sweet things he'd ever told me before?' Cassandra pondered to herself.

She suddenly shook her head as she thought of the odd questions on her mind. She tried desperately to banish all these strange ideas out from her head.

'I must trust Rufus. He met Amanda because he had something urgent to deal with her. The truth is certainly not like what I thought, and I shouldn't make wild assumptions since I don't have any evidence to prove that Amanda has any intimate relationship with Rufus.' Cassandra thought further.

But no matter how hard she tried to comfort herself, such self-suggestions did not seem to work for her. Cassandra slowly became more and more depressed.

She got up to finish cleaning around the house. Then she lay down on the bed in a daze, picked up her mobile phone and began to surf the Internet.

The hitting headlines were all about the earthquake that happened in A City. It seemed that no one cared about Lyndsy's news anymore. This was nice to know and Cassandra finally felt relieved for her. At least now the media would not pay too much attention to the news about the entertainment industry. Furthermore, Lyndsy could try to terminate her contract with the company, so as to avoid any other unexpected accidents from happening.

Pictures of the earthquake were constantly being uploaded to the Internet. The tragic scene of the disaster-stricken area was in such a mess that it made everyone seeing the pictures feel really heartbroken.

As Cassandra continued to browse, she learned that the death toll from the earthquake continued to rise; and there was a severe shortage of relief supplies.

Then all of a sudden, Dylon's came in on her phone. "Cassandra, the hospital has sent a medical team to the disaster-stricken area and I'm going with them tomorrow morning. Would you like to hold a farewell dinner for me?"