"Hurry up Isa, else you're going to be late." Louisa shouted from the kitchen. For the first time in a long time, she was having a morning meal... a cup of coffee and some bread and scrambled eggs, at home. She had woken up very early today, so she had a lot of time on her hands and could even manage some breakfast.

Mrs. Mensah sat at the table across from her, a pleased look on her face. Louisa could tell it was definitely because she was eating breakfast, so she decided to pretend to not have noticed the look on her mother's face.

"You were up very early today." She heard her mother say as she fetched a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.
Louisa chewed slowly to delay her reply but eventually had to when everything was swallowed.
"I couldn't sleep Mama, I guess it's just work stress... nothing to worry about."

Mrs. Mensah gave her daughter a look that clearly said she didn't buy the lie she was selling but made no comment. Instead, she said. "Well, I have my annual check up today and I don't know if I'll be out in time for when Isa comes home."

Louisa pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought of what to do. She could get the driver to bring her daughter home after school but she wasn't really comfortable with the idea of leaving her all alone in the house.
"That's alright, Mama. I'll get Jake to pick her up. He can drop her off at the office and then she'd come home with me when I close from work." She suggested. Mrs. Mensah agreed. There was honestly no other alternative.

"Morning mum, morning grandma." Isa greeted as she sat down to her breakfast of tea, bread and scrambled eggs. Her grandma filled her in on the situation and the adults shook their heads at her childish reaction. You see, Isabel loved her mother's workplace but didn't get to go there often. The thing was, Louisa didn't want her daughter there a lot because she was scared that Isabel would receive negative attention. A lot of people didn't know she had a daughter, and it was best that way. The life of a lawyer was usually one of constant fear as many enemies were made in the dispensation of justice and Louisa didn't want her daughter to come to any harm.
But then, all that aside, she loved having her daughter over at the office. Her excitement was simply, contagious.

"We should get going Mum... I'm done with breakfast." Isabel declared rousing her mother from her thoughts.

They both grabbed their stuff, with Isa heading outside after a loud, "Bye grandma."

Louisa turned to look at her mother. "You know I'd have loved to go with you to the hospital Mama-"
She paused for a moment when her mother rolled her eyes.

"Promise you'll call me in case of anything alright?" She pressed on.

"It's just check up Louisa... No big deal, I honestly don't know why you're fussing." Mrs. Mensah retorted as she cleared the table and proceeded to the sink to wash the dishes.

Louisa insisted. "Still Ma, call me. I'll see you in the evening." She leaned in to give her mother a kiss on the forehead and headed out.

○●○●○●○
"How long are you going to stay in bed crying for this man?" Reggie's mum, Mrs. Aryee asked for what felt like the thousandth time. Her daughter had come over to her house Monday evening with tears running down her face and as a mother she had duly consoled her child but she had had enough. A whole week! Her daughter barely spoke, ate or took a shower.

"Leave me alone mum. I want to be alone." Reggie managed.

"No. No I won't child. This has gone on for far too long it needs to end now. Get up, get into the shower and take a bath, the whole room smells like a rubbish dump." Mrs. Aryee quipped.

Regina realised then that her mum meant business... She wasn't going to get any more sympathy from her so she begrudgingly got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
After a long, soothing shower, she almost felt like herself once more. Her mother had cleaned and aired the room and a hot plate of jollof rice and chicken sat waiting on the bedside table.
Reggie sat down and dug in with relish, her mother looking on with pride.

"You know what, mum?" Reggie asked after she finished her meal.
Her mother nodded in the negative.

"I'm done crying. I'm not going to sit there and watch William move on like I meant nothing to him." She declared.

"He has found another woman, Mum. I can feel it."

"How do you know, Reggie?" Her mother asked. "For all you know, he's perhaps stressed with work or maybe having cold feet."

Reggie shook her head adamantly. "You may have a point mum. But my intuition is telling me there's another woman involved, and you know it's seldom wrong. I really hope you're right for his sake, because if I am, he is going to pay... all of them will pay, then I'll have him all to myself again." She concluded menacingly.

●○●○●○●
Chris walked out of the elevator with a determined look on his face. Dressed in a black suit, he looked impeccable as usual.
He glanced at the assistant and asked. "Is William in yet?"
The receptionist's nod of affirmation was all the confirmation he needed. Heading towards said person's office, he barged in without knocking.

William looked up in alarm. "What the hell man, you scared the shit out of me."

Chris clenched his fists angrily. "Well I haven't really started. What was yesterday night about? You really disrespected Louisa man. And you ruined our date."

William sighed. He had been feeling bad about it throughout the night. Jealous mainly, yes but guilty as well.
He had promised himself that he was going to stay away and give Louisa the space to move on, but he couldn't do it. He needed her... He loved her.

He stood up from his chair and went to lean on the desk with his arms folded, muscles bulging out but the dejected look on his face made Chris pause.
"I'm really sorry Chris." He heard William say.

"Well I'm not the one you should be saying that to man." He bit back less harshly but still with enough edge.

"I know, I know." William continued. "But I owe you an apology too, I ruined your date. The thing is, Reggie and I broke up and my head is all over the place."

Chris's eyes widened in disbelief. "Shit. What did you do man? Did you cheat on her?"

William started pacing. "No Chris... No. You know, I have something to tell you. I snapped yesterday because the woman I've been talking about... the woman I left to keep safe, is Louisa."

Chris paled. He couldn't believe his ears. Reaching out for a chair, he managed to sit down abruptly. He was sure he would have passed out from the shock. William had told him about that woman... the woman he had left. Told him about how much he still loved her and how he was sure she had moved on and didn't want to find her and have his heart broken again. Looking at his friend now, he could sympathise with him, but not for long. He loved Louisa too and was going to do everything in his power to have her.

"William, I have fallen in love with Louisa too and trust me when I say that even though I understand how you felt... How you feel, I'm not giving her up. I am going to fight for her love, even if it means going against you." He concluded sadly.

William grimly nodded. "I understand my friend." He watched as Chris got to his feet and the duo engaged in a battle of stares.

A challenging glint appeared in both eyes, and as arms entangled in a bro hug, whispers of "May the best man win" simultaneously echoed in the exquisite office.

●○●○●○●
"I'll be right back Isabel... just got to see this client, then we can go home."
Louisa assured.

Her daughter sat on her chair and seemed really happy feeling the seat out, Louisa found it hilarious really.
She watched as her daughter nodded in understanding, a glass of juice in one hand, her mobile phone in the other.

"Don't touch anything... well you can just watch tv or use your phone or whatever. I'll be back in a jiff." Louisa added as she stepped out of her office and headed for the conference room.

Isabel looked around in fascination for like the fifth time. Her mother had had some renovations done in the office and the final detail was simply eye-catching.  She leaned in and reached out for the remote to turn on the flat screen t.v., then changed her mind all of a sudden. Isabel stood up and headed for the door.
She had to do something important first.

☆☆
The meeting ended sooner than Louisa had anticipated. She quickly rushed to her office.

"See, I told you I wouldn't be long." She breathed out as she shut the door close.

"Well if I knew you were expecting me, I would have come way earlier." She heard a deep voice reply behind her. Louisa froze in shock.
No. No. This can't be happening. She thought frantically as she slowly turned to face the voice.
William stood calmly leaning against her desk, hands on his waist, bluish-grey eyes looking deep into hers.

"What are you doing here William? And who let you in?"
There was no sign of Isabel in the office and Louisa quickly brushed past him to check if she was in her private bathroom. She wasn't.

"Your assistant-"

"Did you see anyone here when you got in?" She cut him off rudely.
William shook his head in the negative and continued. "As I was saying before you rudely interrupted. Your assistant wasn't at her desk, and your office was unlocked. I figured I'll stay and wait for you for a while... and well here you are."

Louisa began to pace. "Well what brings you here. Hurry up and get on with it, I don't have all day."

William pursed his lips in slight irritation, face down as he carefully thought of what to say. Truth was, he was here based purely on adrenaline, he had made up his mind to come tell her why he had left, and hopefully have her in his arms at the end of the speech but he had failed to take her coldness towards him into consideration. He took in a deep breath.
"Well... I came to apologise for my behaviour yesterday Louisa.  It was extremely churlish of me, and I want you to know that it will never happen again."

Louisa looked at him for a moment, feelings racing through her in changing spurts. She sighed. "It's alright. You're forgiven. If that's why you came over, well you can leave now." Her eyes widened as William closed the distance between them and took her hands in his.

"That's not all Louisa. I... I can't stay away from you, I'm still in love with you... after all these years, you're all I can think about." He admitted as his forehead touched hers in silent surrender.

"But you're engaged to be married Will. You were the one who left without so much as a goodbye." Louisa whispered, eyes tightly shut to keep the tears locked in.

William restlessly grabbed her shoulders. "But I'm no longer engaged Lou. I broke off things with Reggie. I just want you to hear me out now on why I left."
His forehead touched hers again in desperation, hands reaching out to caress her soft cheeks.
"Please... hear me out. I beg you Louisa." He whispered against her lips, almost leaning in to begin the ancient old dance of love and acceptance, but the opening door broke them apart and destroyed whatever connection had been established.

"M-mum, what is going on?"

Isabel stood looking on in shock and confusion, french fries in one hand, popcorn in the other.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the cliffhanger😂😂😉.
Please vote and comment.
Till next time,
Gladys.♥️