A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 173

Rufus's face remained emotionless even after the maid had told him all the details.

Was Jill merely behaving this way because she thought of Horace as a grumpy, old, arrogant man? It couldn't be denied, though, that Horace's health had deteriorated day after day—he was getting old and therefore, grumpy and arrogant as many men had come to be.

Rufus had no other thought in his mind but to make sure he executed his plan right away. Horace was, after all, old enough now—he might die before experiencing what it was like to be betrayed by his own son and at the same time, lose his own company. Horace deserved no less after all he'd done to Rufus and his mother. He did not deserve to die a peaceful death.

Meanwhile, in the ward, Jill still hadn't stopped sobbing and Lionel was starting to become impatient. He kept bugging the nurse, asking what time his father was going to wake up. In fact, he did it so much that the nurse had started to avoid him.

Rufus waited outside the ward the whole night. Before dawn, Horace finally woke up.

"Horace, Horace, how are you feeling now?"

Jill rushed towards Horace the moment he opened his eyes.

Rufus was also wide awake and alert outside the ward—he was calm and so sure of what he was going to do.

The doctor came in to check all of Horace's vitals and was seemingly satisfied. He spoke in a cool tone, "Everything looks good here. He doesn't need as many people to stay with him—one is enough. The rest of you can go home and rest. Mr. Tang needs quiet too."

The ward was so crowded that the doctor advised them to leave in order to give Horace some peace and quiet.

Rufus scanned the room with his eyes before he offered to stay, "I will stay here and look after him. You can all go home first and come relieve me later."

Rufus's tone was calm and somewhat matter-of-fact. Jill glanced at him from the side and murmured, "Such a hypocrite," before yawning and leaving the room with Ivy.

"Father, I have to go and attend to a few appointments. I'll be right back after I'm done,"

Lionel said as a goodbye to his father. When he left, only Rufus and Horace were in the room.

Although he had already woken up from his coma, Horace still looked pallid and weak.

He tilted his head as he looked at Rufus with a confused look on his face, as if his mind was buzzing about something.

Rufus didn't make a sound, instead he just gazed blankly back at his father.

"Rufus, I had a dream. I dreamt of your mother,"

Horace said in a weak but yearning tone.

"She stopped talking to me. I'd lost all contact with her for years. I had no other way to find out you were my son," he continued.

Horace pressed his eye lids together as if he was deep in thought.

Rufus remained silent and stoic but inside, he was raging.

After a while, Horace fell back into a deep sleep. Rufus took this chance to call Victor so he left the room and made his way to the corridors.

"Tell me what happened last night."

The previous night, Cassandra and Dylon went to Dylon's apartment. Victor would've stopped it if something was really going on between them.

"Mr. Tong left after awhile so only Miss Qin spent the night at the apartment. Nothing happened,"

Victor reported in a calm tone.

Even if he had already expected this, Rufus still couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

"Go to the company now and get me the files I need to deal with."

When he hung up the call, Rufus immediately pulled up a photo saved on his phone.

The photo was of his mother, young then, sporting a huge smile. Her hair was roughly tied with a handkerchief.

In the coming years after that photo was taken, she became sick. Hellen was practically a vegetable—couldn't talk or move. She had been merely staring into nothingness, unmoving.

She died ten years later.

When his mother was struggling to earn money so she could support him, Horace married Jill and they had Lionel. Horace had this whole new and happy life while his mother worked herself to the bone for him.

Her body ached all the time but she endured the pain day in and day out. She never complained even when she was getting sicker and sicker everyday.

She willingly took all the burden of supporting Rufus, which was unbeknownst to Horace.

He was too caught up with all the money and power Tang Group and Jill brought to him.

Rufus shut his phone and raised his eyes. Once again, never had he been more sure of anything in his life.

'Horace Tang, I'll make you watch Tang Group collapse into a million pieces then your family's going to abandon you. Soon, you'll know what it feels like to lose your loved ones!' Rufus angrily thought in his mind.

That night, Cassandra slept like a baby. She only woke up when the sun creeped inside the apartment. When she woke up, she was surprised to find that it was already nine in the morning.

She hastily started preparing for the day. When she got to work, she sensed that something was wrong.

The building was uncharacteristically quiet and from a considerably near area, she could hear someone crying.

"What happened?"

Cassandra asked as she made her way to the sound of the crying—it was an employee who was wiping her tears away.

She stood up and tried to fix herself in front of Cassandra, but couldn't handle it because she bursted into tears and was unable to get a word out.

"Her uncle is in A City. She can't contact him since the earthquake,"

Another employee piped in, his tone sympathetic.

Suddenly, Cassandra realized something. Now she wasn't so surprised at how quiet everything was.

"Come, let's go to my office," Cassandra said to the young lady.

She was going to talk to this young lady somewhere a bit more private.

She led the employee to her office and shut the door closed. When she started speaking, Cassandra used a comforting tone, "Don't cry, we don't know anything yet. The situation might be a bit complicated in A City right now, but that's pretty normal. Don't get yourself work up over nothing yet, okay?"

She produced a piece of tissue and handed it to the employee.

"My... My parents died when I was a child. So my aunt and uncle took me in and treated me like their own. I've tried calling them but I can't reach them. Manager Qin, I'm just so worried about them..."

Tears continued to stream down her face.

"I know you're worried about them. How about you take a few days off? You can rest and spend some time with yourself while you wait for news, okay? Would you like that?"

Cassandra didn't know what else to do. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose the loved ones. Her employee had no idea if her aunt and uncle were safe —that must be a nightmare.

"Manager Qin, I'd rather just go to A City and look for my aunt and uncle myself! I can't just wait here, doing nothing. I won't be able to stand it. I have to go there!"

the lady said decisively.

"Don't be so impulsive. Things are pretty bad in A City right now. Even the nearby cities were affected by the earthquake. All the roads and transportation are shaky at best. What if something happens again on your way there? Don't make your uncle worry about you like that, okay?"

Cassandra thought back to all the news that she had heard. There were landslides that blocked the roads. Aftershocks were happening more often—A City wasn't a safe place to be at right now so it was extremely dangerous if she went there. She didn't want any of her employees being unsafe or putting their life at risk.

"But I can't stand it anymore, Manager Qin. I've been calling them all day yesterday and no one's answering. I don't know if they're safe or not. I didn't even get much sleep last night because I was up late worrying about them. I have no choice but to go. I've already made up my mind,"

the girl wiped her tears away as she spoke.

Cassandra glanced at her name plate—Maggie from the Design Department. She also took part in Mr. Wang's project—she was a very valuable and hardworking employee to have.

Suddenly, Cassandra thought of something a bit crazy.

"Well, if you insist, I guess I'll have to come with you!"

Cassandra walked to Maggie and placed a hand on her arm as a gesture of support and care.

"Ma... Manager Qin..."

Maggie hadn't expected this at all. She couldn't believe her ears—her boss was going with her? Did she hear that correctly?

"I don't have much on my plate right now and I can hand over the rest of the work to others. We'll leave in the afternoon,"

Cassandra said in a resolute tone. She met with some of the department heads to hand over her work. Then she asked her assistant to gas up her car.

Cassandra never used the company car if it wasn't for work. She was a strict follower of the company rules because she wanted to set an example to her employees. In fact, she was a stickler for the rules that she would take a taxi to work everyday.

But today, she decided to use the car just so she could go with Maggie to A City and everyone was buzzing about it

"Wow, Manager Qin is such a good boss. Where else will you hear a boss accompanying her employee for a family visit?"

"Well, it's not really a family visit but more like a family search! I hope Maggie finds her aunt and uncle though. God bless her!"

Cassandra quickly dropped by the Garden Villa to pack up some clothes.

Victor updated Rufus right away.

"Miss Qin has just left the Garden Villa holding a suitcase full of clothes."

Rufus felt his heart skip a beat when he heard this. What on earth was his little woman up to?