Bounded Souls

11.

The neighbourhood was extremely quiet and so was the house. The only person that seemed to be awake was Solana. She sat up against her headboard with her brown eyes fixated on the TV. A smirk displayed on her lips as she watched reruns of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

It didn't matter how many times she watched that show she would never get enough of it. Of course the older seasons were better than the newer ones, but it was still comedic and entertaining, nonetheless.

She patted the sheet mask on her face and looked down at her phone to see she had it on for ten minutes. Slowly, Solana peeled off the mask and wiped the remaining savory goodness across her face. The last thing she wanted to do was waste good products.

Her fingers tapped it lightly into her skin until it was a bit damp. She then started her skincare routine.

Once she was done, she headed down the stairs. The scent of sweet hot chocolate brought a smile to her face. Her favourite thing in the world.

"Finally, you're home. I didn't know grandma made some hot-"

Slowly, her smile turned into a frown when she entered the kitchen and noticed her grandmother standing in the kitchen. Her back was facing her as the woman placed a pill in her mouth and washed it down with some water.

Grandma Viv turned around and smiled at her granddaughter standing before her in her matching silk pyjamas. She wouldn't be surprised if the silk were real. Solana always wanted the best of everything.

"It's just some vitamins. I'm fine,"she assured her.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

Although they had a rocky relationship, Solana was beginning to realize that her grandmother was truly the only person that she had. She wasn't that close to her fathers side of the family, she barely even knew her father. He was too focused on the materialistic parts of the world to realize that he has another part of him now. It would be too awkward and out of place if they even built a relationship now.

Her mothers side of the family didn't respect her mother, therefore she wanted no parts of any kind of relationship with them. All she had was the woman that raised her.

Solana didn't know what she'd do if she lost her grandmother.

"I see Sherrie ain't coming home tonight...again."

"I don't know," Solana raised her hands up in surrender. "I thought she was upstairs."

She wasn't a snitch.

"Mhmm."

"What are you doing up so late?"

"Just watching some shows. It seems like this is the only downtime that I can get." Solana ran her hands over her face and shook her head.

Running a business was hard and she still didn't know if it was worth it. All that came from it was exhaustion, overthinking and the consistent efforts of trying to avoid her childhood best friend at all costs.

"It happens, but it'll all pay off when you're doing what you love."

"I don't love the business side of it." She scoffed.

Vivian shook her head and rested her hand onto Solana's.

"That's because you're only focusing on the business side. You can get in the kitchen with them. Use this kitchen, make some new recipes, add onto the old ones. Get that flame again." She ordered. "Not only did I give you this business because I knew that you would uphold and do better than me, but I don't want you settling as your boyfriend's assistant. You're better than that, you're more talented than that."