A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 401

"I'm sorry, Cassandra! I shouldn't have mentioned it..."

Stella shut her mouth immediately, realizing she had completely disregarded Cassandra's feelings. She would have felt terrible finding out something like that.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. They're all over the news. I already know this."

Cassandra feigned a ghost of a smile on her face bitterly. She tried not to pay attention to news like this, but it was inevitable for her to come across it every now and then.

Whenever it reached her, she smiled speechlessly at the words they used: the Golden boy and Jade girl; the business tycoon and the amazingly talented, beautiful lady; a heaven-made match and whatnot.

All the possible words they could use to describe couples were used to describe Rufus and Amanda. Cassandra simply pretended like she saw nothing and heard nothing. She made herself trust Rufus. However, no matter how much she tried, her belief was always broken by the reality that hit her everywhere she went.

If they were a perfect match, what did that make her? Was she simply Rufus's other woman?

"Cassandra, as your friend, whatever I'm saying is for your own good. Rufus might not be the man you knew anymore and he is definitely lying to you. Please, stop trusting him and move on. If he really cared about you, he wouldn't have been engaged to Amanda. How can you stand this!" Seeing how broken her friend looked, Stella decided to speak her mind.

Rufus was like a fishbone stuck in Cassandra's throat. She was neither able to swallow it nor spit it out. Stella was done supporting her sinking fantasies. She really wanted to shrug her off this dream.

If Cassandra didn't get over Rufus, the fishbone would be there forever and rot in her flesh, brewing nothing but pain for her, eventually becoming a scar she would have to bear for the rest of her life.

It was finally time to leave, but Cassandra decided to stay. Stella left soon, leaving her alone as she continued to work on Lyndsy's propaganda program.

The lamp on the desk shed soft light on her face, making her eyes shut. She was too tired and decided to take a break. When she opened her eyes again, she caught a silhouette right in front of her. Startled, she gasped and opened her mouth to shriek.

But then her mouth was covered by a pair of strong hands before she could utter a sound. A voice spoke to her, after which she held back her desire to let herself free or speak anything.

"It's me, Cassandra!"

The familiar, low voice rang right beside her ears, making her eyes well up with tears.

This was the person Cassandra had been craving to see. Somehow, he always approached her like a shadow and left without a trace. She could never comprehend when or how he would show up and disappear. She could never anticipate how long it would be before she would see him again.

He drifted around her like a gust of wind, moving with its own accord. She wondered if she would ever be capable of making him stay.

Rufus felt Cassandra's clenched body relaxing and took his hand off her mouth, finally appearing in the light and greeting her with a delighted smile.

"I was waiting for you at home but you didn't show up. So I assumed you'd be working and came here to see you," he explained.

His smile looked like a blaze of light, filling Cassandra up with warmth, as if he had just kissed her. She stared at his face overwhelmed with love but Rufus couldn't see the moisture in her eyes under the shadow the lamp cast on her face.

"I'm so sorry. I have been so occupied these past days. My aunt's husband, Jasper's company was in trouble and I needed to help him out."

The companies aiming at the members of the Dark Night group were on the move again. Rufus helped Jasper to deal with them but hadn't expected it would get stretched to such an extent. He felt terribly sorry for not being able to meet Cassandra.

"The construction for Amanda's school has started recently, so she asked me to come over. I had to go because I promised her father I'd help her. I don't want to disappoint her because the school has been a dream for her ever since she was a child."

Rufus kept giving elaborate explanations, gazing at Cassandra softly. He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her passionately but thought it made sense to talk about his absence first. This absence, like it was said, made his heart grow fonder. Despite his urges, he felt content just looking at her.

Cassandra sat in the shadow silently without moving an inch.

Stella had left the door to her office open while leaving. Cassandra had never expected Rufus to show up, especially since she was on the cusp of giving up on him. She had hundreds of questions to ask him, hundreds of things to share with him, but for now, all that mattered was she could simply stare at him and shed a few tears. She, too, like Rufus, was content with that.

She didn't know where to begin. Why had he kept so many things from her? In reality, the company wasn't Jasper's. it was his. Jasper was the chairman of TY Group but yet, not the real boss. Now, he was saying that, he was working for Jasper, trying to hide the truth from her again.

He had promised her he would tell her everything about the things that went on between him and Amanda. She had begun to wonder whether he ever imagined how she felt when he stood next to Amanda so intimately.

She was indeed the woman in the shadow.

'Rufus, I am keeping silent because I trust you. Do I look stupid to you?'