Responses
Hear me out. Tia grew up with only her father's love, lost him, then eventually earned her grandfather's trust. She's starved of affection so anyone treating her well makes her soft. Blushing when a good looking person is kind and close to you doesn't automatically mean that you're attracted to them in a way that matters either. It could just mean that you're delightfully surprised/embarrassed.
I've reread this 3 times already cuz i keep letting it marinate. i just realized now how weird tia acted around perez during childhood, talking about how he's so handsome and getting all flustered by his good looks, all the while she's an adult who has lived two whole lives why also would she blush at things that perez says? authors really don't know how to create a decent adult. anyone who has lived that long will see children, as mere children, and will just think of them as cute or annoying a times. they wouldn't be out here thinking, "oh he's using his good looks to take advantage of this and that" like ????? girl get a grippppp i just wish that they started off as more platonic, and developed into romance as perez finally grew and matured. ughhhh