Rufus turned serious all of a sudden as Cassandra washed his back.
"Why do you have so many scars on your back? What happened?"
Cassandra hadn't noticed all of Rufus's scars until today. While most of them had already faded, they
still didn't disappear completely.
She'd never seen his back this close when they were together before. 'Why did he have so many
scars?'
"I fell from a cliff and got caught with one of the branches so those are scratches,"
Rufus said nonchalantly. He didn't say more but it was obvious that there was definitely more to the
story.
Cassandra scrutinized the scars closely. She reached out and stroked them. The scars were flat on the
skin so they couldn't be felt by the hand but the discoloration against the skin was a bit alarming. This
was definitely a serious injury before.
"Does it hurt?"
Cassandra reluctantly held the shower head in her left hand and used the other to stroke Rufus's scars.
Her fingers brushed the marks carefully, afraid that Rufus might get hurt.
What happened? Rufus wasn't telling her anything—he was mysterious like that and Cassandra's heart
longed for him.
"No. Do you feel bad for me?"
Rufus asked with a smile on his face. He cocked his head to the side and gazed at Cassandra.
"Should I?" Cassandra pouted.
Rufus thought she was adorable for caring enough to touch his scars. Did she really believe that Rufus
couldn't do anything just because he broke one leg?
"You're not making any sense. If you don't stop, you're going to have to take a shower on your own!"
Cassandra's face reddened as she tossed the shower head into Rufus's hand.
He wouldn't stop making fun of her even if all she was trying to do was help him! Well, if this was how
he was going to be then she might as well just leave him to himself.
Cassandra turned around to leave but Rufus grabbed her arm to pull her towards him.
"Come on, let's finish what you started,"
Rufus said, smiling. Cassandra could tell that he was only teasing her.
"No, I'm leaving!"
He'd been teasing her a lot these past few days and she wasn't sure if she was still okay with it.
"Come on, don't get mad now. We'll be getting married soon!"
Rufus had to keep himself from laughing but hard as he tried, he still couldn't get the smile off his face.
"Wow, you've got some nerve!"
Reluctantly Cassandra had to help him finish his shower. She then soap him up, rinsed him off, and
finally patted him dry with a towel.
Cassandra stayed behind to clean up while Rufus went back to the ward. When she finished, she came
out to find the nurse giving Rufus medicines. The nurse was in the middle of explaining something,
"Take care of your legs, okay? Keep them untouched as much as possible, especially the broken one."
The nurse looked young and naive. She kept darting her eyes around, looking everywhere but not at
Rufus.
When the nurse left, Cassandra walked towards Rufus.
"Ooh, score, looks like she likes you!"
Cassandra said with a playful smile on her lips. She was finally able to get back at Rufus for all the
teasing and she was feeling much better now.
"I guess, but I like only you,"
Rufus said sincerely. Cassandra didn't know what to feel about the sudden change in mood.
After a while, Cassandra started to feel all the exhaustion.
Rufus patted on his bed and gestured for her to come over, "Come, you can rest here."
Rufus was smiling gently, his heart softened at the sight of a tired Cassandra.
He knew how exhausted and drained Cassandra had been for the past few days.
There was a part of him that wanted her to go home and rest, but the selfish part of him wanted her to
stay with him so he could see her whenever he woke up.
"No, it's okay. The sofa's fine. Good night!"
Cassandra knew better than to sleep next to this cunning man.
"I can't fall asleep if you're not next to me. I need you,"
Rufus begged and frowned.
Cassandra didn't know what to make of this child-like Rufus. This wasn't the Rufus she knew because
the man she knew was calm, collected, and strict.
"Well, I can't fall asleep if you're next to me."
Cassandra took her quilt and made herself comfortable on the sofa—ignoring Rufus.
The room fell into a silence until Cassandra started hearing some rustling noise coming from Rufus's
bed. She raised her head to see what was going on, but next thing she knew, she was about to jump
out of her skin.
"Why are you getting up?"
Cassandra saw Rufus trying to get up so she ran towards his bed to stop him.
"No, I was coming to you since you wouldn't!"
Rufus said in the guise of innocence but if you looked closely, there was a glint in his eyes.
"Fine, I'll sleep next to you!" Cassandra yielded.
Rufus got what he wanted.
As they lay on the bed side by side, Rufus twirled Cassandra's hair into his fingers, playing with it
lightly.
"Have you decided yet?"
Rufus asked in a low voice.
"Decide on what?"
Cassandra knew what Rufus was talking about but she wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
Rufus was asking about his marriage proposal which she hadn't said yes to. She didn't want to decide
on that yet, afraid that something terrible would happen.
He was Horace's son and Lionel's brother, after all. It hadn't been long since she and Lionel were
divorced —it might not be the right time yet as some people might think it was too soon for her to get
married again.
Michelle was right. Rufus was going through a lot of things right now, so she should be more
considerate.
"Don't play dumb."
Rufus reached out his hand to flick on her forehead lightly, his eyebrows knitted together.
Cassandra touched her forehead and glared at Rufus. Her mind was lost in thought. After a period of
silence, she finally spoke, "I think we should wait..."
While she did want to get married to Rufus right away, she still wanted to wait because she didn't want
their marriage to cause any problems for him.
"Until when?"
Rufus asked, a bit surprised. He thought Cassandra would jump at the idea of marriage. Didn't she
always want a family of her own?
"I... I think we should get married when Cloris graduates and comes back so I can hand over the Qin
Group to her. By that time, I'm sure the company will be more stable and running smoothly. She can
easily learn the ropes. She major was administration management, I think she'll do an even better job
than me. And I can work as a designer then."
Cassandra was looking forward to the future. She would appoint Cloris as the president of the Qin
Group while she focused on what she loved best—designing. While they waited for their father to get
out of prison, Cloris and Cassandra could run the company together.
Rufus gazed at her silently.
"What? You think that's too long? Don't worry, I'll still marry you even if you're old and gray by then. I'll
still love you, okay?"
Cassandra said, teasing him.
Rufus forced out a smile. He reached out to pull her into his arms and heaved a quiet sigh.
He couldn't help but frown at the thought of Cloris being included in Cassandra's future especially after
what she'd done to her. Cloris hired someone to drug Cassandra so that she could get some naked
photos of Cassandra. She had always despised Cassandra. Rufus thought Cassandra to be too naive
to still include Cloris in her plans in the hope of getting along.
Why did she love and value her family so much?
Vernon didn't care much for her, Edith forced her into a loveless marriage with Lionel, and Cloris wasn't
very nice to her either, obviously. Even after all of this, she still wanted to include her family in her
future.
She had planned well for everyone in the Qin family and would prefer to work as a designer behind the
scenes afterwards.
Rufus lowered his head to kiss Cassandra on the forehead before falling into a deep sleep, blissfully
happy to have Cassandra in his arms.
They fell asleep holding each other, like the most intimate couple, ever.
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