Chapter 130 - Only Human

"This food is delicious Dean!" The soup was nice and warm and creamy. The bread too was nice and crunchy on the outside while light and soft on the inside. Overall, a well prepared meal.

"I knew you that you would like it. You tend to prefer comfort styles of food." The morning we left for work was generally uneventful. I did not go to the office and instead went straight to the exhibit.

All we did was go over what I missed in the past couple of weeks and head to the back rooms to begin working. It was a paperwork and archive day, where we would just do paperwork and mark the installations that were to be archived. We instilled a protocol to run inventory checks every night after close but now since some pieces were changing we needed to see which pieces were to be sent back to the artist or which ones would be moved to auction for a later date. 

I also had to decide what to do with the wedding dress. I had an option to switch the piece or make room for another. Now that my jewelry collection was released with no issues, I figured removing the piece to add into the vault would be a good move. 

However the logistics for removal required time and coordination. We needed to come up with the deadlines for packaging as well as coordination for the trucks which will come in to take everything to their proper storage container until it is sent away. 

So after going over the archive allowed for us to determine when the best windows of time we had and get the teams on it. It was a lot of paperwork so by lunchtime I was ready to eat.

The lunch Dean prepared did not take long and hit the spot well. However our meal was interrupted by my secretary giving me a call. She was holding down the fort back at my office and she never called unless it was something that required my attention.

"Hello?" I moved to stand up but Dean waved me to take a seat instead. "Sorry to call during your break but something urgent came up. Miss Sol Banks arrived at the front desk claiming to have an appointment. She left after seeing she could not enter."

She is tenacious that one. However a creeping anxiety started to bleed into me. 'I know Toni, she is vicious when things do not go her way, especially behind closed doors. What if she was in a dangerous situation?'

Dean must have read my face and understood my thoughts as his eyes gave me a warning look. 'Don't overthink.' I scratched my eyebrow and bit my thumbnail. "I see, keep me updated if she returns. Thank you see you later."

I hung up but still did not feel good. "Princess I can already see the gears turning in your head and I bet it is nothing serious. If it was, she would have called the police or straight up just leave. She is not bound to them, if Toni Carter wanted her gone you know very well she would have done it."

That was the ugly thing about those of us who had money. The less glamorous things in the world were also within reach and easily hidden again with the right price.

The Carters have not done anything like that at least publicly but they too had access if they wanted to. 

"I know that logically but I guess it feels different being on the other side of it now. The fault in knowledge. I know how Toni is like and because I do, it makes me feel bad." They say ignorance is bliss and I fully understand that ideology. If I never got with Felix and had to learn how to please his family then maybe I would not be caring about her the way I am now. But it is because I do that her cry for help stings a bit in my heart.

Toni never went super far in her treatment with me since I am ranked leagues above her. She should have had to curry favor with me logically, but in reality she managed to make it so I had to curry favor to her.

So I can only imagine what someone like Sol, who has no backing like I did, is experiencing at the moment behind closed door. I did not really think about it until now that she is making multiple attempts to reach out. Someone who is as prideful as her I doubt would do. 

"I know you are worried, but consider this. If you give in and see her what then? You already set up that boundary with her, but by letting her push it you put yourself at risk. She has shown time and time again how little she values you. That you were simply in her way of the things she wants. Why does she deserve your sympathy or kindness?"

His words sank deeply into my soul. It was true. I always thought I was good at keeping my guard up but somehow those two manage to get me caught off guard. Left to not know what step is the right one to take. 

Dean grabbed my hand from across the table and rubbed his thumb soothingly across my knuckles. "You are a very good person and I know it will be easier said than done but Sol has people. She may not have money but people around her she does have. Also as much as I don't like him, Felix loves Sol. I doubt he would leave her hanging."

That was true. Unlike myself whom he felt could fend alone, he helped Sol whenever he could. I just had to trust that everything was going to be ok. "Thanks. Gosh I don't know why I let them crawl under my skin and affect me in such a way."

I felt embarrassed admitting it but before him I knew he would not judge me. "We are only human and within our nature. So breathe and let it go, trust that the dust will settle once more. Now, lets finish eating ok? We still have the rest of the day to go."