A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 183

"You'd better keep your mouth shut if you have no proof at all,"

Rufus said as he casually settled himself on the couch. With his legs crossed, he looked calmly at Lionel who was desperately furious.

Thankfully, Cassandra was now awake. The sharp quarrel just outside her room baffled her and began to hurt her ears.

Looking around, she realized that she was lying in a bed of a completely unknown room. She didn't know what was going on and why she was here.

Managing to sit herself up, Cassandra massaged her temples to help herself recall what had happened.

She remembered that she was talking about her design with David. Her memory, however, was quite limited that she failed to recollect what happened next.

Where was she? Why was she sleeping here? She had no idea about that.

Cassandra forced herself to stand up and walked unsteadily toward the door.

As she opened the door, she saw Rufus sitting on the couch as calm as he had always been, and beside him was the already red-faced Lionel who was staring at Rufus with eyes full of rage. Apparently, the argument that she had heard when she woke up was from them. Cassandra was wondering when the two unfriendly brothers had got together.

Seeing Cassandra approaching, the two men unanimously turned their eyes towards her.

"You're awake?"

Rufus asked as he stood up quickly and walked toward Cassandra to support her. He held Cassandra by the arm and walked her to the couch.

Cassandra sat by Rufus's side on the couch and gently rested her head on Rufus's shoulder. Lionel disdained the scene and looked at them with a feeling of discomfort rising in his heart.

Cassandra was his former wife. Despite the fact that it was he who divorced her on his own initiative by signing the divorce agreement with her, it still felt awkward seeing her acting that way with Rufus.

Their relationship was clearly evident and they were showing it openly in front of Lionel. His temper rose at the thought that she was having an affair with Rufus, his half-brother!

"It seems that I fainted. What happened? And where is David? I remember I was talking with him,"

Cassandra inquired, noticing the papers on the table.

"You fainted from having a low blood sugar. David is quite satisfied with your design, but he was so careless that he left the papers here. I'll arrange for someone to send it to him,"

Rufus answered her questions calmly without taking his eyes off from her.

"Then why are you here? And why is Lionel here too?"

Cassandra continued asking because her doubts were not completely cleared yet. Rufus and Lionel were both here, which gave her an assumption that there could be something wrong and it could not be that simple.

"I happened to call you at that time. David answered the phone and told me what happened,"

Rufus replied. He had expected that Cassandra would ask so, therefore he made a call to her phone before she could gain consciousness again. He believed that the call log would support his story.

Lionel knew that Rufus made up such a story trying to hide the truth from Cassandra. Judging from the expressions on her face, Lionel's heart softened when he saw Cassandra in such a confused state.

Lionel himself didn't know what exactly happened, but he was sure that Rufus was not telling the truth. He could easily tell that David was not a good guy, and Cloris had something to do with what had happened. Rufus rebuked her seriously. What on earth did Cloris do to Cassandra that made Rufus so angry? Why didn't he tell her the truth? What was he trying to hide from her?

Accepting Rufus's answer, Cassandra asked no further. With an awkward tone, she then turned her eyes to Lionel and asked coldly, "Then why are you here?"

Lionel had come to her company that afternoon and made trouble out of nothing. Cassandra was overwhelmed at how conceited he was to show his face again. He must be up to no good.

"I'm waiting for Rufus to go home with me,"

replied Lionel immediately. Even he himself was surprised at this answer. He didn't know why his brain would cooperate with Rufus in lying to Cassandra.

Cassandra, who was equally surprised, turned his eyes to Rufus and failed to find any change of expression on his face. She knew the two brothers very well and they had always lived a dog-and-cat life. But now they were about to go home together. How could their relationship improve all of a sudden?

Since Rufus didn't deny what Lionel had said, Cassandra chose to believe Lionel. Anyhow, they were brothers with a common father. If they could really get along well with each other, that would be a good thing.

"I think I have recovered my strength. Let's go,"

Cassandra said after a moment of silence. When she was about to get up and walk out, Rufus pulled her back into his arm and looked at her with his deep black eyes full of concern.

"Lionel, you are needed at home. Don't wait for me. You can go home first," Rufus said.

It was clear that Rufus was hinting at Lionel to leave, but Lionel refused to take it. Rufus had no intention of hiding his intimacy with Cassandra from Lionel, which meant that he didn't put any importance on Lionel's status as Cassandra's ex-husband. Lionel, on the other hand, was infuriated at Rufus's actions.

"It's not a big deal. I can wait for you and then go back home with you,"

Lionel replied, casting a provocative glance at Rufus.

Cassandra looked at the two men and sensed a sort of conflict. She frowned, pushed Rufus away, stood up and said, "You can go, both of you! I'm fine. I'll take a taxi myself."

When they were still husband and wife, Cassandra was a little afraid of Lionel, because she was worried that he might lose control of himself and forced her to have sex with him, which she couldn't even reject because of their marital relationship. With their marriage null and void, she feared him no more. Cassandra knew that Rufus was worried about her, but she was eager to show him that she was now strong enough to protect herself.

Cassandra was stopped from walking out when Rufus's phone rang. He took it out from his pocket, glanced at it and hesitated to take the call. It was from Horace.

"It must be father, right? He is all edgy and in haste to get us back home,"

Lionel said casually, shrugging his shoulders.

Noticing Rufus's unwillingness to obey his father, Cassandra persuaded gently, "Rufus, go back home. I'm fine. I can go home myself. I'll give you a message when I arrive. I promise."

Cassandra didn't want Rufus to displease his father for her sake.

Shooting a loving look at Cassandra's pale face, Rufus stood up and said, "Well, let me walk you out for a taxi."

With that, he held Cassandra by the waist and they walked out of the room.

Lionel followed behind them silently, jealous as a turkey.

Thinking that if things hadn't gone wrong with him and Cassandra, it would be him who was holding Cassandra in such an intimate way instead of Rufus. Lionel wanted to give himself a big slap. He regretted that he divorced her on the spur of the moment. He had doubted a long time ago that Cassandra and Rufus were having a relationship in secret. It turned out that he was right. However, he was now in no position to prevent them, or even confront them.

Or perhaps there was actually something he could do...

Cassandra trusted Rufus so much, who actually didn't deserve that. Suddenly, an evil idea came into Lionel's head.

'Cassandra, you're so naive. Would you still love Rufus when you know that he has cheated you?' Lionel said to himself with a sneer.

Saying goodbye to Cassandra, Rufus and Lionel drove together back to the Tang family mansion. The whole family was waiting for them in the dining hall. Their father, Horace, gave them both a reproving look and motioned them to take their seats quickly.

"It's very rude of you to have our dear guest Miss Ke wait for you!"

Acting the hostess of Tang family, Jill scolded with an air of importance. Of course, she was referring to Rufus, whom she expected would not say anything against her at the presence of a guest.

"Mother, we had an emergency in the company. We've tried to deal with it as soon as possible so we can come back home in time. I'm so sorry, Miss Ke. Please accept my apology,"

Lionel said as he sat down beside Ivy. At Amanda's presence, he tried to act like a gentleman. "Never mind. It's no big deal," Amanda responded with a polite smile.

Ivy stepped secretly on Lionel's foot under the table to punish him for not receiving her calls.

Lionel pretended that nothing had happened and continued with his casual conversation with Amanda.

"Miss Ke, our cooperation project is about to begin. I'd like to make an appointment with you to talk about some details."

Lionel actively brought up the topic of the project. Amanda had signed a contract with the Tang Group, which could earn the company both money and fame if everything would turn out fine.

"Sure, I'll arrange for my assistant to talk with you," Amanda replied simply.

Actually, she was in no mood to talk with Lionel about the project at all. Her attention was attracted by Rufus, who was now just sitting there silently.

Amanda was a little bit down and uncomfortable because of Rufus's indifference.

"Rufus, do you know that Miss Ke has studied abroad too? I think you two will have a lot to talk about."

Seeing that Rufus deliberately keep his mouth shut, Horace had to think of a topic to bring him into the conversation.

"Mr. Tang, actually Mr. Luo and I are old acquaintances. We've known each other for many years. Do my memories serve me right, Mr. Luo?"

Amanda said with a cheerful voice as she looked directly at Rufus.

"Yes," Rufus responded dryly and continued to eat. Clearly, he had no intention of saying something more. They all sat in awkward silence, without anyone knowing how to break it.

Thankfully, Ivy started to play her role as a social butterfly. "Miss Ke, I heard that you have been selected by the government as the spokesperson of the tourism industrial area of G City. The government also wants to choose another spokesperson from the outstanding native enterprise representatives. Did they ask you for some recommendations?"

Ivy started a conversation that she knew would boost Amanda's pride. She knew that Amanda couldn't resist such flattery.

With such a topic fitting in exactly with her wishes, Amanda replied at once with a cheerful tone, "Yes, the government plans to select a young entrepreneur from those leading companies in G City. They hope that the spokesperson could show the city's tolerance for new things as well as its adherence to the tradition. So I guess they want to choose a young man from an experienced company."

While speaking, Amanda was secretly glancing at Rufus to see his reaction.

"The Tang Group and the Dawn Star Group are the two leading companies in G City. Both companies participated in the construction of the tourism industrial area. Lionel is the vice president of the Tang Group and is also a representative of young entrepreneurs. He is a qualified candidate. Don't you think so?"

Ivy responded smilingly, with a selfish motive of recommending Lionel.

Actually, Amanda didn't agree with Ivy, but she still wore a proper smile and answered flatteringly, "Of course, Mr. Tang would make an excellent spokesperson. I would recommend him to the government. But, eventually, it's up to the government to make the final decision."

Amanda rebutted Ivy skillfully. Deep inside her, she thought that she would definitely not say a word for Lionel to the government, because she had her own favorite, Rufus.

However, Rufus was quite unresponsive with their conversation. In the whole course, he just sat there eating silently, not giving even a glance at Amanda.

"Mr. Luo, I am a believer of a saying that great wits have short memories. It seemed that you fail to remember me, right?"

Amanda asked directly. Since Rufus refused to talk with her and pretended not to know her, she decided to take the initiative.

Rufus slowly raised his head, shot a short look at Amanda, and then said dryly, "I couldn't remember."

Hearing his reply, Amanda's smile froze on her face.

What did he mean by those three simple words? What did he forget? Did he forget everything about her or the fact that they had been lovers?