A Graduation Gift

Cassandra had signed her name on the dotted line countless times before but this was different. This time, she was feeling all sorts of emotions—most of which was relief. She smiled from ear to ear as she signed her name on the piece of paper Lionel handed to her.

Signing her name on that dotted line was all she needed to finally free herself from the cage she had been stuck in for the past years. She was more than happy to do it.

It didn't matter if she was framed or not—she still ended up in the same place. Now, she could finally be free and that was all that mattered to her.

She didn't even bother to read through the document—she just went ahead and signed her name.

"Don't you want to have a look at the terms?"

Lionel was a bit taken aback at how calm Cassandra was. He didn't expect she would be this cool and collected. Cassandra just casually signed her name without putting up a fight or protesting even.

"I'll read through them after I've signed. I'm sure none of these terms were written up to favor me, but I guess the worst would be asking me to leave the Tang family with nothing on my back. I don't mind that because I don't want to take anything that doesn't belong to me."

Cassandra shrugged, her tone was nonchalant but you could tell she wasn't lying or pretending. It really seemed like she didn't care about not getting any money from the Tang family. Lionel didn't know what to make of this.

Cassandra was right—the terms were ironclad, almost too ironclad especially for someone who had been married to him for five years. Firstly, she would not be able to take anything that came from the Tang family when she left. Since she had been working as a designer for the Tang Group, part of the terms also stipulated that she had to finish the amusement park design without compensation. In addition, she couldn't work as a designer for any other company in the next two years to preserve the secrecy and privacy of the Tang Group.

The terms were too harsh that Lionel assumed Cassandra would start a spat making it a perfect opportunity to humiliate her. However, he was surprised to find her pausing for just a second before signing her name.

She pushed Ivy down the stairs, consequently killing the forthcoming son of his. Who could blame Lionel for despising her? Lionel specifically asked his lawyer to draw up ironclad terms that he knew Cassandra would protest to. He wanted her to suffer for all that she'd done, but here was Cassandra acting like she didn't care at all.

Cassandra didn't care that the Tang family would absolutely abhor her and she most certainly didn't care that she was coming out of this whole deal without receiving a penny. She didn't care that her life as the rich wife of a wealthy man had ended. She didn't care that they spat all those hurtful words to her. She would merely lend them an ear and didn't even bother retorting anything back. In fact, she really didn't care about any of these—she just wanted to be done with this whole thing and get her freedom back.

For Lionel, Cassandra was an evil woman because she virtually killed his unborn son. But seeing Cassandra's demeanor today confused Lionel.

What was Cassandra really thinking? What did she really care about? Lionel had no way of knowing the answers to all his questions.

"All right. I signed all the papers. We can go to the Civil Affairs Bureau now to finalize our divorce,"

Cassandra said while getting up. She straightened her clothes then turned around to get her coat from the hanger. She put on her coat and glanced at Lionel, who was still standing and unmoving. Cassandra paused then said, "Or I can get a taxi there myself. I will see you at the Civil Affairs Bureau. Oh, I almost forgot. Here you go. The keys to the car your father gave me."

Cassandra dropped the keys on the desk and headed out of the office with her head held high. She never looked back.

the keys lying on the desk. He was utterly flummoxed because this Cassandra was different from the woman he'd

expected for things to go as

getting married especially, when she made it easy for herself by simply signing the papers without a protest. By the time they stepped out of the

years were like a dream for her. She got married to the son of the Tang family when her own family was in need and she left the

the house of the Tang family to get her things. Only by then did she find that there weren't many things of her own in that house even though she had been married to Lionel for five years. She just packed her clothes and some of her personal effects and that was all. All of her other things, apparently,

toy that had been in the corner of the closet

owned it had changed so much over the years. Cassandra had grown from that little innocent

for her. If she could ever see him again, she really wanted to thank him again for giving the lonely and depressed girl

afraid to get on with her life now that she was free. She thought there was nothing else that could break her anymore. She wanted to let the people who really cared about her know that she could finally live for herself and be the strong woman they wanted her

it, because now the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with was going to be by her side. He wasn't very talkative and was dominantly stoic. The man was a bit too stubborn, sometimes even for his own good, but he cared deeply about Cassandra. He treated Cassandra differently, like she was special to him. You could see it

take anything that didn't belong to her in the house of

heavy and Cassandra struggled to bring them downstairs all on her own. Two

the daughter-in-law of the Tang family. And she's not the one who pays

servants exchanged glances before retreating.

suitcases downstairs by herself. When she finally brought them

house of the Tang

arrived. She moved her suitcases in the trunk and got in the car. When the driver asked Cassandra where she wanted to go, the corners of her lips lifted into a smile.

"The Garden Villa."

the key

that she was always welcome in the villa. And now, Cassandra

the big gate. Cassandra put in the combination that Rufus had told her. It was her

hired a couple of people to come and clean once a week. Other than that, he was the only one who lived, ate, and slept here. Cassandra used the key that he gave her to open the door to

from now on and

to unpack and fix her things. She hung up her clothes in the closet and

that, Cassandra went to the nearest supermarket and bought all the things she needed. Then when she got home,

nearing. During the four years she spent abroad, Cassandra had always celebrated the Spring Festival with her classmates. But of course, the Spring Festival in Rome was not as festive as

was just grey all over but now she made

table cloth into light green and put a clear vase with lilies inside on the table. Lilies were Cassandra's favorite flowers. Suddenly, the room seemed to come to life a bit. It was starting to feel like home.

gauze with white lace. The light at dusk shone in through the window, making the

hand. She had bought two flower seedlings on her way home. She wanted to plant them in the garden so she could enjoy a