A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 191

At this point, she could no longer pretend she wasn't bothered by Rufus's indifference. The anger that had accumulated over the past few weeks broke out. She felt like she was better than Cassandra in every possible way and made a more suitable match for Rufus. Yet, Rufus kept ignoring her!

"Amanda, consider this a warning. Do not speak badly about Cassandra in front of me. This is the last time I'm telling you this."

At last, the remaining bits of patience for the daughter of his respected mentor got drained. His face was grim. Darkness arose from his eagle-like eyes, piercing through her.

Rufus firmly believed he knew Cassandra better than anyone else. Her marriage with Lionel was widely misunderstood. The clients she had were also not due to his reference. Whatever she had reaped was the result of her own efforts. How could Amanda disregard all her hard work without knowing anything about her?

"I will speak! Cassandra is nothing but a slut abandoned by her husband. Only you would treasure such a filthy woman!"

Amanda lost all her manners in front of someone like Rufus whom she knew from head to toe. She acted like no less than a kid, shouting out those careless words.

Rufus's jaw clenched; his eyes widened as a dark look came on his face.

"Enough! Don't ever show me your face again!" Rufus roared.

His eyes seemed to be made of cold metal. Amanda quivered, taken aback by his sudden uproar.

He had now turned violently angry toward her. Using some strength, he shoved her away from the door. She couldn't even balance herself and almost fell to the ground but Rufus didn't even look at her. Without waiting another second, he strode out.

The empty space around her seemed to gnaw at her wounded heart as she composed herself and stomped out helplessly, in anger.

All the days of Rufus's cold behavior came back to her. She thought of all the times she brought lunch for him, which always ended up untouched. Still, she kept an affectionate smile whenever she came and left. Rufus never even bothered to thank her or look at her.

Despite being at the end of such unresponsiveness, she had to ready herself to feign a composed look as she walked along the corridor outside his office, such that all the employees would think of her as Rufus's girlfriend.

It had become too much for her to bear!

Even as she smiled and walked on gracefully, her eyes squinted cunningly. 'Rufus, I really don't think this is the end. You cannot behave so heartlessly with me, ' the voice in her head screamed.

Meanwhile in Tang family, Lionel reached home, drunk again, stumbling on his way into his bedroom. Ivy, who waited for him on the bed, only glanced at him briefly, with no intentions of helping him.

Horace had demanded of Lionel to take Ivy to the party as his dancing partner. Lionel threw one excuse after another to reject the idea. Horace eventually got enraged and slammed the table shouting in fury, "Lionel! Don't forget you are going to represent Tang Group in this party. You will bring along whoever I command you to bring. If you don't agree to what I say, remember I am still your father!"

Horace kept his eyes fixed on Lionel's face. Jill constantly fretted about Horace's asthma, afraid it would be triggered again. She went up to him and patted his chest to soothe him.

"Lionel, tell me what's on your mind. I just don't get it. In the past, you wanted to bring Ivy with you to all the parties. What's the problem now? Plus, Ivy is so sociable. She can definitely help you interact with more people and establish good relations and contacts. What's the hesitation for?" Jill asked in doubt.

The mystery seemed enigmatic to her. Back when Lionel was married to Cassandra, he pressed on taking Ivy to the celebration banquet where someone purposely replaced the video they used to frame Cassandra with an obscene video footage of him and Ivy. Despite that embarrassment, he still wouldn't let Ivy go. Now, his attitude towards her seemed to have changed over night. Where did the enthusiasm go suddenly?

Lionel had had an unsatisfying conversation with Cassandra during the day which had made him very upset. And now, at home, he was being forced to take Ivy to the party. This added to his low mood, making him feel depressed.

Originally, naively, he planned to take Cassandra as his dancing partner, to make Rufus jealous. It was already grieving enough that she refused to go with him and now he was left with no choice but to take Ivy along.

This was the reason he had gone to a bar and get drunk. He indulged himself in the dazzling and foggy environment of the bar. That seemed like the only way for him to get Cassandra out of his head.

How ridiculous he felt! When Cassandra was legally with him, he never cherished her, instead, always pushed her away. It was only after she left him that he saw her true value in his life.

Recently, he had instructed someone to ask the doctor who handled Ivy's pregnancy about the night Cassandra pushed her down the staircase. The doctor, to his surprise, said that the baby had already died because of oxygen deficiency way before Ivy reached the hospital.

That meant it was highly possible the baby already died before the accident!

He had employed so many methods to get close to Cassandra after the divorce, but she continued to arrogantly avoid him. Yet, he stooped low for her like a begging dog.

Lionel, soaked in the smell of alcohol, still struggled to stand still. In a daze, he saw a woman on his bed. He closed his eyes, shaking his head before opening the eyes again to get a clearer picture. To his eyes, it looked like no one else but Cassandra!