Not a single word came out from Cassandra's lips. This caused an unbearable silence to fill the air in
the room. The smile Rufus had been wearing, got swept away from his face when he looked at
Cassandra. But she just kept quiet, appearing to be so dejected.
"Is there something bothering you, Cassandra?"
Rufus asked, thinking that there must be a reason why she seemed to have been laden with anxiety in
front of him.
"Rufus, what is your excuse for keeping things from me? Haven't we already made a deal to always be
honest with each other?"
Those words Cassandra laid out were much like a frozen sword, driven straight into Rufus's chest,
piercing right through his heart.
"What do you mean by that, Cassandra? What are you implying?"
Rufus seemed quite puzzled, as he was under the assumption that he had actually told Cassandra
everything already. So, why would she even say that? Surely, there must've been some kind of
misunderstanding.
Cassandra's lips twitched a bit, and she let out a faint smile upon hearing this.
She had gone this far already, so for that reason, Rufus should have come clean and straightened
things out.
"The qualifications written under your resume weren't real, and you didn't really have any experience
working as a senior executive of an overseas company. As it turns out, you're actually the founder of
the TY Group, and yet, not once did you ever mention anything about that to me."
It took the best of her to keep herself calm, to keep her voice down, and to keep it from breaking. But
no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't hold it in, her voice was suddenly shaking.
She clenched her fists so tight that her nails were beginning to dig right onto the palms of her hands, to
such an extent that they could actually pierce through if she didn't stop. The pain that it caused her,
however, was nothing in contrast with how much she had been hurting deep inside, which was eating
away at her, so much so that she was getting out of breath.
Upon hearing her saying that, Rufus furrowed his eyebrows intensely.
"Who told you that? And did he ask you for anything?"
He had been keeping a low profile in order to mask his real identity. For that reason, he declined the
offer to be the spokesperson of G City decisively. The deeper in the shadow he was, the safer he would
be. But right there and then, someone purposefully revealed his secret to Cassandra, making things
much more intricate.
His actual reason for coming to this city was to avenge his mother. Cassandra was never really
involved in his plan, and her entering his life was something he never anticipated. He fell in love with
her and didn't want her to get caught up in his mess. It was dangerous and he could never risk letting
her get hurt.
That being said, now that she was privy to his best kept secret, it was clear as day that she didn't
simply find out about it by pure coincidence.
"Why should it matter who told me? They didn't bother trying to hide it from me and just said it straight
to my face. Could it be that your intention for hiding that information from me was because you detest
the idea that it would make me hang onto you like a sloth? Or maybe you got scared that I might cling
tightly onto your leg and never let go."
The tone of her voice was starting to get much colder, because Rufus refused to give her a direct
answer. A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
"Yes, I'm admit that I was afraid. I was so afraid that you would be so reluctant to keep holding on to
me."
Rufus abruptly burst into laughter. But instead of his laughter dying down, it just kept on getting louder
and louder. It lasted so long that it almost seemed as though there would be no end to it.
Without a doubt, Cassandra had been letting her imagination run wild. Such an innocent woman she
was! She was getting upset over nothing, because there was no way in hell he would ever want to
break her heart.
Walking over to where she was, Rufus stretched out his arms to grab Cassandra. But before he got
any closer to her, she immediately shot up and took a step back, steering clear of any form of physical
contact between them.
With her gaze fixated on the person smiling at her, from what she could remember, looking back, he
was able to resolve most of their arguments in the past through 'physical contact.' But this time around,
she wanted to keep her eyes peeled, staying within a safe distance between the two of them until he
gave in and presented her a proper explanation.
"Are you being serious? You're scared of me? Come on, I won't swallow you whole! I don't bite!" Rufus
teased after seeing her reaction.
The way Cassandra reacted caused his heart to start racing. It had been so long time since the last
time he was able to wrap his arms around her. Sadly, even though she was close enough for him to
touch, he still wasn't able to satiate his thirst for her. Taking one big gulp, Rufus reflected on the thought
of not letting her get away from his clutch any longer.
This prompted Rufus to take another step forward and move toward her, with Cassandra walking away
from him instantly. They could've kept going on like that if it weren't for the bookshelves right behind
her. With her back against the shelves, she peered straight into his eyes.
"Rufus, I hope you're not forgetting that we're inside my office right now!"
Every fiber of Cassandra's being was shivering, and her voice was shaking akin to leaves rustling in
the wind.
On the other hand, Rufus couldn't avoid being taken aback at the sight of such a helpless expression
embedded onto her face.
"I'm aware of that, but I don't really think anyone would be coming back at this hour!"
Rufus was inching closer and closer that Cassandra could already feel his warm breath brushing
against her cheek, making her feel as if she was a turtle in a jar.
Rufus leaned in a little and rested his forehead on hers. It seemed that seeing the look she had on her
face was more than enough for him.
He knew her quite well. There was no way she would ever admit defeat unless he displayed his
masculinity.
"I hope you can believe me when I say that I never really had the intention to keep anything from you.
The reason why I haven't told you anything about it before was because I honestly thought it had
nothing to do with the two of us and our relationship."
Instead of teasing her still, Rufus began to explain his side of the story, and as for Cassandra, she just
remained frozen in place.
Truth be told, she was actually expecting him to simply brush it off or change the subject in some way
only to never talk about it again. That being the case, she had already resigned herself to give up on
the idea of pressuring him to spill the beans. So, she was left utterly dumbfounded when he brought it
back up himself.
"But then, is there even anything that concerns the two of us?"
Cassandra murmured under her breath, and bowed her head to avoid looking him in the eyes.
She tried to see things the way Rufus did. To him, everything that had been happening was just the
flow of nature, and that was about it, nothing more, nothing less. He just tended to brush it off so easily
whenever there was something that was bothering him.
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