Hidden Blessings (1)

After speaking with Rio, Valentina spent the rest of the day reading her script for the new drama while repeatedly refreshing the music video to read comments and count the views.

Although the views had quickly jumped up in the beginning, they had slowed when they reached around 60 million and seemed to be remaining stable. Although it might surpass 100 million, it wouldn't be in the less than 24 hours needed to break the record. Still, her followers continued to steadily climb up and once she created the filter settings recommended by Rio, the notifications that were bombarding her phone quickly trickled to a stop.

The rest of her day passed peacefully as both she and Luca did their own thing. She continued reading her script while occasionally searching for an outfit for the premier online while he read on his iPad and played on his laptop. In the afternoon, she took him out to the garden and playground to run around before having a quick lunch. After tucking him in for a nap, she discretely coughed up some blood in the bathroom before continuing her review of the script.

Once it was evening, they ate dinner, and afterward, Valentina tucked him into bed after reading him a story. Since she wanted to avoid Kaiser after their awkward interaction in the morning, she stayed in her room and continued browsing her social media and reading different articles. Although she was tired, she wanted to stay up to watch the part 2 of the music video.

Knock. Knock.

Hearing the expected but unwanted knock on her door, she put on her house slippers and quickly went to open it.

Kaiser was standing there holding a humongous bouquet of red roses wrapped in green lacey ribbons that matched her eyes. He was still dressed in his full suit and looked as if he had just gotten home. As he stood there, the smell of fresh roses wafted into her nose.

"Oh hello? Welcome back. Did you rob somebody's garden?" Valentina greeted him with an awkward smile.

"I did not. I personally went to a florist to get these for you. Congratulations on the successful release of your project. Here's to many more successful releases." Kaiser smiled softly as he held out the gigantic bouquet.

"Oh, you shouldn't have gone to so much trouble. I already received your congratulations this morning. That's enough for me. I really can't accept this." Valentina smiled brightly while eyeing the bouquet. The thing was bigger than her and she wasn't sure how to begin carrying it or where to even put it. Plus, a bouquet of red roses? No! No way!

"It was no trouble at all. It's a gift I specifically picked out for you myself. Do you not want it?" Kaiser asked softly. He immediately gave her the same puppy dog eyes Luca did when he wanted her to carry him or when he wanted to get an extra cookie, and Valentina felt her heart shake.

"I really appreciate the thought behind it." Valentina tried to refuse again, however, Kaiser persisted.

"Do you not like flowers?"

"No, it's not that. I like flowers."

"Is it because I bought them and they're ugly? I can throw them away I guess. Although the poor flowers didn't do anything to deserve that." Kaiser looked down despondently and began to slowly turn away. Seeing his slumped-back and sad walk, Valentina couldn't help but sigh.

"I- I guess I can take them then since they're already paid for. Thank you." Valentina weakly gave in.

Hearing her words, Kaiser immediately spun around with a bright smile, as if the sad look never existed. Feeling as if she had been tricked, Valentina could feel her smile about to crumble.

"I'm glad you've accepted my gift. Here." Kaiser immediately placed the large bouquet in her arms causing her to stagger from the weight and almost fall down. What the hell? Why was the bouquet almost heavier than Luca?

Before she could fall, his hand quickly steadied her by her waist before releasing her.

"Be careful. Why are you so weak."

"Rather than me being weak, isn't this bouquet way too big? I don't even have a vase to put it in." Valentina grumbled as she struggled to hold the flowers up without dropping them.

"You think this is big? I guess it's a good thing that I didn't fill the house with roses as I originally planned. I'll have to save that for a different occasion." Kaiser chuckled as he easily lifted the bouquet from her with one hand.

"Sigh. Please don't do that. I might actually run away. Besides, although I appreciate the flowers, where am I supposed to put them?" Valentina couldn't help but pout as she looked up at the amused man while shaking out her pained arms.

"Maybe just a single room then. Besides, this is partly congratulations and partly a bribe. I wanted to ask you for a favor. Shall we go downstairs? I had them bring out some vases downstairs if you want to put these inside them. You can keep some in your room and place them around the house as you please."

"A favor?"

Kaiser was silent as he led her to the living room. She noticed that on top of the plush carpet were many different vases of different sizes that looked very expensive. Some of them were porcelain with blue and white patterns, some of them had sculptures on the outside of the vase, and some looked to be gilded with gold, silver, and gemstones. Unfortunately, none of them were big enough to hold the sheer amount of flowers in the bouquet so she would have to manually split it up.

"Yes, a favor. I have a…friend who is an up-and-coming designer and stylist who mainly focuses on women's wear. I happened to tell her about you, and she was wondering if you would allow her to style you for a single future red-carpet outing you have coming up. That is if you don't already have an outfit. She's really looking to break out and would appreciate being able to dress you and possibly sign a contract with you if it's successful."

As Kaiser spoke, he took off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and gently began to unravel the ribbons holding the big bouquet and separating them into small groups that he handed to her. She took the flowers and gently arranged them in different positions while deep in thought.

If it was a friend and designer of Kaiser, it had to be someone in the upper-class circles. There was a 50/50 chance for the designer being good or bad. Although she wanted to say yes to this favor, she didn't want to end up looking bad on her premier red carpet either.

Seeing the conflicted look on Valentina's face, Kaiser rushed to clarify the situation, "I don't mean to pressure you. The favor is just for you to meet her and look at her work. If you don't like it, you're free to refuse if you want to, but I think her designs are pretty good and she'll provide hair, makeup, jewelry, and clothes for free as well. She wanted to come to the house to show you some of the work she's been doing this season."

"Your favor is just to look at her work?" Valentina looked at him a bit suspiciously, but Kaiser smiled innocently.

"Yep. That's it. Whenever you're free let me know. She can come at any time." Kaiser nodded.

"Well I'm free tomorrow and I don't mind taking a look since I haven't chosen an outfit yet for the opening ceremony I have in a couple of days. Would she be able to come on such short notice?"

"Yep. I'll let her know to swing by early tomorrow. Thank you." Kaiser smirked happily and seeing his smile, Valentina felt as if she were being duped once again.

"What exactly is your friend's name and brand?" she asked suspiciously.

"Her name is Lia. I honestly could not tell you what her brand is called as she hasn't decided yet. She was on break for a while and is now just starting out again." Kaiser replied still smiling innocently.

Valentina: "…."

Was it really okay to risk her red carpet-appearance on a flaky designer who hadn't even named her brand? It might be better to continue searching for an outfit online.

But seeing Kaiser's happy expression as he split up flowers, she decided to suck it up and allow the designer to dress her. He had done so much for her and even gotten her flowers like this, so the least she could do was take a look right? Since this was his friend and a personal favor from him, she might as well suck it up. Even if she was dressed in rags, this beauty of 90/100 should still be attractive enough to beat Aaliyah on the red carpet right?

Authors Note: On Wednesday we make Kaiser Jelly and eat vinegar. Look forward to it ^^