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, sir.”

“I imagine not, and I hope you will stay that way. To make sure of this, I will come up and call him, you wait here.”

Teodoro's voice sounded fatherly, and Melissa understood that he was not judging her to be a whore. He goes up the stairs and knocks on Josias's bedroom door.

“Who is it?” Josias's voice came from inside.

“It’s Teodoro. That girl wants to see you.”

A few seconds later, the door opens only a small space. Teodoro can barely see Josias behind the door, only his head is visible.

“Is Melissa down there?” Josias asks with curiosity plastered on his face.

“Is that her name? I didn't ask.” Teodoro tries to see Josias in full-body, stretching his head forward, “She confirmed it was you, so I connected the dots.”

“OK, I'm already coming down.” Josias closes the door. Teodoro smiles, concludes that Josias was shirtless or even in his underwear, so he didn't want to open the door fully.

Josias, after closing the door, in fact, was only in his new briefs because of the heat, he did not want to wear his T-shirt and shorts so as not to stain with sweat. After getting dressed, he hurries down the stairs, anxious to see Melissa.

When the two meet, Josias grins and Melissa returned the smile. Teodoro is amused by the two young people and suggests, “Go and talk in the kitchen.”

With a firm gesture, Josias leads Melissa into the kitchen. Upon entering, he turns on the light and asks, “What are you doing here, Melissa? Did your father allow you to leave?”

“Yes, I told him I was going to Pamela's.” Melissa pulls out a chair and sits down.

“It was not prudent of you to lie.” Josias warns her, yet he smiles slightly, “If I had my daughter, I wouldn't like it.”

“If I said I was going to see a guy, he wouldn't let me.” Melissa shrugs, “And it looks like we only have that time to talk. You work, I study, and when we're in front of other people, they get in the way.”

Josias likes what he hears, nods. “So, what do you have to say to me that you need privacy?”

“Can you tell me what's going on? Is the story really true that you barely had anything to eat and what to wear?”

Josias breaks the smile and then takes a deep breath. He didn't want to bother her with this story. But, if she is the one who’s asking...

“Melissa, I didn't mean to upset you, but my friend Uélton was very indiscreet in telling Pamela that I showed up here in the favela without a threshing floor. I had to run away from home because they murdered my father.”

Melissa's eyes widen and her mouth open. She can see that this tragedy still affects Josias's feelings.

“You don't have to go into details if you don't want to...” Melissa gets up and starts to walk away.

“No, no, it's fine!” Josias detains Melissa; he doesn't want her to go. “I prefer to explain everything to you; it will even be good for me. I need to vent with someone.”

Touched and penalized, Melissa agrees to stay. Josias pulls out one more chair and they sit down. Then, he tells how it all happened. At one point, he interrupts the story to get guava juice from the fridge.

Listening to the story and refreshing the heat with juice, Melissa understands Josias's dilemma and promises herself not to be tough and more demanding with him. That means to stop listening to Pamela's bullshit.

“At least Pamela needs to know.” She explains, “It is very easy to judge and condemn you without knowing the full story.”

“Don't worry about her, Melissa.” Josias is displeased with the mention of Pamela, “With Uélton I got it right. I think Pamela didn't get along with me before she knew who I was. Even if I was from Europe Garden, she would wrinkle her nose.”

Melissa gives a good laugh and Josias also relaxes. Teodoro enters the kitchen and looks at the clock on the wall.

“Look, as time goes by, there are already more than eight!” Teodoro exclaims pretending to be casual, but Josias understood what he meant: Melissa needs to go home.

“You better go, Melissa.” Josias gets up and picks up the empty glasses, “Your dad can worry.”

“You're right. I don't want him to call Pamela and find out that I'm not there.” She gets up and says goodbye to the two men.

When she returns home, her father is sitting on the sofa in the living room watching a football match.

“Daughter, they called you.” He reports without taking his eyes off the TV.

“Who?”

“A boy named Fabrício said he met you at the party yesterday. Was that right?”

Melissa reacts intrigued by the information. Who was Fabrício?