A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 407

There was fire in Rufus's eyes. He could not believe what was happening.

"You can't do that,"

Rufus said furiously as his grip on Cassandra's wrist tightened.

"Rufus, you're being ridiculous. I expected more from you. Right now, you are just acting like a spoiled brat! You show up when it pleases you and before I know it, you're gone without so much as a goodbye. Where were you when I needed you? Whenever I asked for an explanation, you never gave me one. Instead, you decided to keep your secrets and keep me in the dark. What the hell were you thinking?"

Cassandra glared at Rufus, mustering all the courage she had to finally speak her mind. Finally saying all these things felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.

Rufus looked at her, dumbstruck as he slowly realized Cassandra's image of him: complicated and suspicious.

As it turned out, she saw Rufus as a jerk.

He came and went as he pleased without even considering how she must have felt. Because of him, her life became full of uncertainty. He never gave her a stable life or a promising future.

"Cassandra, I am doing this for your own good,"

Rufus said. There was hesitation in his voice, possibly brought about by Cassandra's face that was red with rage. She seemed absolutely fed up with the situation.

"For my own good? You want to do something for my own good? Let me give you a very good suggestion: Disappear from my life for good and leave me be!"

Cassandra shouted as she broke free from Rufus's grip, turned, and walked away.

She had had enough of the drama. She did not want to put up with Rufus's childish whims anymore. His actions did not make sense to her. There seemed to be a huge disconnection between the mature and independent image he portrayed in public and the childish and unreasonable way he acted when he was with her.

But Rufus was not about to let her get away so easily. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into his arms.

Cassandra struggled as Rufus slowly looked straight at her face. Staring straight into her eyes, he decided to tell her the truth.

"Fine, I will tell you what I am doing," he started.

His eyes seemed to say so many things. Cassandra could almost feel his thoughts buzzing. Finally realizing the significance of the moment, she stopped struggling and lifted her head to look back at him.

"As a child, my mother told me that my father was dead. It was only a dozen years ago that I learned he was still alive,"

he narrated, looking deep into Cassandra's eyes. Cassandra stood still and listened to him quietly.

"When I did, I turned into a problem child overnight, from being a straight-A student. I started to miss all of my classes. Everyone worried about me and didn't know what to do. My mother could not stop crying. I blamed her for giving birth to me. I told her that she should have had an abortion instead of having me and giving me a life without a father."

The hallway was empty and the light was dim. Rufus's voice was the only thing that could be heard apart from the deafening silence.

"When my mother fell ill with a serious disease, my aunt took us abroad to have her treated. But before I left, I went to see Horace in front of the Tang Group. That day, I swore that I would come back and destroy him,"

Rufus said. There was coldness in his voice. It made Cassandra shiver.

"Then, you know what happened. I founded the TY Group to prove myself. Then, I hid my identity, came back to Horace, and took over the Tang Group. I wanted Horace to see everything he built and worked for, go down in shambles. I wanted him to know how it felt like to lose something he loved. I wanted him to know that his biggest mistake in his life was leaving my mother and me," he finished.

Hatred burned in his eyes. The realization of the anger that Rufus had been tending to get through the years weighed down on Cassandra.

"Rufus, Horace was wrong and I'm not going to defend him. However, you don't need to punish yourself because of his mistake. Life isn't all about hatred and revenge. Does that make you happy? Living in anger?" Cassandra said.

Truth be told, she found Rufus's story very unsettling. She could not believe what Rufus would do to Horace, his biological father, the man who gave him life. No matter what Horace did, it did not change the fact that he was his flesh and blood.

"I don't care about my own happiness. All I knew was that he was the reason why my mom suffered almost all her life. The day my mother fell ill was the day he stopped being my father. It was so unfair. How could he marry someone like Jill, bear a child like Lionel, and live a life of fortune and opportunity while my mother and I spent our days looking for shelter and struggling to make ends meet? The moment my mother died, I swore to make Horace pay. I wanted him to learn how his own selfishness and vanity were the things that destroyed him. He deserves this!"

Rufus said, gritting his teeth. Everytime he remembered his poor mother and Horace's absence, his hatred and anger towards him grew stronger and stronger.

"Rufus, if your mother were still alive, I'm sure that she would not want you to do such things. Otherwise, she wouldn't have worked hard to bring you up all by herself. Also, she would not have told Horace about you," she explained.

Cassandra had never seen Rufus this angry. Grabbing his arms, she realized that his whole body was stiff. Clearly, he was in pain just thinking about all of this.