Melissa decides to praise Jonas for eating barbecue with a fork while everyone grabs the meat with their hands. “You know what, good thing Josias prefers the fork; it's a lot more hygienic.” Josias smiles in thanks. “That's what I thought. And by the way, I see the owner of the house slicing a steak. Shall we, Melissa?” “Only if it's now,” Melissa smiles at Josias, and the two move away from the others. Pamela sits down again, pursing her lips in annoyance. She calls Uélton. “Hey, you...” “Uélton, miss.” Uélton tries to be as kind as his friend. “Uélton, what do you know about this guy?” Pamela tilts her chin towards Josias. “He showed up at the construction site where I am, demonstrating excellent skill with the hoe, while I was failing, and Seu Romualdo hired him.” “He is the bricklayer assistant,” The second friend comments, “But, Pamela, let's be fair and acknowledge that he is cute.” “It doesn't matter if he's cute

The next day, Josias wakes up, stretching in bed, covered by the thin sheet from the waist down. He looks at Uélton's brother's jeans and T-shirt and gives a smile that says “I'm smiling so I don't cry”. Josias hopes that Uélton has not thrown his clothes away; otherwise he will have to work on the construction site with his brother's clothes!After putting on his clothes and going down to brush his teeth, Josias goes to breakfast in Teodoro's kitchen. He's just finished straining the coffee. Teodoro gets distracted by Josias's clothes and misses the strainer, leaving coffee spilling on the table.“Oops!” Teodoro realizes the error and returns to concentrate. “Good morning, son! How was the party? They let you borrow their clothes.”“I was the one who left mine at Uélton's. I hope he didn't throw it out of anger.”Teodoro finishes straining the coffee and closes the thermos. He takes it

Josias returns to Teodoro's building very satisfied with the first payment. It wasn't much, but it was enough for a few purchases that he intended to do today.When he told Teodoro, the landlord was thrilled with the younger man. “Now, set sail for the Downtown and buy some clothes, my boy. I don't know how you haven't caught the flu yet.”Josias believed that the fact that he was shirtless only strengthened his resistance to the cold. It was all a matter of habit, even the fact that he slept naked.So, when he was in Downtown, he thought twice about whether he bought or not some underwear. He decided to buy it because you never know. Better not to scandalize people unnecessarily.Josias bought a simpler T-shirt and shorts to stay at home (or in the bedroom) so he wouldn't have to wear sweatpants; this was “promoted” to the status of “just to work”. The black shirt and jeans donated by Uélton's mother will be use

At night, Teodoro is listening to the news on the radio when Melissa hesitantly enters, looking everywhere. Teodoro sees the girl and makes a friendly gesture for her to enter.“Can I help you with something, young lady?”“Good evening!” She approaches the counter, “Is here where a boy named Josias lives?”Teodoro raises an eyebrow. Girl looking for Josias? It can only be the one he has been talking about and observing.“There's a nice guy named Josias who is working on a construction site as a bricklayer assistant. Is he really?”“It's him,” Melissa smiles, “Is he in?”“Of course he is.” Teodoro replies with a wry smile, “He doesn't have much to do outside of work. I just don't know if it would be prudent to invite you up.”Melissa immediately has red cheeks; she stares at the floor. “I didn't want to meet him in this connotation, si

Josias furiously enters his room, annoyed by Jeremiah's provocations. Is it really serious that the comrade will be eternally wretched because of that discussion? After taking a deep breath and reflecting for a while, Josias decides not to take Jeremiah's mockery seriously, for the matter does not extend.“Life goes on and we argue about something that has already been resolved.”After the resolution, Josias takes the towel, shorts, and other clean underwear and goes down the stairs to take a shower. Upon entering the bathroom, he rejoices to see that there was no one and closes the door.The first water drops of the shower fall on Josias's skin like daggers. Even though the water is cold, Josias has a start. Today's sun did not do to his body any good. After the bath was over, the towel scratched his skin even more.Back in the room, with all his body on fire, Josias used this as another excuse to sleep naked. The less sheet touching his body