Chapter 165 The Petite Woman In The Bathtub

Mr. Wang finally stood up, design plan in his hands. He nodded to Cassandra with a satisfied smile on
his face, his curious expression now long gone.

"Ms. Qin, I believe that your company's success will be beyond expectation. You have the ball at your
feet! Please accept my congratulations in advance!" he smiled sincerely.

Cassandra's sheer confidence dispelled whatever doubt he had before. He looked at her approvingly
before turning to leave her office.

Cassandra thanked him eagerly and promised to not let him down.

Once he was out of earshot, she squealed in delight for successfully nailing down the business
transaction.

Her happiness was short-lived, however, when it finally dawned on her how exhausted she had been.
Since she was the operator of the group, her mother was unable to help and her sister was too young
to understand, she had to do most of the work herself. But no matter how frustrated she was,
Cassandra knew it was all worth it. Her father must have felt the same when he started the group. She
smiled to herself.

Although she had won several grand design prizes before, Cassandra promised Lionel that she
wouldn't work on designing in the next two years, which somehow restricted her to gather a larger
clientele for her company.

Most of the cases they undertook were similar that of Mr. Wang, and many clients came to her for the
sake of her previous works. She quietly hoped that the group could provide them with some brilliant
works in order to establish a long term cooperation relationship. Facts speak louder than words.
However, if she was just able to design again, she knew she could have gathered a larger network of
prospective customers.



A loud clap of thunder broke her from her thoughts as she suddenly felt her feet quake beneath her.
She got dizzy as she noticed the glass windows rumbling.

Cassandra knew it wasn't vertigo, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She closed her eyes until the
shaking subsided.

As if on cue, her phone beeped to alert her of the news. She quickly took her phone out to check.

It said that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck A city. The alerts updated her every other minute. The
earthquake and the thunder shower triggered several landslides and there were still unconfirmed
reports on casualties. The earthquake was strong enough to affect the surrounding cities.

G City wasn't very close to A City, but citizens there also felt the strong vibration.

Taking several deep breaths, Cassandra slowly stood up from her chair despite her dizziness.

When she opened the door to leave her office, the hallway was in utter chaos. Her employees were all
scattered outside, discussing the earthquake.

"It was so scary! I saw the ripples in my mug and thought that I shook the desk by accident!" a female
employee said.

Her voice was trembling and shaky.

"My uncle and his family are in A City. I tried calling them but I still couldn't reach them! I'm so worried,"
another employee cried out.

She was about to burst into tears and some of her colleagues gathered around to comfort her.

"Don't worry. They must just be busy ensuring they're safe so they don't have time to call you. That, or
the connection might just be too busy because everyone's doing the same thing. Just try again later!"



"She's right! Don't worry. I'm sure they'll contact you once they're safe!"

Cassandra cleared her throat when she approached the huddled crowd, and all of them quickly grew
quiet and looked at her.

"Let's all call it a day! The weather report says it's also going to rain soon. Please be careful, and make
sure that all of you message me as soon as you're home," she said.

She knew it was the right thing to do. Primarily, her employees would be safer if they weren't at work,
and they wouldn't even be able to focus since they were all too worried. That, and she also had to go
home.

She glanced outside to look at the dark clouds forming in the distance, before looking back at her
employees earnestly.

They were incredibly surprised by her words. All of them smiled and sighed in relief, thanking her
eagerly.

"Thank you so much, Manager Qin!" "You're seriously the best boss I've ever seen!"

"Thank God! No, thank you, Boss! I was just worrying about the disgruntling commute home. You're a
lifesaver!"

"I rode my electrical bicycle here today, and it'll be impossible to ride it home in such a stormy weather.
I'd better hurry up before the storm comes! See you tomorrow, my sweet boss!"

The employees' praises kept on coming as they piled their things together and left one by one.

Cassandra looked at her watch and found that if she didn't hurry herself, she'd be trapped within the
rush hour. She grabbed her things quickly back in her office and ran to the exit.



Upon leaving the main entrace, the wind almost blew her away. The gust was so strong and cold, and
the fog had started to form in the city.

Cassandra hailed a taxi hurriedly and rushed towards the Garden Villa without much delay. It suddenly
came to her that she forgot to close the windows this morning. She had to get home as fast as she
could otherwise it would the house upside down.

When she arrived, Cassandra dashed to her door and hurriedly closed the windows. Right at this
moment, the rain drummed on the window pane heavily.

Cassandra sighed heavily before going to her room to change. Once she was done, she dumped her
damp clothes in the dryer and walked to the living room to collapse on the sofa. She reached for the
remote and turned on the TV. Just as expected, the news was broadcasting the severity of the
earthquake and the storm. Her stomach knotted at the horrific scenes caused by the earthquake in the
news.

It was getting darker and darker outside. Different from the wind inland, the storm from coastal cities
was blustering around the house, together with the thunder, the rain and the lightning flashing across
the sky. Fears were raised up in Cassandra's heart and she buried herself deep in the soft sofa with her
arms across her chest.

She was alone in such a huge house, which seemed emptier than usual. The violent thunderstorm was
roaring louder outside, rattling her windows from the strong gusts of wind. To her, it sort of felt like the
end of the world.

She started to think about Rufus. If only he were here, she might not feel as scared.

If he were here, she could burrow her entire body into his chest and he would've caressed her face
tenderly. She would be safe in his arms and that would have been enough for her.



She was pretty sure, however, that it was only her fantasy or daydreaming. All she had at the moment
was her large house and the noisy TV in this stormy night.

After a long while, glancing out the window beside her, Cassandra saw the two flower planted in the
yard. Her heart dropped to her stomach at the sight of them.

They had just branched out a few days ago, but under the heavy rain, they were bound to die. The poor
plants were incredibly fragile under the strength of the storm. As they swayed in the wind, Cassandra
took it as a sign that they were asking for her help.

Rufus had planted those two flowers for her, and if they were blown away, she would never forgive
herself for watching it happen.

Cassandra jumped to her feet, grabbed a large raincoat, and ran to the door without hesitating. She felt
obligated to protect them. However, once she opened the door, the storm roared against her small
frame. She pushed forward despite the strong winds and ran outside.

Cassandra took a deep breath and made her way to the plants. Each step she took, the wind fought
back, as if it were trying to prevent her from getting to the plants. When she made it, she quickly spread
her oversize raincoat and secured around the bottom with some heavy rocks, covering the flowers.
Seeing the plants now safe and sheltered, she finally heaved a sigh of relief.

The rain was falling down heavily, like tiny stones hitting on her shoulders. Suddenly, a strong gust of
wind blew up and she choked, coughing and swallowing several times.

To her horror, just as she was coughing, she suddenly felt someone approach her from behind. And the
next second she was lifted up into a warm embrace. Cassandra screamed in the rain until she saw
Rufus's wrathful face in front of her. A warm current of joy coursing around her body, she bit her lips
and nestled her head on his shoulder.



She let him take both of them back inside the house. Rufus kicked the door open, walked in and closed
the wuthering outside behind them. Then he turned to the woman, his eyes as cold as ice.

"What the hell were you doing outside? It is raging storm outside, for God's sake! You'll get sick
standing in the middle of the heavy rain!" he scolded her.

Rufus sounded both furious and concerned. Only Cassandra could trigger both emotions at the same
time, and she knew it.

Cassandra was thin and weak. What was she thinking exposing herself to the rain? Rufus looked at
her, glaring as he checked her face for any sign of guilt. Cassandra merely looked back, eyes glistening
and cheeks puffed.

Cassandra brought her arms to his waist and hugged him tightly, feeling his strong, speedy heartbeat.
She didn't dare say anything else. Despite shivering in damp clothes, she felt incredibly warm inside.
She knew that Rufus cared for her and that he was just too worried for her.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she murmured quietly.

Her arms rose to his shoulders and hugged him tighter. Rainwater continued to drip between the two of
them.

"Again? Of course, not again! The next time you do that again I'll leave you alone and lock you out!"
Rufus warned.

His actions betrayed his cruel voice. He carefully carried her upstairs to the bathroom. Then he put her
in the bathtub and turned the hot water on.

"Take off your clothes," he ordered.



He sounded incredibly irresistible and Cassandra was overwhelmed by his cool voice.

She took her nightgown off and threw them aside, blushing. The wet clothing landed with a soppy flop
on the tiled floor.

Rufus still glared at her, but he couldn't help swallow at the sight of her naked form.

"Are those two plants really more important than your own body? You'll pay dearly for it in the future!
Everything in the world is apart and outside of you but your health, because your health is the only
thing that belongs to yourself!" he chided once more, trying to not get distracted at her beautiful figure.

Rufus didn't plan to come to the Villa today, but the thunderstorm changed his mind and he was afraid
that Cassandra would be terrified alone.

He drove back as quickly as possible, only to see her standing outside like an idiot.

With her back to him, she didn't notice his car and was busy covering the plants against the strong
storm. Her stubborn figure reminded him of what happened during the typhoon last year—the woman
also walked into rain determinedly.

Rufus felt that he couldn't breathe, and anger started to slowly boil inside him. He ran to pick her up
harshly and hurried inside without talking to her due to his annoyance.

On his way to the villa, his mind was too busy worrying if Cassandra would be terrified being alone in
such a big house. Seeing her standing in the rain only put his back up as he even felt hurt himself when
the rain hit on his body.

"I'm sorry... I was just scared that they might be blown away," she explained shyly.

Cassandra didn't dare speak loudly when Rufus was mad at her. He only had little patience when he
was angry, and it wasn't the right time to anger him even more.



Cassandra's shyness immediately softened Rufus's expression and he sighed irritably. She had
become his weakness that he couldn't even get mad at her properly.

Rufus fixed his eyes at her frame; all his muscles were tensing when he saw her crouching in the
bathtub. He crouched down next to the tub, right beside her head.

He held the shower head and began bathing her, hands carefully brushing over her hair and her face.
Cassandra's pale skin had started to flush from the hot water. When their eyes met, he could see
himself in her glistening eyes.

She pouted her lips and looked at him innocently.

"I just wanted to keep those plants alive so that I could watch them bloom, with you!" she said.


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