A Graduation Gift

Chapter 270 Traces Of Woman (Part Two)

She couldn't shake the image of the unicorn from her head. She imagined her unicorn sitting in Amanda's bookshelves, and in her office.

She had always thought what Rufus and she had was exclusive, like a secret. She thought the unicorn was the only proof of their happy times, the only thing that could comfort her, the only thing to which she could pour her heart out.

But Ivy had made her aware of the truth. Everything she felt was only a part of her imagination. To Rufus, she was nothing but any other woman, never unique or special.

Yes, she should have thought about that. How could she be the unique one? She was completely aware of the cold battle between Amanda and herself.

Sometimes, Cassandra felt Rufus was close to her, but other times, he seemed far off.

No one knew what he was thinking about. He was unpredictable. Cassandra wasn't sure she ever totally had him.

He was once Amanda's lover. They had an intense past. What did that make Cassandra? A dessert after dinner?

It was ridiculous when she thought about it now.

She sat on the cold ground, feeling hollow. It felt like her mind was trying to process some kind of unknown feelings. Her stomach seemed to be cramping in knots.

She had already been in a bad mood and now her body was starting to feel wrong too.

Cassandra forced a wry smile and struggled to pull herself off the floor. She directly threw herself on the couch.

She closed her eyes to rest but it seemed as if the light could penetrate through her eyelids. There was a red glow instead of a black nothingness in front of her.

She felt drained but couldn't fall asleep, no matter how much she tried.

When she had decided to break up with Rufus, she was already prepared to separate from him and go different ways. Yet, when the truth was finally uncovered, her heart ached.

How silly she had been! Now she realized, the deep love she thought they had, only existed in her head.

She wanted to cry, but refrained herself from it. She wanted to smile, but all her smiles were stained of bitterness. Unable to stop the flooding thoughts, she curled herself up like a silkworm pupa, snuggling into the warmth of the couch.

'Cassandra, go to sleep. Take some good sleep and wake up fresh! Forget about all of this! There are still so many things waiting for you to accomplish!'

she kept repeating that in her mind, hoping to fall in the trance of sleep. After a long time, she finally did.

At the same time, far away in the ward of a hospital, Michelle sat eating soup Jasper had cooked for her. She sipped slowly, spoonful by spoonful while Jasper sat next to her, looking at her, alert.

"Thank you for making this soup for me, Jasper. I hope it wasn't a lot of trouble,"

Michelle said after finishing the soup and handed the bowl to Jasper.

Jasper, who always tried to maintain a poker face in public, took the bowl and smiled slightly. He was a completely different person in front of his love ones.

"No. It's my honor. If you like it, I can cook for you every day!"

Jasper felt pained. Thanks to the decorations in the mall which acted like buffers, Michelle got saved upon falling. Otherwise, she could've been in a far more terrible situation.

Fortunately, she gained consciousness soon and didn't have any major injuries. She seemed quite healthy already.

"When is Rufus coming?" she asked, a tad bit desperate.

Since Michelle had told Rufus the truth about her accident having to do nothing with Cassandra, she hadn't seen him. It had been more than 24 hours.

"He must be going to Cassandra's. I heard him ask Victor to find the police officer in charge of this case to release Cassandra as soon as possible."

Jasper shook his head, with a helpless expression on his face. There was nothing he could do about this.

"Tragedy! What a tragedy!"

...

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang!"

Rufus said, shaking Mr. Zhang's hand, the Director general of police. If it wasn't for him, Cassandra would have had to suffer in the detention house for many more days.

"It's not a big deal. If you had told me earlier, I could've made them let her out days ago!"

Mr. Zhang laughed and said straightforwardly. Out of politeness, he shook hands with Rufus again, assuring him he could reach out to him any time.

Upon leaving the Director's office, Rufus drove straight to Cassandra's apartment. He pulled out the spare key that he had secretly made to unlock the door. He wanted to surprise her.

When he opened the door, he saw Cassandra sleeping on the couch.

Her eyes were closed, her body curled up. There was no blanket on her to keep her warm.

Her carelessness made him a bit angry. But then he thought she might have dozed off without planning.

Rufus fetched a thin quilt from the bedroom. He could feel how exhausted she was as she didn't even stir as he put it over her body.

Crouching beside the couch, Rufus fixed her gaze on the little woman's face.

There were dark circles under her eyes that stood out of the rest of her fair, smooth skin.

It pained Rufus to think of all the days and nights she had spent in the detention house. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

If she had told him there was no conflict between Michelle and her, he could have helped her in regard to the accident. But why did she have to be so stubborn and keep it from him? Why didn't she simply tell him the truth?

Fortunately, Michelle admitted she had fallen off due to her own carelessness after she woke up and that it had nothing to do with Cassandra. This was why Cassandra was let out; otherwise she would still have been kept in the detention house, suffering.

Rufus lifted his hand to reach to her face and touch her, to feel her temperature, but then suddenly stopped.

A tear slid from the corner of her eye, slowly winding down her beautiful face.

What was it that she was dreaming of that would make her cry?

Rufus's chest ached. He wanted to pick her up in his arms and comfort her, but the tear on her face stopped him.

Did she remember everything he had said to her? She didn't even give in when he said she was cruel to her face but would secretly shed tears in her dream.

Rufus looked at her for the longest time. Finally, he decided to walk out and let her sleep in peace. He couldn't even imagine what she might have felt like in the detention.

But what he didn't realize was, Cassandra opened her eyes the moment he left. She saw him walking out the door, wide-eyed.

She didn't know he had a key to her apartment. She had already gotten the lock changed after they broke up! There was no way he could have a key!

'Rufus, why don't you let go of me?' she thought.

Staring at the door, she pulled the quilt over her head and buried herself in darkness.