Her break was over and Nina returned to Dominic's room. She was thoughtful about everything she had heard. He looked at Dominic's table and noticed that he had left his jacket resting on the armchair.
She hesitated a bit, but ended up picking up the item of clothing and examining it, looking at the label and seeing that it differed from the label on the blazer of the mystery customer who gave her that big tip the night before.
However, she still decided to continue investigating and took the piece to his nose. She inhaled deeply and let that wonderful scent wash over her.
It was the same perfume, there was no way to differentiate it.
While inhaling, with her eyes closed, Dominic arrived in the room. He was silent, and she didn't notice for a few moments.
He saw her inhaling the perfume from his jacket and observed her for a few moments. It didn't irritate her for a moment. In fact, a simple smile formed in the corner of her mouth.
Nina was different from "Dominic's girls", she was spontaneous in her actions and expressions. She wasn't like the others who acted as he wanted, just to please him.
Dominic closed the door and the click of the lock made Nina realize she wasn't alone. She looked a little scared in his direction, but she didn't see any expressions of irritability on his face.
Dominic just looked at her in the way he used to do sometimes, he fixed his gaze on her and walked towards her, Nina didn't know how to act, so she continued standing in her place.
She always had her mind on Hannah and that's why she almost always didn't notice her return. It wasn't difficult to notice Dominic's presence and that he was a very affectionate man.
But at that moment, she realized how attractive he was. Her black hair was combed so that the strands were messily arranged. His skin was a shade close to honey and his ice-blue eyes.
He was without his jacket, just wearing a white linen shirt and black tailored pants. So you could see that beneath the fabric, there was an athletic body, with broad, defined shoulders.
She was mesmerized for a few moments and ended up not looking away, as she always did when he fixed his gaze on her.
Dominic raised her eyebrows, curious about the change in his behavior and after he extended his hand towards her.
Nina stared at her hand for a few moments, bewildered.
— Help me, Nina. — he asks in a low, deep tone.
She opens her mouth, still lost, but in the next second, Nina understands what he asked.
She holds out his jacket and helps him slip one arm in and then the other.
Dominic adjusts the piece on her body and then asks her:
— Was I okay?
Nina is a little embarrassed and for the first time looks away, she thought he looked great, but instead of saying so, she just nods.
Dominic walks and sits in her armchair. Nina remains standing, and he doesn't ask her to sit down. He liked to watch her and, standing up like this, he could see her completely.
She takes a step forward, taking courage and asks:
— Mr Dominic, can I ask you a question that doesn't have to do with work?
Dominic arches one of her eyebrows and says:
— Proceed.
— Do you usually go to bars at night?
Dominic lowers her gaze. Thoughtfully, he realizes that she was trying to find out if it was him the night before.
— It depends on the invitation. Do you want to invite me to go to one?
—Oh! — she takes a breath and shakes her head no — No, that's not it! It's just… — she thinks for a few moments about what to say and then says — It's just that I think I saw someone very similar to you last night.
He knew that she hadn't seen him the night before, otherwise she wouldn't have acted so spontaneously.
— Do you go to bars? It wasn't the image he tried to give me in the interview.
— No no! That's not it, Mr Dominic. I sometimes work as a server in a bar to earn extra money. It's not fun.
— You already work here, so why do you want to work double shifts? I won't like asking you to do a task and you're tired.
— Don't worry, I can handle both jobs.
Dominic looks at nothing thoughtfully and then says:
— Will you be able to handle it, even if I ask you to work overtime?
Nina perks up, realizing he mentioned allowing her to work overtime.
— If I work overtime, I'll only work extra at the bar on the weekends.
Dominic raised her eyebrows, because that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.
— Well, I want you to do something this weekend for me.
— This weekend... — she gets confused.
— Yes. So keep an eye on your cell phone.
Dominic opens her notebook and starts working. Nina looks thoughtful after a while and returns to her seat.
It was Friday, and after work Nina went to Júlia's apartment.
Once there, she gathered some clothes to wash before Julia got home from work. Nina took the blazer and smelled the perfume again. After realizing that the conversation with Dominic had led to nothing, that he didn't answer her questions, and she was still in doubt whether he was the owner of the blazer.
He was sorry to put the blazer in the wash, as the perfume would be lost, but he ended up throwing the item in the washing machine, after thinking for a while.
Later, Júlia arrived and approached her:
— Nina, how is your health?
— I still have a little cold, so I came here.
— Take care, okay? Are you going to the bar today?
She looks lost, remembering the conversation with Dominic and then says:
— No, I think it's better not to go.
— You got a big tip yesterday. You can allow yourself to take some time off. Do you already know what you are going to do with the money?
— I thought about it. — Nina turns to Júlia and continues, — I can't be proud at this moment. I need to pay for medicine and hospital debt. I will transfer everything to you so you can pay for me.
— Why are you transferring? Pay with your card, right?
— Júlia, now it is very important that you continue to pay the hospital bills. I'll give you all the money I can get... anyway, Samuel is present in my life again and I'm afraid he'll find out about Hannah if he investigates my expenses.
— Like this? Did you meet him again? — Julia asks, worried.
Nina nods positively and then says:
— My boss is supporting his political campaign. Can you believe it?
— Then resign!
— No, I can not!
— Nina, you get another job.
— No Júlia, getting a job is difficult these days and I can't give up on this one now. Dominic will even allow me to work overtime, so things will get better.
— I worry about Samuel being around you.
— Don't worry, I intend to avoid meeting him as much as possible. Can you believe he told me he had a proposal for me, that he wanted to set up a meeting? But I'm not crazy enough to accept it, right?! Anyway, I'm not going to meet him and he might start chasing me, so we have to make a plan so he doesn't know about Hannah's existence.