A g*****a

TRUST TO DO GOOD

Growing up as a girl who sees herself as a boy was not that easy. Cesar knew how Andree was struggling with her s****l preference/orientation especially when he learned about the girl’s involvement in illegal hand-to-hand combat organized by students during the elementary days.

What happened was, back in elementary, at third grade Andree enjoyed joining a group of male students who gathers inside a totally closed room to spectate gladiator-like fights between students, a fighter will be declared as a loser depending on how weak he appears in the eyes of the audience or if he was KOed.

 She dared to join those fourth graders up to sixth-grader male students because she felt like they would acknowledge her as one of them.

Imagine that she was the only girl inside that room, it did not come into her mind that the moment she had entered the room she already endangered herself. Andree could have been molested there.

When the guidance counselor called Cesar and told him that Andrea was one of the students caught inside the room where illegal fights were held, he was undoubtedly furious at her. According to him, she walked into a lion’s den full of lions. After the talk with the guidance counselor, Andree felt the surrounding seemed too narrow, as if people are mocking her, just like a criminal. She was so scared of Cesar, Lino, and Susan’s reaction when they get back home.

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When they got back home, Cesar excuses themselves and asked Lino and Susan if he can take Andree alone for a serious discussion about what had happened.

Cesar asked Andree to empty her bag, bring her coin collections outside with her as well as her thermos tumbler.

Andree did what she was told, and his sermon begun. Cesar made her remove her coin collections from their albums. At first, she was hesitant because that was her beloved, but Cesar showed anger that compelled the girl to take all of the coin collections off the albums, she was already crying then Cesar told her to place the coins inside her tumbler, she did what she was asked to do.

Cesar was mad at Andree because of the thought of endangering herself by joining those violence-minded boys at school. Andre had not stopped crying as she can read Cesar’s actions and how angered he was.

After Andree had placed the thermos tumbler filled with coins inside her empty bag and closed it. Cesar took the bag and threw it on one of the trees in the yard. He took Andrea and let her see how big the damage he caused the tree.

Andrea was still crying when Cesar handed her the bag, he told her, “What were you thinking? Did you enjoy seeing your fellow student being brutally hit by another?” he added, “did I train you for violence? I told you to use it for protection.”

“I.. I.. am sorry, it won’t happen again...” she uttered while crying.

Cesar knelt in front of Andrea to reach her eye to eye, he took both her arm and said, “punch me, punch me!” is that what you wanted? You wanted to see other people hurt?

Sobbing, Andree answered, “No. No. No”

Cesar told Andree, "Your coin collections were your gifts, they were valuables and are special to you and everyone who loves you, your tumbler signifies a hard shell that could be considered a weapon, a thing that could cause fatal injury once used to hurt other people. once placed together and used against anything it will cause harm just like what the tree ended up with."

Andree was just crying the entire time. 

Cesar released a deep breath as he saw how frightened the girl was, then he sat on the ground with his legs stretch, he said. 

“I am sorry If I have trained you to fight and do all those punches and kicks.” He looked her in the eyes and told her “I may be sorry for those, but I will never be sorry for trusting you that everything you know and learned will always be for the greater good. I'm sorry for yelling at you.”

Andree was a little bit hesitant, but she stretched her arms and hugged Cesar, and uttered, “sorry, it will never happen. Please let us not stop with the training. I promise to use them for good.”

Cesar hugged the child back and carry her on their way back to the house.

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Under Cesar’s tutelage, there was never any conversation between the two of them about putting an end to the confusion Andree was having back then, instead, he kept her twice busy with all the intensive training programs. Normal people may disapprove of his methods, but he helped her explore herself.

Thanks to him Andree never tried again to go somewhere else just to get to know herself or get an approval of anyone else in some ways that could have endangered her.

Before undergoing rigorous training given by Cesar, there were instances where she tried to act like a boy in front of girls just to display what she was or who she saw herself. What she felt inside was like there was a need for her to show that she was masculine in some ways. She had herself taken advantage of numerous girls that she liked. She thought to man up like to carry a girl’s heavy bag, spend money on them and protect a girl even though they were at fault would make them like her.

Andree would usually take the blame for the mistakes done by girls she liked. With that, she felt pathetic by having a mere recollection of those foolish days. Andree would even get into fights just to defend a girl in exchange for her approval or a sweet smile. She was a kid who hungers for something; she did not know what was happening inside her.

During first grade, she kissed her girl classmate, the next day, she thought that the mother of her classmate will go to school and would approach her and scold her for kissing her child, instead this little classmate of her started to give her food during snack time after that kiss.

That little innocent romance was cut short when she was forced to move to a different place. Lino’s industrial fishing business has grown big. There was a need to get for a trusted person to be his second hand so Lino appointed Cesar to manage the branch he had in one of the provinces where the fishing industry was the main business.

Andree had to stay in the province her entire teenage years. she never had friends in elementary because she was always with Cesar training. Day by day Andree grew stronger in physical strength and in mind, Cesar even decided to use his real strength because they could not find any stronger sharks, crocodiles, and alligators for sparring anymore that would be at par with her strength.

Since then, she never had been with pretty babysitters since Cesar never thought of it, instead, he gave Andree a mother.

Andree was just surprised one day that Cesar was getting married. She was someone who hates drama and of all the people she wanted Cesar to be happy, so she welcomed the woman with all her heart. She never had a problem with her. Anyway, she does not pose any danger to their peaceful life as she had already examined her the moment, she met her.

She always missed her biological mother, she kept asking Cesar about her mother, but he could not give her any clear answer, all he could tell her were stories about her real father. He would always boast how he and Andree's real father have defeated their enemies in hand-to-hand battles even if outnumbered, he would always remind her that if her father were with them, he would certainly approve of Cesar’s training method.

Cesar would just remind Andree that her father and mother were people of honor and that she should not see herself as inferior to other people because it will insult her parent’s legacy.  He also kept reminding her that whatever makes her happy would be his happiness. He told her to do whatever her heart felt right, no matter what.