The confrontation

******Gentle trigger warning*****

Marilyn 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." Vanessa beamed as soon as Marilyn answered the video call.

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

Marilyn rolled her eyes. Trust Vanessa to tell it like it is.

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

"No." Vanessa 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."

Vanessa 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.

Marilyn's eyes widened in surprise. News really did travel fast nowadays. Her mother, Mrs. Appleby had practically adopted her best friend, especially after hearing that she had lost both her parents. Indeed, now Lyn and Ness were practically sisters.

"You know what? I know you...and I know that's reason for you looking like a panda, no offence," She heard her light skinned friend say, the words snapping her from her musings. "But my advice to you is, stop stressing yourself out… you tend to do that a lot as it is. You've got this. Alright?"

Marilyn nodded gratefully. She really needed that. As they continued to chat, Marilyn 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.

Vanessa placed her palms on a chest and with fake tears cooed loudly, "Aww, you guys are so cute, I should get going though; I don't want to make you late."

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

Now Vanessa didn't say this much, but Marilyn knew that the issue of childbirth had long been a problem for Vanessa and her husband, Michael. The couple had been trying since they got married fifteen years ago but to no avail. Vanessa 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— she was always those happy-go-lucky people who always seemed not to have a single problem in life.

But of course, there were days when she got in the doldrums so much that she suffered very severe depression and Marilyn tried as much as possible to be there for her best friend on those days, when it got too much and she broke down.

Marilyn headed downstairs to the kitchen where her mother and Isa were having breakfast. "Join us, Lyn." Mrs. Appleby beckoned with a wave but Marilyn 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 have given up by now."

Mrs. Appleby 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 Marilyn shared a giggle. Mama said this all the time but seemed to forget and always asked Marilyn to join her for breakfast again the very next day.

Marilyn observed her daughter subtly as she ate. The teenager seemed to be in a much better mood. She was almost herself, and for Marilyn that was great news. She waited for her daughter to finish her breakfast and when she went upstairs to get her school bag, Marilyn decided to hear her mum's plans for the day.

Mrs. Appleby rolled her eyes at her daughter's unending probing. "I'm an old woman, Lyn. 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. Marilyn 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… anything to make you stop bugging me already. You'd think I was rather the child." Mrs. Appleby grumbled. Marilyn laughed as she gave her mother a goodbye hug. "Yes mama, you're now my first born child." She teased. Isa came down just then, schoolbag in one hand, a couple of books in the other. "We can go now mummy. Bye grandma, don't miss me too much."

Mrs. Appleby only chuckled. "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 after promising to be good and keep her temper in check, she alighted and headed towards her class.

After Marilyn 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.

"Miss Appleby," The overweight man stood up in alarm. It was too early to have a parent in his office, especially one that was clearly very pissed off at him

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 the fact that it is really not my place to do something right now, 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.

Marilyn arrived at Appleby and Associates around 8:30 a.m. and she immediately handed the file she had been working on all night to her personal assistant.

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

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

Clara gasped. "Oh my God, was it Isa? Is she alright?"

"Oh yeah, yeah." Marilyn 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.

"Clara, please keep all calls coming in. I'm going to be here till three so, let's get busy."

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