"Finally!" Félix exclaimed, cutting through the silence and grabbing Bruno and Cassidy, pulling them into a rib-breaking hug. Despite their clothes being soaked from the recent rainstorm from Pepa, all of them felt the tension from before begin to diminish.

"Félix! Let go of them, you're going to crush them!" Pepa said with a smile, and the shorter man let go of them reluctantly.

"We have been waiting for you too to admit your love for forever! Why did you guys wait?"

Bruno shrugged, blushing when he glanced at Cassidy. She turned beat red and looked to the ground, a small smile on her face.

"I guess we were…waiting for the right moment?" Bruno finally replied, and Agustín chuckled.

"You couldn't have picked a better moment, my friend, I think a hurricane was about to start. No offense, Pepa, but I didn't want to fall off the hill and break something."

Pepa smiled as she ran her hands along her braid. "It's fine…a lot of us were at fault. We should've never mentioned the whole witch thing."

Félix sighed. "Sorry, you two."

Cassidy smiled. "It's fine. I think that it's best that the secret is out now."

Bruno grabbed Cassidy's hand gently. "Yeah. And, I guess, my crush on you."

"And my crush on you too."

Bruno hesitantly lifted their hands to his lips and kissed hers, making Cassidy giggle. Félix whooped, Pepa fake gagged at the gesture, but Julieta laughed.

"It's about time, guys, the love you too have is so obvious." Félix said, and Agustín nodded.

"We were all waiting."

Cassiy pulled Bruno to the ground so the two of them would sit beside each other once again, their clothes getting messy in the wet dirt.

"Well, I can't tell you how long I waited for you to ask out Julieta." Cassidy replied. "You could never stop talking about your undying love for her."

It was Agustin's turn to blush. "Well…I…um…"

"I love you too, Agustin." Julieta said, kissing him on the cheek, and Bruno laughed.

"Well, now I don't have to feel awkward around that, I guess."

Cassidy leaned her head on his shoulder, sighing contently. "I guess so."

"So? Do you want to be my girlfriend?" He was clearly blushing as he said the words, his nervousness shining through as he played with his ruana. Knowing that the fear he had would stay unless she did something, she gave a beaming smile and turned to him happily.

"Obviously, Bruno!"

Bruno was back doing visions the next day, and Cassidy got to work painting a mural in the town square. Alma had asked her to do a little something, to "bring her gifts to the Encanto" and Cassidy knew that she should do it. Not that she didn't want to, she had been wanting to paint on walls for a while, but she didn't like the idea that it made her useful. But, she would do everything to make Bruno's mom like her.

She quickly wiped some stray hair from her forehead and felt some paint get on her skin from her finger as she did so. Knowing that there was nothing she could really do about it, she kept on going, finishing the bright colors of the flowers she was painting.

One of the children of the village watched as she did so, but as soon as Cassidy turned to talk to him, he ran off, yelling about how it looked horrible. Cassidy sighed and put her paintbrush down. She took another look at the flower, noticing the imperfections in the leaves, the lack of shading on the petals, the awkwardness of the proportions. What she saw bothered her, and what the kid said upset her, if only just a bit. He was just a kid, sure, but as the artist Cassidy saw the mistakes more than anyone.

"Wow, that looks amazing." Félix said from behind her, and Cassidy glanced back where the man was standing, hands in his pockets.

"You think? I feel like it's…not."

"No, no! It's perfect! The colors match perfectly together! The yellow, red, and orange are my favorites!"

Cassidy smiled. "Thanks, Félix. I hope everyone else thinks so."

"Should you maybe take a break? Take your mind off of it for a bit?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. Did you have anything in mind?"

Félix gestured to some coins in his hand. "I wanted to buy a gift for Pepa, and was looking for advice? You know, since you're a girl and all."

Cassidy got up and tried to brush some paint off of her dress. No luck. She picked up her paintbrushes and put them in her bucket of water.

"Sure! I can't say that I'll choose perfectly, but I'll try and help."

A huge smile appeared on his face. "Great!"

The two of them headed to a nearby jewelry shop, where Félix guided her to a pair of earrings that looked like the sun. Cassidy picked them up gingerly, appreciating the lightweight metal it was made of and the coloring, a bronze that shined in the light.

"I figured that these were the perfect gift," Félix explained. "Whenever she's happy the sun is around, and I wanted her to have something to remind her that even when it rains, even when she's sad, the sun is still there, just hiding. She always blames herself for bad weather, but she makes good weather, too. I thought that it was made just for her."

"Félix. It's beautiful. She'll love it."

Félix took it gently out of Cassidy's hand and put it in his palm. "Let's hope, because I'm buying it!"

Cassidy watched as Félix paid the store worker and followed him out of the door, scrubbing the paint off of her hands.

"So, you and Bruno, huh?" Félix asked, and she nodded.

"I guess so."

"Now all of the Madrigals have a love, am I right?"

She laughed. "I think so, but you and Pepa have been dating for a while, and me and Bruno only a day. And, none of our parents know about it."

She couldn't help but feel a bit afraid of that. Bruno's mother already hated her, she would not be happy with them dating. And her parents…they only cared about Abigail. Cassidy didn't know how they would react. Would they not care, like everything else she did, or would they be furious that she was dating before her older sister was? Would they be happy that their daughter was in love with Bruno, the amazing Madrigal, but also the town "curse"?

"Don't worry about it, it'll be fine." Feliz replied with a smile, and Cassidy realized that he must've seen her fears without her even voicing it. She guessed that was partially why he and Pepa were so good together, he knew exactly what people were thinking. And, he could calm anyone down from any fear. She saw him with the children in the village, he would calm all kinds of temper tantrums without any effort. He could help Pepa through any storm.

Cassidy could only hope that she could do the same for Bruno.

As they walked back to where her mural was, they could hear voices around it, and Cassidy walked faster, her ears knowing exactly who it was.

"Abigail! What are you doing?"

Abigail and her friends were crowding around the painting, laughing as the oldest Lopez girl brushed harsh brown streaks over the flowers.

"Oh, hey, I like your painting." She said teasingly, and Cassidy ripped the paintbrush out of her hand.

"Stop it! Do you know how long this took me to do?"

"Whatever. It's useless, anyways."

"Abigail." Félix said, walking forward. "A lot of people may like this, and Cassidy spent a lot of time on it…"

"Get lost, shorty. Go run to your hurricane creating girlfriend and complain to her about it."

When it became clear that Félix wouldn't move, Abigail picked up a pail of red paint and flung it at the wall, coating the mural with the color.

"No!"

Cassidy watched in horror as the red bled into all of the greens, oranges, and yellows, covering the leaves and petals that weren't perfect but still something she made. She poured everything she had into the mural, and now it was covered in red. Only red.

Abigail laughed and flung another pail of paint at Cassidy, this time green, splattering the color all over her gray dress.

"Oh, and tell the green curse boy that he'll never be happy with you!" Abigail exclaimed, gesturing to the ruined mural with wide hands. "He doesn't want to be friends with someone who makes stuff like this! I know that you visit him everyday, you loser! I thought you were a mess from the beginning, but all of this is so ridiculous!"

"Be quiet!" Cassidy yelled, tears burning behind her eyes, and balled her hands into fists instinctively. "Can't you go somewhere else where you're wanted?"

Abigail huffed. "Fine. I think you learned your lesson." She stared hatefully at Félix as she turned away from them, gesturing for her friends to join her. "You, too."

Félix watched as they walked away, clearly restraining himself from going after them. Cassidy rushed to the mural and tried in vain to get the paint off.

"No no no…please no…" She whispered desperately, grabbing a cloth and spreading it on the wall, trying to pick up the paint, but only succeeded in spreading it around even more.

"Cassidy…" Félix said hesitantly, but she turned away from him.

"It's okay, Félix. I…I just need to be alone."

She didn't need to look back, she could feel his eyes wander off of her as he rushed away in a hurry. Cassidy thought that he would try to comfort her even more, but she didn't feel like being comforted, so she didn't mind at all.

She knew that it was only art. But seeing it like this…it hurt. She couldn't see past the red. The flowers and leaves that once were displayed were drowning, and she felt like she was drowning too. She couldn't prove her worth, the one chance she had was ruined, and the beauty she had created was gone. It wasn't perfect, it was far from it, but….

Cassidy took in a shaky breath and wiped stray tears from her eyes, streaking her face with green paint from her dress. She could feel the paint begin to dry in her hair, on her dress, could see the red grow lighter as it dried. She couldn't fix this. She would need a new dress, a new wall to paint. But, what was the point? It would get ruined again. And again. And again.

She had no clue how long she sat there, in silence, as the people of the Encanto walked by without a word. She didn't try to revive the painting, she knew that it was long gone. The paintbrushes and pails laid unused as she sat there, staring at the mural , covered in paint that didn't feel natural to her. None of this felt right. Yet, she was already used to it.

"Cass? Félix told me what happened…"

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and looking up she saw Bruno. His eyes had dark bags under them, it was clear that he had been doing visions all day, but he still looked at her with sympathy and compassion.

"Are you okay?"

Cassidy shook her head no, and Bruno sat beside her. One of his rats climbed off of his shoulder and onto her knee, sniffing the paint with interest.

Bruno didn't say anything else, looking at the mural with a frown.

"It was a lot prettier before the red paint." Cassidy said softly, more tears falling down her cheeks, and Bruno nodded. He gently wrapped her in a hug and held her. Soon she couldn't keep it in, and Bruno let her sob into his shoulder, rubbing her back comfortingly.

He didn't tell her that it was okay. He knew what it felt like to try so hard on something and then have it be ripped away in seconds. He knew that it wasn't okay, it would never be okay. There would be forgiveness, and possibly forgetfulness, but the pain would very rarely leave. He wasn't about to lie to her. He could never lie to her.

Instead, he held her like this was the last time they would be together, being her anchor and strong rock when the storm inside of her rolled out of her in waves. People stared, people were finding out, but he didn't care.

All that he cared about, at this moment, was her. Not the fact that they were being watched by dozens of people, nor the fact that he had left his vision cave without permission, not even that his mother would find out. All that was in his mind was the woman that he loved sobbing in his arms, her quivering body making Bruno's heart shatter.