I saved everything

I saved everything
Tabata,
A Simon with a black eye came desperate looking for you, and he didn't believe that you weren't with us. Guilherme kicked him out. Now I'm worried. Give us news, come over to my house.
Paulina,
I'm okay. I just need some help.
Tabata,
You can ask for it!
~~
The first thing they noticed was her new haircut. Paulina noticed that Tabata and Guilherme were shocked, but to her relief, neither of them expressed their thoughts. Now that the anger had subsided, a twinge of regret always hit her when she reached for her hair and found the path interrupted by ridiculously shorter strands. Pushing the discomfort away, she introduced her friends before taking her cousin to the room she was staying in to leave his luggage with his clothes.
"Simon wanted to know where you were," Tabata said when they returned to the living room. Paulina was alarmed, but Guilherme quickly reassured her.
"He insisted, but we didn't tell him." Given the direction of the conversation, it was inevitable for Guilherme to ask, "What happened?"
"We had a falling out. Something definitive." Not wanting to go into details, which would only increase her shame in the whole situation she got herself into, Paulina preferred to be evasive. "Please, I don't want to talk about it."
"I was always against this relationship. I thought he was just playing with you as he always does," Guilherme declared, to Paulina's anguish. "However, I hate to admit it: seeing him devastated, not much different from you, and agonizing with worry, he seemed sincere when he said he wants to make things right between you two."
Paulina doubted it. At the very least, Simon didn't want to be the one who was left. She thought about denying that she was upset, but with Guilherme looking at her new haircut with pity, she feared having to hear how he came to that conclusion.
"Isn't there any chance of you two working it out?" Tabata asked, wanting Paulina to weigh her feelings believing in Simon's feelings for her.
"No!" Paulina answered, categorical and irritated that they were on Simon's side.
The angry look surprised Guilherme, who had never seen such rage on his cousin's face. At that moment, Lean squirmed uncomfortably, her irritable noises prompting Tabata to ask if she could use Paulina's room to take care of her daughter.
"I'll do it," Guilherme offered. Sensing that he believed he could get more than a few words out of Paulina, Tabata nodded and handed the girl over. "Can you bring me the bag, please?" Guilherme asked Henrique and Thiago. "
Padilha was about to question, but Henrique pulled him, agreeing for both of them. Even though Thiago was confused by Perez's need for two people to carry a bag of diapers and bottles, he followed them.
Although Tábata assumed that Guilherme wanted her to uncover the reason for the breakup, she knew from experience that it was necessary to respect each person's time. When Paulina wanted to confide, Tábata would be ready to listen, but until then, she would ensure that Perez had someone to rely on, a friend willing to listen and help her navigate difficult paths.
"What do you plan to do from here on out?" Tábata asked after losing sight of them.
"I don't know..." She took a deep breath. "I don't feel like the person I was before working for Salvatore anymore. I don't know if I want to go back to being someone's housekeeper, sleeping in someone's house, taking care of their home, when..." She held back the urge to cry. "I always thought of this job as a stepping stone to the life I would have when I got married..."
"Oh, Lina!" Tábata lamented, holding Perez's hand in hers to convey strength and comfort.
"It's okay!" She assured, forcing a smile, even though her trembling lips couldn't sustain it for more than a few seconds. "I just need some time to adjust. But, I won't be a housekeeper anymore, even though it's the job I specialized in and it's all I know how to do," she said, discouraged. "Anyway, I have a good savings account, enough to not have to work for a while as I make my decision."
"If you don't mind me asking, and you don't have to answer: how much do you have?" Paulina spoke the amount, and Tábata was amazed.
"I didn't have many expenses in my old job, nor in the current one," Paulina explained. "I saved everything."
"With much less, my great-grandparents started the antique shop that is still a source of income for my family today," she commented, having an idea to motivate and help Paulina. "You can start your own business, maybe a bakery. The cakes you usually give me are divine."
"I don't know if I would like to work with that..."
"And what would you like to do?"
"During the time I worked in my former employer's house, I needed outsourced services and heard many complaints," she answered after thinking a little about the issue. "I always wanted to pay people who, like me, provide services better. Besides, I hated the way they treated me at the agency when I needed a new job, ignoring the courses I took and the years of work because of some kind of profile that they never explained to me why I don't fit in."
"Do that. Start your own outsourced services company," she encouraged. "You know a lot of people in the industry, don't you?"
"Some... But I don't know if they will accept it."
" With your experience, you can teach new employees," Tabata dismissed with a wave of her hand.
" It seems complicated."
" Taking care of someone's needs practically 24 hours a day seems much more difficult to me," Tabata muttered.
They heard Thiago shout something about how such a tiny being could produce so much poop. Both of them laughed, but they continued to sit in the living room talking.
"I mean, the fun part. I don't understand anything about companies, how to open one, manage it," Paulina explained, the idea attracting her while she encountered obstacles. "And I would need a place for the business."
"Lina, if I was able to take care of my family's store accounts, using my father's past experience passed down to his daughter, with your courses and mastery of the subject, I'm sure you will rock it!" Mamoru teased, realizing that even though Paulina was hesitant, she liked the idea. Her face had acquired a glimmer of hope, pushing away the signs of sadness from moments before. "As for the legal part, Guilherme can help you."
When Guilherme returned with a terrified Thiago and a dazed Henrique playing with Lean, Paulina hurried to ask for his help.
"Business?" The cousin looked at her intrigued.
"A small business of outsourced services," she said, feeling her cheeks turn red, a mixture of shyness and excitement. "Tabata suggested it, and I really liked the idea."
Guilherme watched her, realizing that the subject had pushed the melancholy from his cousin's face.
"Tell me more," he asked, willing to do whatever it took to make his cousin's plans a reality.