" Mummy where have you been, I have been waiting for you since when I came back." Isabella pouted.
" I'm sorry I kept you waiting, look, mummy made another book for you." Stella smiled as she reached into her bag and brought out a newly made book.
Isabella smiled as Stella opened the front page and showed her an illustration of her and Isabella walking together in a beautiful garden.
" Thank you mummy." Isabella said as she took the book and ran to meet Genevieve. It was like as if what happened that day made their bond stronger because Isabella was now clingy and always wanted to be with her.
She felt sad for her daughter.
After greeting everybody, Stella walked into her room. After washing up, she sat on the dinning table as Genevieve and Mira started serving the food.
Stella chatted with Mira and Genevieve about adult stuffs while Drake and Isabella read the book Stella made.
It was already bed time so Stella took Isabella to her room. After reading her bedtime stories, Isabella fell asleep. Stella tucked her in and planted a kiss on her forehead before silently walking towards her study table.
She was quietly arranging the books on the table when a paper slid out of one of her textbook.
Stella bent down and picked it up. When she looked at what was on the paper, her eyes became wet with tears.
It was a drawing of three people. A big man, a small woman and a little child in the middle. They all had smiles on their faces and they looked like a happy family.
The three words DAD, ME AND MUMMY was written above their head. There was a note written at the back of the paper.
" Daddy, I don't know what your reason was for leaving us but please come back. Mummy works hard everyday to make sure that I'm happy but I don't like seeing her like that. She has gone through alot and has suffered alot for me. I don't want only her to bear the burden alone. Don't you know your daughter misses you everyday. I feel sad when I see my friends father coming to pick them but you never came to pick me from school. You never read me bedtime stories and you never gave me goodnight kisses. They are lots of things you never did. Do you want to abandon I and mummy forever. Mummy already hates you and I can tell. Whenever you are mentioned, she gets angry and emotional, please daddy, come back, if you do I'll help you persuade mummy to accept you back. I miss you daddy and I want us to be a happy family. Please come back."
Stella could see dried tears on the paper, that meant Isabella cried when she was writing it.
The tears Stella had been trying to hold in couldn't be held any longer. She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to flow.
She didn't know the pain Isabella had been feeling until now. She thought about Reagan. Should she accept Reagan's proposal. What if he finds out that she had already been taken years ago, will he still want her. Will he see her as a filthy and dirty person.
No, she shouldn't accept to avoid this embarrassment. She wasn't even up to his standard, she will only make a fool of herself if someone found out about her past history and expose it to the world.
All the hope Stella had was nowhere to be found. She glanced at Isabella who laid on her bed with her eyes closed. Her heart ached as she pushed the paper back into the textbook then walked out of the room and went to hers.
She should avoid him for now to avoid their boss and employee's relationship from going to another level. The next time she sees him, she will confess and tell him that her innocence has already been taken, maybe he will lose hope on her.
Stella wiped her tears with her hand as she walked into her room. She sat on her bed and couldn't fall asleep.
When she thought of how she was going to break this news to her boss, her heart ached the more. She suddenly didn't feel like telling him anymore. She didn't want to ruin their relationship. She missed being in his embrace, she missed resting her head on his sturdy chest and cuddling him. She missed his strong hands being around her waist.
Even if they had only hugged each other once, it was an event Stella will never forget. What had he done to her that made her not to have the courage to break up with him.
Stella laid flat on her bed and closed her eyes before eventually falling asleep.
The sweet melody of the birds woke Stella who had been smiling in her dream the whole night. She had a good dream and she wished for the sun to go down again so she could continue with her dream.
In her dream, she had a complete family. She, Isabella and a man. What made her enjoy her dream the more was because Reagan was the man.
She felt that her dream was a little complicated at the beginning because before Isabella was given birth to in her dream, she slept with Reagan.
The dream continued as they lived a happy life together.
When Stella woke up, she felt motivated to go and accept his proposal but when she remembered that it was a dream, her motivation disappeared.
She got up and walked into Isabella's room. She will start paying more attention to her so she wouldn't be sad.
" Isabella, time for school, wake up, it's mummy." Stella said as she opened her wardrobe and brought out her uniform.
Isabella opened her eyes after she heard Stella's voice.
" Good morning mummy." She greeted.
" Good morning darling, come, I'll bath you today so grandma can rest." Stella said as she picked her towel and led her into the bathroom.
After bathing her, Stella applied her body cream on her before wearing her her undies and uniform. Isabella said she could wear her socks and shoes by herself so Stella let her do it while she went to get ready for work.
They all had breakfast before going their separate ways. Stella dropped Isabella at school then went to work.
She over heard some female workers talking when she went to get tea from the coffee room. She could pick out two voices she heard and they were Sonia and Nikki's.
" Didn't you guys hear that the big boss birthday is approaching. It's going to be grand, I hope I get invited."
" Me too, I heard you get invited if the boss wants you to attend, that's why I have been trying to leave a good impression of myself." Nikki said.
" Trisha was lucky the last time. The boss invited her but I'll see if she will be invited this time after her scandal with the security guard was exposed." Sonia scoffed.
Nikki saw Stella in front of them and yelled, "I'm sure Stella is going to be invited, there's obviously something going on that we all don't know about." Nikki shouted, making everybody turn and look at Stella.
" Yes, didn't you all see the last time when the big boss came for inspection, why wasn't she fired, she clearly had lots of fault but the boss left her." Another one said.
" Tell us Stella, what's going on?"
Stella was tired of their nonsense so she decided to threaten them. "Yes, there's something going on between us, do you have a problem with that, is it my fault that you were too stupid that made the boss not to even glance at you for half a second, let me tell you, if you think you can gang up against me and bully me, consider losing your jobs and having to leave on the streets before you carry out your plan because if I lay one complain about you to the boss, you will wish that you had the power to go back in time and apologize to me." Stella said. After that she picked her tea then walked out of the coffee room.
" You think you can threaten me right, watch and see how the boss will dump you after I tell him that you are no longer pure and innocent." Nikki gritted her teeth in anger.
" What's wrong with you Nikki, have you forgotten that you could have lost your job if Stella hadn't gone to plead for us." Linda asked.
" Whatever Linda, besides I didn't ask her to beg for me, you did." Nikki said then walked away.
Linda shook her head. She should stop following this girl and follow Stella instead.
Stella dropped her tea on the table and got to work. She accessed all the files that were on her table and also took some to the printing room. She also had some orders to complete in the electronic publishing department so she went there after she rounded up.
She wrote different articles, e-magazine and also photocopied some documents.
From time to time, documents from the Brighton's co-operation and other Brighton's subsidiaries were sent to them for photocopying, processing, analysing and other things.
Some months from now they will become the main publishing company for the Brighton's co-operation. Who made this decision, who else could make this decision if not Reagan.
The name was now changed to Brighton's Publishing Company.
Reagan made this decision so he could go to the company anytime and who was he looking for if not Stella.
When Stella got off work, she went to say goodbye to Clara before hailing a taxi to Brighton's Academy.
When she got to the gate, she met a new security guard who denied her access to Isabella.
" Ma'am who are you here for?" The guard asked.
" I'm here to pick my daughter, Isabella, that's her name." Stella said.
The two new guards looked at each other. "I know we are new here, the school system has a list of everybody who comes to pick children from this school. We have gone through them so let me show you what's here." The security guard said as he typed Isabella's name on his keyboard. Mira, Drake and Genevieve's photo showed but Stella's own didn't.
There was another picture there. "Click on the last picture, that has to be my own." Stella said.
The security guard clicked on it and the picture that came in sight almost made Stella lose balance. It was Sophia's picture.
" Why is her picture there instead of mine?" Stella asked the guard.
" This woman has been coming to see Isabella through out this week, I thought she was her mother so I allowed her in, she even wanted to take her outside the school one day but it's against the school rules so I didn't allow her, do you know her?" The guard asked.
Stella's body became weak. Why was Sophia coming to see Isabella behind her back. What was she trying to do and why didn't Isabella say anything. Mrs Noel, she must be a part of this if not she could have contacted her and told her that an unknown woman had been coming to see Isabella.
" Please, allow me in, I need to check on my daughter." Stella pleaded.
" We are sorry ma'am, we cannot allow you in, stand in front of the face recognition, if it shows green then it means the system recognized you as a frequent visitor so you will be granted access to your daughter." The security guard said as he turned on the machine.
This was how tight security was for Brighton's Academy. Your face needs to be scanned to see if you have been coming before, if you are a new person, you access to the child will be denied so the only way you can access the child is to call the person who had been picking them before. Well what can I say, the boss loves children so he will do anything to keep them safe and secured.