A Graduation Gift

Chapter 31 She Missed Him

Cassandra's mind went blank. She blinked in confusion at the sudden hug. The young woman let go of her, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Don't you remember me? I'm Stella Mu. We went to high school together, remember?"

The woman's tone rose as she explained upon seeing Cassandra's bewildered expression.

Cassandra frowned and racked her brain for the name. Soon, a girl with pigtails who wore black- rimmed glasses materialized in her mind. Whenever that little girl grinned, her braces made an appearance.

"You are Stella Mu?"

Cassandra asked with hesitation. This young lady standing in front of her was so beautiful that it was hard to connect her to the girl with braces from her memory.

Stella beamed at her words, thrilled to hear that her friend remembered her. She reached out and touched Cassandra's hand ecstatically.

"Yeah, I'm Stella! Glad you remembered me! I didn't expect to meet you here at Tang Group. Gosh, we haven't seen each other for years. I haven't seen you since we graduated from high school. Where have you been?"

Stella talked on and on as if she never planned to stop. Cassandra realized that she hadn't changed a bit. Her friend was still as lively and talkative as before.

She was still surprised at meeting a childhood friend. "I went to Rome to study. Came back not so long ago. You are so beautiful, Stella."

Cassandra smiled at Stella, sighing pleasantly at the change in her friend.

"Oh," Stella blushed. "of course, you went abroad! I should have guessed. Why didn't you keep in touch? Have I ever told you that you were my idol in high school? You were so beautiful and scored so well in exams. I admired and envied you."

Stella's excitement at meeting an acquaintance from years ago still hadn't dimmed. She wanted to catch up on everything they had been up to in the past several years.

Cassandra was a bit embarrassed. She gave Stella a smile and lowered her head. Time is cruel and strange. She had gotten engaged that year when she finished high school. Then, she went to Rome after getting married, without telling anyone.

Time in Rome had seemed to slow down. Her days were not as smooth as she had hoped for. She had endured a lot of loneliness in the foreign land. But eventually, she had made friends, and now she had left her social circle in the country behind.

Stella Mu was the first friend she had met after coming back to G City.

The two old friends soon got caught up in their conversation. They chatted for a long time. Cassandra learned that Stella was a fresh graduate and working in the marketing department of Tang Group. They might not be in the same division, but at least now they were in the same company.

Cassandra and Stella became good friends in only a matter of days. Stella was active and lively, while Cassandra was calm and distant. Their personalities were in stark contrast to each other. However, it did not hinder them from becoming good friends.

A few days passed, and Rufus still had not come back.

One day, Cassandra and Stella were meeting each other at a cafe. The inviting smell of coffee lingered in the air. "What's on your mind, Cassandra?"

Stella asked in a low voice. She wondered what was troubling her friend. Cassandra seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

Cassandra snapped back to reality upon hearing Stella. A worried expression surfaced on her pretty face. She had been thinking about Rufus lately. She missed him dearly.

Why had not he come back to G City yet? It had been so many days now.

"Do you have a boyfriend? You look so lost. Do you miss him?"

Stella raised her eyebrows at Cassandra. Her friend was so aloof. She never talked about her personal life. They had been hanging out a lot in the last few days, but they merely swapped stories of their childhood and reminisced on old times. The subject of their personal affairs hadn't been breached yet.

"Oh, no. I was just thinking about my work,"

Cassandra denied Stella's assumption. However, the demure shake of her head and the guilty tone in her voice were in direct contradiction to her words.

She did not tell Stella about her marriage. She had made an agreement with Lionel before she started working at Tang Group to keep their relationship a secret with the employees.

"You haven't been back for long, so it makes sense you don't have a boyfriend. Neither do I. You know what? The new president is super handsome. I heard he's been away on business."

Stella picked up the steaming mug of coffee in front of her. She took a sip and gossiped away obsessively.

The new president she was referring to was Rufus.

"Really? When would he be back?"

Cassandra winced in regret as soon as the question spilled out of her mouth. She sounded incredibly desperate to her own ears. And how would Stella even know when he would be back? She hardly knew him.

"I don't know. I'm not his secretary. But I'm friends with his assistant. Do you need me to inquire around?"

Stella smiled at Cassandra, her eyes twinkling shrewdly. She seemed to be laughing at her, as if she had seen through Cassandra's ruse.

"Oh, no...It's none of my business," Cassandra started, and then paused. "All right, time to go back to work. We should leave."

She hurriedly changed the subject in an attempt to hide her feelings. Her eyes shifted down to look at her watch. Immediately, she shot up from her seat and walked out of the coffee shop without waiting to see if Stella had followed.

Stella, too, left her seat and caught up with Cassandra, wearing a guileful smile on her face.

"Wait up, Cassandra! You know you are beautiful. It would be a piece of cake for you to get the man. Better win him over quickly. Then I would get promoted, thanks to you."

Stella's words only embarrassed Cassandra further. She flushed a bright shade of red. Her wanting to win Rufus over was a ridiculous idea. Only Stella would consider it a possibility.

As soon as they returned to the office building, they were informed that an emergency meeting was about to be held in the conference room.

Neither of them had any idea what the meeting was about, but they still went back to their workplaces and prepared for it.

Inside the Conference Room

Cassandra saw that almost everyone was seated when she walked into the meeting room. She moved to her seat, her arms loaded with various files. The moment she sat down, her eyes met Lionel's dark gaze by accident.

Lionel glared at her with disdain. Cassandra turned her head to avoid him. She did not want to spare a second to her vindictive husband.

The seat at the center of the table remained unoccupied. Rufus had not come back yet. Was this urgent meeting Lionel's idea?

Cassandra was still brooding when the door to the room jerked open. Rufus walked in, wearing a dark blue suit. Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

She was stunned to see him. He was back! When did he arrive?

It had only been a few days since he left, but somehow, she felt like a century had passed. Cassandra raised her eyes and locked her gaze on his striking face that held no emotion on it.

Inexplicably, her wringing, restless heart finally had a moment of peace. She felt happy to see him again. It puzzled her. Self-consciously, she straightened up in her seat, peeking at Rufus from the corner of her eyes again and again.

Strangely, Rufus had not met her eyes since the moment he entered the room. It was like she didn't exist. Something was different about him. A sense of strangeness engulfed her as she mulled over the possibilities.

There was a heated discussion going on before Rufus's arrival. However, once he showed up, the voices in the room hushed down. He walked over to the center of the table and sunk in the CEO's seat,

looking around with distant eyes as he waved one hand to the assistant standing behind him.

The assistant understood his signal and turned on the projector in the conference room. Details of Tang Group's largest project, that they had signed this year, appeared on the large screen.

A few people in the room paled at the sight. Not one of them had suspected that Rufus had called the urgent meeting because of this.

Cassandra did not understand the intricate details of the project, but she sensed the atmosphere in the room turning for the worse. A deafening silence ensued.

"For those who are responsible for this project," Rufus's loud voice reverberated the hall, "you all can go to the finance department and draw this month's salary. Then make your exit from this building. You are fired."

His words were dispassionate but decisive. Nothing but coldness could be seen in his dark brown eyes.

In an instant, the relevant personnel all stood up from their seats, panic in their voices as they begged for forgiveness. Even Lionel's face betrayed the horror he felt.

Others in the meeting room exchanged glances. Everyone knew that those were Lionel's men. How could Rufus dismiss them without a second thought?

"Get out right now!"

Rufus turned a deaf ear to their pleas. His eyes were narrowed to slits. The tension in the air was so thick that everyone found it difficult to breathe.

It's said that a new broom sweeps clean. Was Rufus the new broom? Was this the start of his fight against Lionel?