Chapter 444 Pandora''s Box


    Joel was pissed and irritated. Ivy always asked him to get down in the dirty business. And now she


    condescendingly used him of doing those same things, conveying utter disdain.


    "You are the one who messed with him in the first ce. How is it my fault now?"


    Joel asked, annoyed and didn''t even wait for her to respond before turning around and leaving.


    Seeing her brother walk away like that frustrated Ivy extremely.


    Their parents died a long time ago, when they were very young. They had to start working at a very


    young age, to sustain their sophisticated lifestyle. Now their life was finally stable and they didn''t need


    to worry about basic livelihood. Ivy, though, felt like she hade to a deadlock.


    She just didn''t know how to keep going anymore. But what was done couldn''t be undone. Truth of the


    matter was, she was at a loss.


    Suddenly, her eyes shifted to her right. She noticed a USB sh drive next to herputer. An idea


    unfurled in her head, making her heart beat faster.


    She had to do it. Only that could make rk trust her.


    This USB sh drive was stolen by Adrian. Ivy ran and grabbed it, clutching it tightly, as if it was a piece


    of precious jewelry.


    She took a deep breath, andposed herself. Finally, she took her phone out and called rk.


    "rk, I''ve got what you wanted. Do you want me to bring it to you?"


    Ivy tried her best to stay calm on the phone.


    But on the other side of the phone, rk simply squinted as a broad smile spread across his lips.


    "Okay, why don''t youe over to my ce and give it to me?"


    And with that being his only sentence, he hung up on her. He turned to Arthur cheerfully, as if he knew


    all along this was going to happen.


    "See? I got what I wanted without lifting a finger."


    After Joel mmed the door behind him, he called the girl he metst time. He really wanted a good


    company right now.


    "Hey...I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me tonight? My treat!"


    Honestly, he was only looking to date someone to ovee his frustration.


    Luckily for him, she said yes. He sped up and arrived at the school within a few minutes. Her eyes lit up


    the moment theynded on the man.


    They headed for a cozy restaurant nearby. Hand in hand, they walked in together and took a table near


    the entrance. What they didn''t notice was Cassandra and Rufus were also present there, sitting all the


    way in the other corner.


    Rufus cut his steak into smaller pieces, poured some sauce on it and served the pieces to Cassandra.


    "Here is your steak, madam.


    Are you satisfied with the service?"


    Rufus asked jokingly, lifting his eye brows, his attention focused solely on Cassandra.


    Cassandra smiled sweetly, taking some steak in her te.


    A waiter brought them a dried meat floss cake, which Rufus had ordered specially for Cassandra.


    "I know how much you love these cakes. They make really good ones here. Their head baker is a


    French professional. Take a bite and tell me if you like it."


    Rufus smiled at her with empathetic eyes. He felt sorry for her. She had lost a lot of weighttely and


    needed to eat more so she didn''t look so weak.


    "You''ve ordered too much food, Rufus. I cannot eat all of this!"


    Cassandra said, looking at the cake and blushing with embarrassment. Although she truly loved these


    cakes, her stomach was too full to devour the delicacy right now.


    "I remember how much you like dried floss meat cake, too!


    Why don''t you have some?"


    Cassandra passed the cake to Rufus.


    "What? I never eat dried meat floss cake. I don''t like it ever since I was a child. We can ask them to


    pack it if you''re full. You can take it home and eat it, in case you''re hungryter,"


    Rufus said as he started to eat his steak. But what he had just said startled Cassandra.


    "What''s wrong, honey?"


    Rufus noticed her surprised face and asked with an earnest concern.


    "No… nothing."


    She was lost and confused. She didn''t know where she could even begin to exin.


    He simply gave her a smile, held out to squeeze her hand a few times reassuring himself that nothing


    was wrong, and continued eating.


    But Cassandra was overwhelmed with a mix of weird feelings.


    She clearly remembered the day when she ran into Rufus and Amanda in the cake shop. She hid


    herself behind a nt pot to observe them from a distance. It was then that she heard Amanda saying


    she wanted to buy Rufus''s favorite cake for him.


    Later that night, Rufus showed up at her door with a dried meat floss cake. Cassandra got pretty mad


    at him when she saw the cake. She thought he was simply passing on the cake Amanda had bought


    for him.


    But if he had never liked these cakes, as he told her just now, it meant that the cake he brought over


    wasn''t the one Amanda had bought for him.


    Cassandra was deeply embarrassed, not knowing how to act.


    Rufus cared for her, and remembered her likes and dislikes. He was just being thoughtful when he got


    the cake for her. And what did she do? She misunderstood him and threw it into the trash can out of


    jealousy, instead of thanking him.


    It was so petty of her to think like that. Their rtionship was already hanging on a fragile thread at the


    time. That could be theirst chance at making this work.


    Property ? 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.


    She regretted her ill behavior and was upset with herself now. She wondered if there were any other


    things she had misunderstood.


    She always kept arguing about trivial things with Rufus, which was what ruined their rtionship


    eventually.


    She sat introspecting her mistakes, taking a deep breath. Finally, she took the cake, and shed a


    genuine smile at Rufus as she took a big bite from it.


    Rufus raised his eyebrows, wondering what had changed her mind. But he didn''t ponder upon it too


    much. As long as she ate it, it didn''t matter.


    Cassandra hoped Rufus would notice it was her way of apologizing. All she wanted was to make up for


    her foolery.


    "Cassandra? What a coincidence!"


    Cassandra turned her head at the familiar voice to see Whitney and Courtney smiling at her.


    Whitney looked ssy and elegant as always. She was wearing a cheongsam with a fur coat over it.


    Courtney stood behind her, reading Cassandra''s face minutely.


    "Auntie Whitney!"


    Cassandra eximed and stood up, surprised. She hadn''t seen Whitney in a long time.


    "Hi! I just came back from abroad. I needed to take Courtney to see a few doctors. I heard about your


    father''spany when I came back... Why didn''t you call me at the time? I could have helped you


    save it!"


    Whitney''s hand reached out for Cassandra''s. She sounded genuinely sorry for whatever had


    happened. The next moment, her eyes shifted to Rufus.


    Whitney wasn''t in constant touch with Cassandra. But she knew the girl and Rufus had gone through a


    lot. Their rtionship really wasn''t easy to maintain.


    "Anyway, Cassandra. We should head to our table and have dinner too. I''ll see you next time. I do have


    something to tell you tough."


    She pressed her shoulder in an insinuating way, giving her an encouraging look. She didn''t want to


    disturb her date with Rufus.


    A waiter led Whitney and Courtney to a table away from them. Many customers had left, leaving a


    rather deserted atmosphere around them. Only one girl sat at a table next to them, clicking


    innumerable selfies.


    "Order whatever you like, Courtney. I remember how much you love the cakes in this restaurant."


    Whitney looked at her daughter lovingly. Courtney''s long hair covered her shoulders, falling smoothly,


    like ck velvet.


    She was doing much better now and had almost recovered fully. It made Whitney extremely d to see


    her daughter living normally. It had been so long since she was struggling. She deserved to get some


    peace.


    Courtney smiled back at her and started to order. At the same time, a man came walking to the table


    next to them, and sat in front of the girl. Courtney got dumbstruck the moment she saw his face.


    Joel had juste back from the bathroom. Smiling, he sat down in front of the girl.


    "The steak isn''t ready yet?"


    Joel asked, looking at her beautiful, adorable face.


    "Yeah...It''s been so long! I''m starving..."


    she said sweetly, putting down her phone.


    Whitney noticed how pale her daughter''s face had suddenly be.


    "Courtney, what''s wrong? Are you okay?"


    she asked, nervous and worried. Courtney clenched her fists tightly, her face gloomy and eyelids


    twitching. Whitney grabbed her fists anxiously. Something was terribly wrong.


    Her eyes looked horrified. Slowly, Courtney stood up and walked towards Joel, with her gaze fixed on


    him.


    The man realized he was being stared at. He turned around and spotted Courtney, who seemed to


    have appeared by his side suddenly. He didn''t know what was wrong.


    "Hi, youngdy. Do I know you?"


    Joel asked,pletely clueless. He seemed to havepletely forgotten Courtney.


    "You...don''t remember me?"


    Courtney asked, slowly. The past started toe back to her as she stared at his face, which had


    retained in memory for what seemed like forever.


    She had been tortured by all those painful memories and nightmares. All that time, she had hidden her


    feelings. Atst, she couldn''t suppress it anymore and resorted to injuring herself as a form of coping


    mechanism, hurting not only herself but also her family.


    Fortunately, she was rescued. Gradually, she understood hurting herself wasn''t worth the man who had


    so heartlessly left her. She decided to forget him, and not to waste her time thinking about him.


    But here she was, face-to-face with him again. All the haunting memories came back to her, rendering


    her still like a dead man.