A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 74

So can you tell me what kind of animal is a deer?

The encyclopedia says, The deer is an even-toed ungulate. They are mammals that belonged to the Cervidae family. Typical characteristics among deers include long, powerful legs, a diminutive tail, and etc. The males tend to be larger than the females, generally, and in most species, only males possess antlers. There is a wide diversity of deers and according to legends, those deers pulling Santa Claus' sleigh are called elks.

He was beginning to entertain the idea that Cassandra was more like a deer, and he found it interesting. Yet he was at a loss of words to comment.

On the back of his mind, he searched for images of the deer he had seen and looked at Cassandra at the same time. Doing so made his perception even stronger, indeed Cassandra resembled a deer—a graceful and elegant one.

Drowned by the noise of the bustling crowd, he raised his voice and shouted out to Cassandra, "See you later! Miss Deer!"

Without turning back, Cassandra placed her hands on her head, imitating the antlers of a deer.

Her silly respond caused him to draw a sweet smile. Looking down at the business card, he couldn't help but keep on repeating her name on his mind, "Cassandra Qin, Cassandra..."

Cassandra, on the other hand, didn't look back, as her tears had begun to streak down her delicate face.

She didn't like the idea of crying in front of a stranger. The tears came so suddenly and so unexpected that all she wanted was to be somewhere far from that place.

Having such a shallow tears, she cried at the thought of the deer. She had once watched a documentary about deers.

In the documentary, deer usually inhabited the vast forest.

As beautiful and mild as they were, they were timid but alert at all times.

Poaching the deer's coat had endangered majority of its species. In order to get the deer's beautiful fur, poachers exerted a variety of extremely brutal means.

The most brutal one was to take advantage of the deer's kindness.

The poachers would first hunt a fawn or a baby deer so as to lure the adult deer they wanted to kill. The fawn would serve as the bait to catch the bigger deer.

The deer would be allowed to come near the fawn before finally shot to death.

Cassandra closed her eyes to stop the tears from falling, yet the tears won't stop.

Her heart sympathized the deer. Just like a helpless deer, she was set up by her own sister.

The fawn this time was so dear to her that the moment she caught sight of it, she immediately drew near. She had no idea that there were poachers lurking around the corner waiting to shoot her.

Yet for the deer, its death would be simpler. Whilst on Cassandra's case it was more complicated. The fawns laid in front of her gave her no choice. They all lead to certain death.

She had no options - she was forced to live with Grace Zhang in the small town when she was young; sadly when she grew into a lovely lady, she had to marry Lionel who she didn't love, and become unexpectedly attached to Rufus in an affair, and worst of all, be deeply hurt by Cloris, her own sister.

Why on earth would all the betrayal and misery happen to her? What had she done to deserve all these?

Suddenly, a surge of nostalgia swept over her. She missed the seaside town badly. In that sparsely-populated small town, the salty sea wind kept her company over the whole span of her childhood. Whenever she dreamed of that place, she could always smell the salty tone of the seawater in the wind, as if calling her to come home.

Grace Zhang had passed away a couple of years ago. Since her death, Cassandra had never gone back to that place. For her, Grace's death was not just a loss of a second mother or a friend, it was a loss of a part of her soul.

She was totally perplexed on how fate had been so cruel with her all this time.

"What would I do to free myself from all these burdens?" she wondered.

Walking with a troubled head and a heavy heart, she had no idea that she was being followed by Rufus.

In a distant he was watching her desolate look, her engaging conversation with the stranger, and her bitter tears covering her face as she was plodding in the crowd.

Rufus felt sorry for her. He didn't want to see her in such a miserable situation.

He wanted to run to catch up with her and give her a big, warm, and reassuring hug. He wanted to be with her and walk with her in the bitter cold of the winter day.

She was so sad that she couldn't hold her tears despite the inquisitive gaze of the passers-by along the streets.

The desolation she felt was heightened by the snowflakes that drifted down profusely and fell upon her shoulders.

It was the first snow of the winter. It has frozen her already-numbed heart.

The sky cast a lonely gloom and everyone was hurrying to where they were going as if threatened by the melancholy that comes with winter.

Amidst the chilling wind, a pair of young lovers seated themselves comfortably on a bench by the tree. The girl squeezed her body into the loose overcoat of the boy, only showing her face.

"It is snowing! Wow, this is amazing!" the girl exclaimed.

Cassandra shrugged her shoulder at the thought of the girl's excitement. 'Snow and winter are not fun! It would be cold and the streets would be slippery, no fun at all, ' she contradicted silently.

'How unreasonable for couples in love to stay out in the cold! They look odd. But why? Why a part of me envy them despite being so unreasonable?' she pondered further.

Bleakly she noticed the snow was falling heavier, she looked for a taxi to get her home.

Unfortunately, the taxis were either unavailable or occupied every time she hailed one, maybe that was because of the heavy snow.

Desperately, she opted to take the bus instead. She thought, 'It would be more warm and convenient, anyway.'

Dragging her stiff legs, Cassandra trudged herself towards the bus station. The dense crowd and the confusing signs bothered her and jumbled her thoughts even more.

So many buses, and so many terminals, which one would take her to where she wanted? But what stopped her was the question on her mind that she could not find a suitable answer for - where on earth did she want to go?