In the five-star ballroom, among the lively chatter, Cassandra, with her superb insights and ideas,
unexpectedly closed a deal that few had expected would go through.
Even Rufus started to admire Cassandra. After coming out of the hotel, the woman still felt
embarrassed about last night's fling. However, Instead of talking about it, they drove straight to the
party.
"Miss Qin, you're indeed the most unique designer I have ever seen, and your ideas are refreshing. I
had already given up the collaboration with Tang Group, but your insights have rekindled my desire to
work with them,"
holding a glass of wine in his hand, the boss from the collaborating company did not hesitate to praise
Cassandra and said.
Cassandra lowered her eyes, her face showing a light but sweet smile. She was not good at handling
the elation of such an occasion.
"I'm flattered. Thank you for giving Tang Group another chance," she answered in her natural
courteous manner. "I will do my best to carry through it."
With the echo of colliding wine glasses, the rising sound of a piano started to play in the ballroom.
Turning away, Cassandra immediately met Rufus's gaze.
The throbbing of their hearts in that moment of glory was synchronized. They had finally completed a
major task together.
Standing next to her, Rufus's face beamed with a satisfied smile, his eyes lighting up with appreciation.
This woman always looked confused in a lovely way. However, in the workplace, she looked calm,
mature and intelligent, which surprised Rufus a lot.
"Mr. Luo, we look forward to a successful collaboration. Miss Qin is a really gifted, intelligent woman. I
think you two are a match made in heaven,"
The boss again joked. In the process, he took note of Rufus and Cassandra's moment of interlocking
gazes upon each other.
"Mr. Wang, we are not..."
Being praised like that made Cassandra somewhat uneasy. But before she could explain their
relationships, Rufus interrupted, "Thank you, Mr. Wang, we also look forward to working with you."
Then slowly, he raised the rim of the glass to his thin lips and guzzled down the red wine in large gulps.
When he spoke, unmistakable joy crowned his husky, confident voice. A smile formed at the corners of
his mouth and his deep eyes were set on Cassandra, with a hint of playfulness that made her blush.
"Since our work here is done, can we return to G City?"
After the party, Rufus and Cassandra sat inside the moving black Lincoln Continental. Riding alone with
Rufus in the same car gave Cassandra such a feeling of flutter in the belly that she spoke so softly,
almost in a whisper.
Just before she was called on for her business pitch, she had butterflies in her stomach and wondered
whether she was going to make it. But thankfully, she pulled through without a single hitch. So when
she went to the dinner party she tried to mollify her nerves with an extra glass or two of wine, more
than her usual light intake. Now, it was causing her to bloat.
The feeling made her sit uncomfortably next to Rufus who kept stealing glances at her with his thin lips
rising slightly into a enchanting smile.
"The night view of H City is quite breathtaking. Can I take you there for an experience?"
It was a request, but his tone made it sound like a statement.
"No, let's go back as soon as possible. I, um, I want to..."
Looking straight at his face, Cassandra started to breathe heavily. She declined his offer, and quickly
turned to face the window with a sort of guilty haste, trying to avoid looking at Rufus.
"If you don't want to go out tonight, it's understandable. Maybe you want to do something else with me
instead?"
Rufus was deliberately teasing her. He appeared to enjoy being around her.
"Rufus! We are on a business trip, not on a vacation,"
said Cassandra objecting to his suggestions. Although soon she found herself fantasizing about him in
bed. In that brief instant she had to suppress her resistance.
"If it wasn't for your period, you would have been all over me last night," said Rufus, smiling.
As he raised one of his massive hands over Cassandra's seat, the fragrance of the perfume he was
wearing engulfed her in an instant.
"Enough! Stop it!" Cassandra warned. "How dare you flirt with a married woman like this, Rufus? That's
shameless. Don't you think so?" she added, eager to know if he had any scruples about their
relationship.
Last night was too crazy. Cassandra simply just didn't want to think about it. Feigning toughness, she
glared at Rufus who was wearing an evil, insouciant expression on his face.
"From a girl to a young woman...in deed...I am honored to participate in the most important
development work of that," Rufus teased.
He raised his eyebrows in an instant, and the smile on his thin lips became more and more reckless.
As soon as his sentence was dropped, Cassandra got so angry that she was speechless.
Interrupting her line of thought, Rufus announced, "We will go back tomorrow morning. How about we
just celebrate and enjoy our time together tonight?"
The tone of his words was more serious this time round. Probably he had woken up to the fact that she
was determined to return home straight away, if he didn't give her a good reason for staying out tonight.
As if in a trance, Cassandra felt she was floating in the air, a dark, gloomy cloud driving her into the
halo around Rufus.
Like a sudden jolt of thunder, she remembered the death of Rufus's mother. In essence, she realized
that he was still grieving and as a coping strategy, he kept pushing himself, to more and more work.
Thinking about this, Cassandra's heart to go back to G City was not as determined as before.
Aware of his predicament, Cassandra thought to herself, 'I'm having my menses. Would that guarantee
that we can hang out for the night without making love?
I can take it as a causal date with a friend. That would be good, just to enjoy his company one last
night.'
"Okay, but you have to promise me not to take advantage of me, again," she demanded.
That line alone immediately changed the atmosphere inside the car with Cassandra's compromising
voice weakly heard. The charming smile on Rufus's face reappeared, beaming even brighter than
before.
At this point, it was already twilight outside. In the distance, the setting sun emitted an awe-inspiring red
glow. The wind blowing on their faces through rolled-down windows was cool and soothing. And it was
sheer pleasure driving through the scenic landscapes.
Meanwhile, at the lobby of the five-star hotel "I'm sorry, Mr. Tang.
I'm afraid that we can't give you confidential information about our customers. That's against the
company policy," the receptionist explained to Lionel at the front desk. Eventually, Lionel had rushed to
H City, and quickly arrived at the hotel where Rufus and Cassandra stayed.
"I don't need any information from you. You just need to tell me if they stayed in the same room last
night!"
The mission was to track them down here and catch them in bed. Lionel seethed with anger while his
assistant standing next to him had been calling Cassandra.
"I am sorry, we can't provide this either,"
A young lady at the front desk told him uneasily. She didn't recognize Lionel. Although she was
somewhat apprehensive of his status, he made such unreasonable demands that she really could not
do it.
"So where are they now?"
Turned down by the receptionist, Lionel sought to escalate the issue directly to the manager. This hotel
was owned by a colleague and friend of his, so he had thought he could get whatever information he
wanted from the receptionist using the connection.
By all means, he needed evidence and witnesses, proving that Rufus and Cassandra were really
together last night. 'Once I get my hands on those information, I could easily get rid of Rufus and
Cassandra, ' he thought in hubris.
But why did he feel so uncomfortable and angry when he thought about the affair between Cassandra
and Rufus?
"Mr. Tang, the call went through."
At this time, Harry, who had been making the call, handed the phone to Lionel. Blinking in surprise,
Lionel quickly took the phone, from which came Cassandra's familiar voice.
"Hello, this is Cassandra. Who's calling?"
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