"Hey... sorry I'm late." Louisa smiled apologetically at her best friend Naa Larley as she took her seat.

"I can't believe you ordered without me." It was their lunch break, and despite being very busy, successful women, with their own companies, they always met for lunch at their usual hangout, Jerry's...at least twice a week.

They had been doing this for almost ten years; you could even call it their thing now. There were sometimes hindrances, with the occasional lateness like today, but they never cancelled on each other.

Naa laughed. "When I called and you told me you were stuck in the lunch break traffic around the independence square...I thought you were going to break our ten year record finally; plus.. a girl's gotta eat."

Louisa shook her head playfully.

For the next hour, they filled each other up with gossip and long talk amidst good food and wine. Jerry's was truly the best.

Time ran out very fast and they soon had to go their separate ways. With a promise to call Naa as soon as she got back to the office, Louisa drove off.

She couldn't help reminiscing how she met Naa Larley. Most best friendships started out at high school usually with the most cliche introduction ever, but not theirs.

She was in the University of Ghana then at 18 years. A naive stupid girl who believed herself to be so in love with her boyfriend that she closed her eyes to all the signs showing how much of a lying, cheating bastard he was.

Naa Larley had been a victim of Charlie's unwanted advances and even though she didn't know Louisa personally, she had heard about her and felt it right to let her know what her beloved boyfriend was always up to behind her back.

Oh it had turned into a fight...a huge one. Louisa had been hysterical claiming Naa just wanted to come between a perfect love and Naa gracefully retreated. At least she had done her part.

The camel's back was broken when Louisa caught Charlie in bed with another woman and that was when the dirt washed out from her eyes. She had no friends...Charlie had been her everything to the annoyance of her once close friends. Only one person had cared to call her out on her bullshit. A perfect stranger.

That night, with no one to turn to...Louisa had found herself in front of Naa's door. She was going to knock but her courage left her all of a sudden. What she had done to the poor girl was so inexcusable that she didn't think she would be forgiven so easily. Hell, even she found what she had done unpardonable.

Just as she was about to leave, out stepped Naa Larley looking all dressed up.

One look at Louisa's face and she silently stretched out her arms and pulled the distressed girl in for a hug.

Louisa cried till she couldn't anymore and then passed out on Naa's bed.

The weeks that followed, saw Naa nursing Louisa back to health and by the time she had recovered, a beautiful friendship had formed.

A knock on Louisa's car window snapped her out of her reverie.

"Yes Boss....You make fine?" One security guard asked as soon as she rolled her glass down. It was then she realised she had arrived at her office.

She smiled. Yes Boss indeed. That name always got to her, as apparently, the position she held at work was initially one only held by men. It was like a dream, her very own paradise. Snapping out of her thoughts, she spoke out.

"Oh yes Baba. I was just thinking about something. I hope the family is doing great."

"Oh Madam yes oo...Walahi ebi God. Take care eh. Continue to make all the small girl pikins proud."

Louisa couldn't help but giggle as she shook her head. Baba always had this way of speaking with passion, and that always got to her, always making her laugh and inspired at the same time.

As she made her way to her office, she couldn't help but feel proud. She always felt this way when she took a look at her company. Mensah and Associates. This was her own toil and struggle. Her legacy for her sweet daughter. She had always felt within her that she couldn't work for someone. She was too damn proud and preferred to rather give out orders than take them. This was why she had quit her old job at the former law firm and started her own company of course with the help of Naa Larley.

It seemed she was in a very reflexive mood today. She mused as she climbed the final set of stairs leading to the top floor where her office was located. The partners were all in this section. With a curt smile on her face, she nodded at everyone till she got to her personal assistant's desk.

"Hey Akua, any messages for me?" She asked.

The young lady looked down for a moment.

"You have only one call from Isabel's school ma'am."

"Oh okay. Please send me the Ampiah-Kwofi file in about five minutes. Thanks."

Closing the door to her office quietly, Louisa kicked off her heels and slipped into a pair of slippers she kept for when she was indoors. After settling into the swivel chair and silently spinning for a few minutes, she grabbed the receiver and dialled her daughter's school, playing with her car keys as she waited for her call to be connected.

What could have happened now? She wondered. Isa was a good student. An excellent one to be specific. She only hoped it wasn't an accident or something health related.

Before she could stress herself out some more, her call was connected.

"Hello...this is Louisa Mensah. What's going on? Is my daughter okay?"

"Miss Mensah, you are to be present at the headmaster's office at 3 for a brief meeting concerning your daughter." Someone Louisa was assuming was the secretary replied.

"But is Isabel alright?" Louisa asked perplexed.

"Yes ma'am. It's not really a health related issue. Everything is alright."

The secretary's voice toned down into conspiratorial whisper. "Heads up, it's actually a minor issue, nothing to worry about. Well in my opinion."

Louisa sighed in relief. "Thank you very much then. I'll be there."

At thirteen and in junior high school, this was the first time Louisa was being summoned to her daughter's school for something that wasn't a general issue. Her baby was a good kid; never got into trouble, she really hoped it wasn't a serious problem.

She glanced at the wall clock in her office. It was 1:45 and she really had to leave if she wanted to be at the school on time. Mensah and Associates was located in the central business district of Accra and her daughter's school was all the way in Spintex. The drive would take about an hour...an hour and 15 minutes tops.

Slipping into her heels and grabbing her car keys and handbag, she stepped out of her office.

"Are you leaving ma'am? I was just about to send the file you requested for to your office." Her personal assistant stated as soon as she chanced on her boss.

"Yeah Akua. Isa's school wants me there for a meeting at three so I have to be on my way." She answered back.

"So should I keep them in your office so you can work on them tomorrow?"

"No, just send me a soft copy. I'll work on it from home." Louisa turned to leave but halted all of a sudden.

"Wait you know what? Just hand me the file. I'll take it with me."

After taking the file, Louisa glanced at her beautiful P.A furiously typing away and with a short laugh said, "Now busy bee...that's enough work for today. You can take the rest of the day off."

Akua's face lighted with a pretty smile. "Yes ma'am have a good day."

****

The headmaster dived into the matter after a brief greeting,

"Ma'am your daughter was involved in a fight and being a first time offender with good grades, I've decided to let it go. This isn't like her in the least and that's why I wanted to talk to you."

Louisa's eyes widened in disbelief. A fight? Her baby? This was unbelievable.

"Wait sir? Are you sure it's Isabel we're talking about here?"

"Yes ma'am. I even find it hard to believe myself. Is everything alright at home? Because violence usually stems from underlying problems....." The bald fat man began to sweat uncomfortably as he realised that he had probably said the wrong thing.

Louisa's lips pursed in anger. "Are you suggesting that I'm not raising my daughter right? Because if that's what you mean-"

"Pardon me madam. I didn't mean it that way." The poor man interrupted. He couldn't believe he had led himself into this. He had heard of Louisa Mensah's ruthlessness and for him to have stumbled into an argument with her especially on an issue concerning her only child was a very foolish thing to do.

"Please forgive me ma'am. You know what? Classes don't end till 4:30 but don't worry. You can take Isabel with you, I'll grant her early leave." He continued,

"Please forgive me for my comment. It was rude and unprofessional and it won't happen again."

Louisa threw the man a dirty look as she stood up. "It better not." She tossed over her shoulder as she made her way out of the office.

Seated in one of the chairs near the office was Isabel. The poor girl run towards her mother and threw her arms around her bursting into tears in the process.

"I'm so sorry mummy. I di...didn't mean to-"

"Shh. It's alright princess." Louisa interrupted.

"Let's get out of here."

****

It seemed the ice cream they had gotten from Pinkberry had cheered her daughter a little bit. The girl was feeling so bad that Louisa felt now wasn't the right time to talk about what had happened at school.

They were finally home, with home being a plush four bedroom house in one of the estates on the Spintex-Road.

Isa was upstairs doing her homework and Louisa was in the kitchen making dinner while having a serious discussion with her mother.

"But mama, do you think Isa's fight had something to do with me?"

Mrs. Mensah looked up in surprise, "Now honey, why would you think that?"

Louisa shrugged. The headmaster's comment had gotten to her more than she let on. She felt like her inability to spend more time with her little girl was causing her to act up. And she told her mum this.

"No Louisa....no I think you have it all wrong. Sit down with Isa, talk to her, I'm sure this isn't about you."

Louisa sighed. Her mum had a point.

They silently continued with preparations for dinner. Today, they were making banku and okro stew; Isa's favorite. Mrs. Mensah suggested it as soon as Louisa told her the news.

One would think that Isa was being over pampered especially for doing something wrong. But that wasn't the case. Her mother and grandma knew her and knew there had to be a justifiable reason for her fight. They could tell the fight had done a number on her, hence the desire to cheer her up.

They had an early dinner but it seemed Isa couldn't eat. She just picked at her food and this was really disturbing her mum.

After a while the teenager looked up from her food, "May I be excused? I'm okay and I want to go and continue with my homework."

Everyone nodded their consent and Isa retired to her room. The two ladies exchanged looks but no one said a word.

After dinner, Louisa did the dishes; her mum had retired to her room to make a call and Louisa thought it was the right moment to have a chat with her daughter.

"Hey....can I come in?" She asked after a knock and did when her daughter nodded in consent. Joining Isa on the bed, she tried to make herself comfortable as the young girl began her story.

"Okay mum...so I haven't told you this because I didn't want to seem petty and I was handling it just fine but since we were promoted to jhs 2, some of my mates began to bully me. They'd call me names and pull my hair and I always took it in silently. Two weeks ago, a new girl, Melissa transferred to our school and the name calling and bullying shifted from me to her just like that. She's overweight and likes to cry a lot so I guess they realised worrying her was more fun. I could handle me being bullied, but not someone who looked so vulnerable so I became her friend and tried to get them to back off a little and for a while it worked. But remember the week where I couldn't go to school because of grandpa's funeral?"

Louisa nodded.

"The bullying got so worse that when I went to school the following week, Mel told me she was having suicidal thoughts and I realised she needed help, so I went to see the headmaster and he said he'll need some more evidence but he warned the students off." She stood up all of a sudden in a hysterical mood.

"The bullying got worse Mum. I could see Mel shrinking into her shell each day and when Pamela made a crass comment about her this morning, I couldn't help but attack. God I was so angry!"

Louisa got up and pulled her daughter into a hug to calm her down a little.

"Go on honey." She said.

"Let it all out."

Isa, who had now come down a little continued, "Mr Phillips then called us to his office and later called you."

Louisa sat on the bed and pulled Isa into her arms. They were locked in an embrace for a long time before she spoke up, "I'm very sorry Isa. This is a very serious issue and I get that you were protecting your friend and that's commendable, jeez as your mum, I can't be anymore proud. But violence only makes matters worse honey. You did report the issue to Mr Phillips but when he didn't do anything, you should have seen someone else like m-"

"I know mum." Isa interrupted

"But Mel didn't want her parents to know and I didn't want to do anything that'd aggravate the situation. I knew you'd definitely tell them and I was afraid she'd feel betrayed and stop telling me stuff."

Louisa nodded, "You make a solid point Isa, but if you had laid your cards out like this honey, I'm not sure I would have told her parents. We would have worked it out. "

The duo were quite for a while till Isa spoke up. "I miss you mum. We barely have times like this anymore."

Louisa's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she whispered, "I miss this too honey. I promise we'll hang out more often."

She sat up on the bed, "You think you can get your friend over tomorrow? So I can talk to her."

Isa nodded. "She's already coming over tomorrow. We have an assignment to do so..."

Louisa smiled and stood up to cover her daughter with a blanket. "That's great love. Alright get some sleep now." She placed a kiss on the young girl's cheek and gave her a squeeze. "Remember honey, violence doesn't solve anything."

"Yes mum. I'll never forget." Isa replied as she gave a tired yawn.

Louisa smiled back and moved towards the switch to turn off the light but stopped when her daughter called out to her.

"Mum?"

"Yes honey?" She turned to looked at her child.

"I love you very much."

Louisa smiled and went over to Isa, gave her another hug and added a boop on her nose as a finishing touch.

"And I love you even more Princess."

Louisa yawned tiredly as she combed her hair. She hadn't been able to get much sleep last night; she had been angry as fuck. Suicide wasn't a small issue and she was really itching to sue foolish Mr. Phillips to the moon and back for being so stupid. She had a lot going on her mind right now but she couldn't really do much till she had spoken to Melissa.

She heard her phone ring and rushed to the bedroom to answer it.

"Hey girl." Naa Larley beamed as soon as Louisa answered the video call.

"Jesus, you look like shit even with the makeup, I wonder how you'd look without it then." Naa commented.

Louisa rolled her eyes. Trust Naa Larley to tell it like it is.

"Aren't you going to work today?" She asked.

"No." Naa responded.

"Remember the wedding in Kumasi I told you about? Well the engagement is on Friday so I have to be there today. I'm actually en route atm..I have like two hours to go."

Naa Larley was into event planning and she was damn good at it. She managed a lot of the famous events, and all her clients had nothing but positive feedback.

"I spoke to mama yesterday and she filled me in on what happened with Isa yesterday." She stated.

Louisa's eyes widened in surprise. News really did travel fast nowadays.

"You know what? I know you...and I know that's reason for you looking like a panda, no offence. But my advice to you is stop stressing yourself out, you tend to do that a lot. You've got this. Alright?"

Louisa nodded gratefully. She really needed that. As they continued to chat, Louisa heard a knock at her door.

"Mummy, I'm done so we can leave now if you are too." Isa yelled.

"Alright honey. Give me a minute, I'll be down soon" She yelled back.

Naa Larley placed her palms on a chest and with fake tears uttered, "You guys are so cute, I should get going though; I don't want to make you late."

Louisa nodded. "Alright. Call me when you get to Kumasi." She hanged up right after.

Louisa knew the issue of childbirth had been a problem for Naa Larley and her husband, Michael. The couple had been trying since they got married fifteen years ago but to no avail. Naa was bothered than she cared to let on but you wouldn't really notice since she wasn't the type to wear her heart on her sleeve- and Louisa tried as much as possible to be there for her best friend whenever it got too much and she broke down.

Louisa headed downstairs to the kitchen where mama and Isa were having breakfast. "Join us Louisa. " mama beckoned with a wave but Louisa just laughed. "I don't know why you keep asking, mama. You always do and I always tell you I'm not hungry; you should give up by now."

Mrs Mensah threw her daughter a dirty look "You think skipping breakfast is a good thing, eh? Go ahead. It's your health not mine."

Isa and Louisa giggled. Mama said this all the time but seemed to forget and always asked Louisa to join her for breakfast the very next day.

Louisa glanced at her daughter. The teenager was in a much better mood. She was almost herself, and for Louisa that was great news. She waited for her daughter to finish her breakfast and when she went upstairs to get her school bag, Louisa decided to hear her mum's plans for the day.

Mrs. Mensah rolled her eyes. "I'm a big girl Lou. All you have to know is that I'm not going to be staying at home if that's what is bothering you."

Her mum was right.Louisa was worried. Ever since she lost her dad, her mum was all she had and she had become very protective of the old woman. She tried as much as possible to subtly and full on encourage her to go out more often as loneliness bred sorrow.

"Alright mum, you can do whatever you want. Just don't go out without the driver okay?" She pleaded. "Alright alright. Jeez you'd think I was rather the child." Mrs. Mensah grumbled. Louisa laughed and gave her mother a hug. "Yes mama, you're now my first born child." She teased.

Just then Isa came down. "We can go now mummy. Bye grandma, don't miss me too much."

Mrs Mensah laughed. "Sure thing baby."

*****

The drive to East Airport International School took about 20 minutes. The duo always left home before 6:30 in order to beat the morning traffic.

Isabel gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and promising to be good and keep her temper in check, she alighted and headed towards her class.

After Louisa was sure her daughter had disappeared, she got down, locked her car and headed towards the headmaster's office. The secretary was nowhere to be found but a knock at his door told her he was in.

Skipping all formalities, she went straight to the point. "You know Mr Phillips, my daughter told me everything and to be honest, although I don't condone violence, I must admit I could never be more proud. At least she's got more balls than you could ever dream of. Suicide! Mr Phillips, Suicide. I don't think you realise the gravity of the situation, because if you did, you'd have done something about it." She paced across the room waiting to hear him say something but he never did and this infuriated her further.

"Everything in me is itching to have you sued but I understand the situation and that's the only reason why I'm not doing anything rash but trust me, you'll hear from me soon." With that, she walked out of the office.

She arrived at Mensah and Associates around 8:30 and she immediately handed the file she was working on to her personal assistant.

Akua was surprised. "How were you able to finish working on it? You either have superpowers or you did not get any sleep last night."

Louisa laughed. "Definitely the latter Akua, because if I had super powers, the world would be a better place. "

Akua gasped. "Oh my God, is it Isa? Is she alright?"

"Oh yeah yeah." Louisa calmed her down. "She got into a fight but fortunately no one was hurt." She turned to leave for her office but seemed to have remembered something and came back.

"Akua, please keep all calls coming in. I'm going to be here till three so..."

Akua beamed and nodded in mock salute. " Yes ma'am."