Kassia Domingos was... perfect.
Taemin Lee was... a loner.
Yet, they both were flowers growing from the same soil.
...
In which UCLA's perfect angel has a secret admirer who gives her flowers.
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"This is for you Mr Gomez - because you've taken such good care of me."
Kassia handed the man a cheque with an amount that made his eyes widen. Guilherme happened to catch a glance whistling.
"I-I can't take this from you," Gomez shook his head trying to give it back but Kassia simply put his other hand on top of the cheque.
"I don't want it - if you can't take it as a gift, take it as my payment to take care of Taemin. Buy nice things for him to punch really hard."
"Kids aren't even supposed to have this much money," Gomez sniffled hugging Kassia tightly. "You have to come again - I'll buy you as many cups of matcha tea as you want."
"I'll hold you to that - I'm serious- that cafe across the street is putting crack on the cups. It can't taste that good."
The other men also took turns hugging her goodbye.
Kassia, the small lady dressed in designer brightened up their days too.
She couldn't punch the sandbags properly. She was clueless about the equipment. She always had to ask people what Taemin was doing. Overall, not a natural born athlete to anyone who watched her. But, they could all tell she was a good person and she always tried her best.
She listened to the men.
She took genuine interest in their lives.
Occasionally she tried tutoring them on hard bioengineering concepts.
"You have to be a good bioengineer, okay?"
"Okay Joshua," she smiled, "I hope your son has a successful surgery too - I hope the guy my dad recommended does a good job."
"Good luck Kassia," Guilherme encouraged, "if anyone messes with you tell me - I'll put them on a headlock."
She smiled at Guilherme feeling very close to him.
He talked to her a lot during the three weeks she had been coming to the gym. He gave her a lot of courage even without knowing exactly why she was there.
She would miss everyone terribly.
Kassia's father waited for her outside with a worried look. He was worried and relieved that she was okay. Wenda decided to let Kassia control her own life but he had to admit... getting a call in the middle of the day that she was going to San Francisco surprised him.
His daughter was more of a wild child than he remembered.
Kassia just wanted you to have a conversation with her father.
About what she wanted to do. How she wanted things to go. Her goals and ambitions.
And more importantly, how she wanted to deal with Javier.
"You're going to be okay? You don't need me there? For sure," Taemin asked hugging her tightly.
He kissed her forehead tenderly wanting to stay longer with her.
Despite knowing this was for the best and only temporary, he was the one who wanted her sat there at the bech more than anyone else.
Her and her different designers bags.
He smiled to himself at how out of place she looked at an MMA gym.
"Yes," Kassia assured hugging him just as tightly. "I need to work hard so I can afford to buy you, your garden."
Taemin hummed laughing a bit, "and I'll buy you a movie studio."
"Taemin, I really, really love you," Kassia declared after a moment of silence.
"Me too, I really love you too." ...
Kassia and her father rode in a black car on the way to her apartment. Kassia's father listened to her and was supportive of her plans.
He wanted to know everything about what she had gotten up to in San Francisco.
"If you're going through a hard time, you can call me too sweetheart. I'm here to support you, always."
"I'm sorry dad- I just needed to get away but I'm not falling behind and I've been studying-"
"I care about you Kassia. Your studies are not the most important thing to me, you are."
"I'm sorry dad," she apologised sheepishly. "I will call you next time."
"You better, I don't want to start calling Taemin for your whereabouts." ...
Kassia and Wenda were in high spirits when they walked into Kassia's apartment.
They were laughing and Kassia was excitedly telling him about everything she had learnt at the gym. Her father laughed at how out of place his daughter was.
A Chanel in a gym was crazy.
Wenda would definitely have to teach his daughter more about things like that. He was excited though... he felt like he was getting to know the different sides to his daughter in that moment.
"So I let you take the helm and she's skipping lessons for three weeks?"
Kassia and Wenda almost came out of their skin coming face to face with Rosa.
"Fuck- you scared me! Good afternoon to you too Rosa- why are you here, sitting like a villain?!"
"I've let this go on long enough Little Miss Kassia and it ends now- and I know what you've been doing in San Francisco-"
"Taemin and I have agreed to not meet for a while," she interrupted.
Her heart was beating so fast but Kassia knew the first thing she needed to do was face her mother. "I have exams coming up and he has his match - we agreed to focus on what we have to."
Rosa smiled feeling genuinely content.
Finally her daughter was coming to her senses.
"Just a few weeks for now, huh? Once you are away from that low life, you'll wake up and smell the grass, darling. I'm so proud of you."
"Rosa," her father warned, "we agreed to not do this. Just relax."
"Tomorrow, I'm going to go report what Javier did."
Wenda smiled at his daughter proudly.
He wasn't going to force her but reporting that bastard was the best thing to be done. He was clearly a danger to others.
And a report was better than then the guys he had on standby.
"Before exam season," Rosa fussed. "It will affect your grades dealing with that. I've spoken to his mom last week, she has said whatever happened was a misunderstanding Kassia. Plus, we've all sort-"
"It's not resolved," Kassia snapped feeling herself angry. "That conversation didn't involve me, nothing was resolved- it didn't happen to you so, you cant resolve it for me."
"Kassia-"
"Don't hit her," Wenda warned putting some distance between the two. "Let's just support her Rosa. Our daughter is standing up for herself, we should be proud."
But Rosa couldn't let it go like this.
Everything she built was crumbling and what she thought was her best work was rebelling. Kassia was meant to be her greatest achievement. She was meant to reach everywhere Rosa couldn't go.
She couldn't let it end like this.
She was angry and disappointed.
"I swear to God Kassia, if you make a fuss, I will never forgive you."
