Today was not supposed to be a good day for Sara. After her exit from the company yesterday, she had gone home and locked herself in her apartment to wallow in her self-pity. Life was being terribly unfair by letting her cross paths with Lucas again, she thought in indignation.

A knock sounded on her door forcing her to peer open her eyes. She closed them for a minute allowing her senses to get used to the environment. A few minutes later and she was forced to grumble out from her bed at the persistent knocking on her door. She already knew who it could be, as Juliet couldn't seem to keep her out of her school runs since beginning of the school session September last year. She hadn't shown up for this term yet, but most schools only resumed from their Christmas break just last week.

She opened the door to find a disheveled looking woman in her late twenties pulling a tired looking five year old girl in pigtails into her apartment. It was obviously one of those mornings.

"What happened now?" Came Sara's sarcastic query.

"The alarm didn't wake us up. I'm furious!" Juliet yelled, storming into the place like she owned it.

"Really?" Juliet or Jules as she preferred to be called was never one to obey an alarm clock. Not a morning person by nature and being a single mom didn't help her situation. And for the past few weeks, Sara had been her saving grace.

"Mommy is angry. I think she's going to get flogged by her boss," explained Harmony in a fearful tone.

Sara grinned and gave her a conspirational wink. "I think so too. That's what you get for being late."

Jules ran into her room in a hurry trying to fix her necklace. She was late and couldn't afford a query from her boss yet again. God knew her daughter's education couldn't. Impatiently, she pulled open the first drawer underneath the mirror searching for a hair brush.

"Sara, where's your hair brush? It's urgent," she cried, while reaching on top the wardrobe for Sara's nude pump. Perks of having the same shoe size.

"In the drawer, under the mirror, as it should be, Jules," she yelled back, coming to stand by her bedroom door.

"My pumps again?" She quizzed when she saw Jules pulling them on her feet.

"I'm desperate and I'm sorry," Jules replied, and Sara knew she was apologizing for something else entirely. Done with her hair brushing, she stood in front of the standing mirror in the room to admire herself. Satisfied with her corporate look, she asked.

"How do I look?"

Sara eyed her fully, taking in her neighbor's tanned coffee coloured skin. On her head was a full black crotchet braids that fitted her perfectly. She had bright brown eyes, a pointed nose and full bottom lips darkened by ruby red lipstick. Jules was slender and curvy and looked very graceful in her black gown and Sara's nude pumps. Jules was the total package especially when she was in a good mood, which wasn't today, however. So it was best not to get on her bad side.

She sighed and mumbled out a question instead. "Like you woke up on the wrong side of bed?"

"I will strangle that whore if she dare say anything to me today," Jules stated, fuming at the thought of her supervisor. It was obvious the two women clashed daily at work.

Grabbing the nude tote bag she had dropped on the bed earlier, she came to hold Sara by her arms.

"You know the drill, don't you? Don't be angry at this mother who is a walking time-bomb. I can't ever be early even if my life depended on it," Jules pleaded, giving Sara the puppy face.

Sara sighed visibly and relaxed her shoulders. "You owe me."

"You're practically going to leave me without kobo once I start paying my wages you know."

She smiled at that, shaking her head. "I'm sure it would cost you less if you hired me as your nanny."

Jules tilted her head as though in deep thought. "I'll definitely think about it."

Rushing into the sitting room, where Harmony was already glued to the Nickelodeon channel, she rattled off instructions.

"I had her enrolled in that new private school, Graceland, because of the distance. She has resumed for her second term into primary one yesterday being Monday. She knows her class already. Her school pass is in her bag and her teacher is Miss Ujah. She's young and nice... "

"And real pretty!" Exclaimed Harmony from the sofa suddenly.

Jules eyed her daughter before continuing. "Yes she is. A complete distraction for the men, if you ask me. Please make sure to hand her over to her teacher for attendance. And that's that."

"You forgot the part where I'm supposed to pick her up from school too," Sara pointed out, giving her a knowing glare.

Jules swallowed visibly. Glancing at her wrist watch, she spluttered. "Will you look at the time? I'm late. Gotta run. Bye Harmony, bye Sara."

"Bye mommy," Harmony returned, barely taking her eyes off the television. And she was out the door in a flash.

Sara rolled her eyes at the action and turned to Harmony. "We have barely fifteen minutes before we have to go, so please make yourself at home."

Thirty minutes later, Sara and Harmony climbed down from the commercial bus plying the Lekki-Epe expressway, as they strolled to the gates of Graceland Private Schools. Sara was dressed in blue skinny jeans and an Ankara off-shoulder top while Harmony was garbed in a grey checkered pinafore with white shirt and wore white socks with black sandals. Boys were dressed similarly except instead of a pinafores, wore shorts of the same material. For some ostentatious reasons, people on the Lagos islands like Lekki preferred enrolling their children in expensive prestigious schools to show they belonged and the slums kept to themselves and the local schools, helping the divide between the social classes. She knew without a doubt that if she was still married, their son would be in the best schools in Lagos, probably the Lekki British School. Graceland was high up on the ladder but the former was better and definitely for the exclusively rich.

Harmony was chatting about her favorite cartoon, SpongeBob Squarepants as they walked into the school. Cars upon cars of model price, indicating the average population rolled into the driveway of the school, dropping off various kids who scrambled their way to their friends or classes.

Today was Tuesday and to Sara's surprise, Harmony had already made a friend with a boy she liked, a boy she said had been recently transferred to their school like she did. She was being tight-lipped on the name though and Sara couldn't help but wonder who the charming boy was. Soon, they got to her class, and met with Miss Ujah who was really pretty just as Harmony had commented and Jules' comment had a smile plastered on Sara's face. Miss Ujah was definitely going to be a distraction.

Soon though, a boy strolled into the class chatting about his morning to the man who walked in with him. She would have thought nothing of it if the boy hadn't paused mid conversation to call out to her ward.

"Harmony!"

Sara watched in astonishment as Harmony disentangled herself and strolled to go stand in front of the boy. He grinned at her as he pulled out a lollipop from his bag and held it out to her. Her favorite, obviously. She smiled shyly as she accepted it. Then they linked hands together.

Sara smiled, but the smile was instantly wiped off her face when the man turned to the teacher and said.

"Fredrick Lucas Caspian-Asiegbu. Where do I sign, please?"

Sara could barely breathe as she turned her gaze from the man to stare at the little boy who was still charming his way into Harmony's heart with goodies from his bag. How is this possible? She wondered briefly. Why would he choose to send his son to a common school? Somehow, she never dreamed a common private school was even his thing but he had enrolled his son here?

She took her time to study the boy, but soon realized there really was no need. He was a miniature version of his father with the same curly afro hair and hazel-brown eyes. There was nothing to even point as a reminder of his mother, and then she wondered what he had been told about his mother. The man himself had insulted her at his party, so she hardly hoped he was all good stories and talks about her to his son. And that suddenly made her very angry.

It was so unfair, she thought nearly choking on her anger, that after everything he did, he still managed to look like the victim, that despite the fact he had pulled them out of poverty, they still managed to find themselves plunging neck deep into it, and that after everything he was the one who had her son. She felt like crying out at the injustice of it all. But she didn't, because children were now tripping into the classroom in groups, as well as their guardians and parents. It would look pathetic on her part if she broke down there.

She saw the man who was obviously the boy's driver walk up to the boy to say a few things and Sara felt the need to talk to Harmony too. Linking her arms with the little girl, she pulled her by the side.

Looking deep into her eyes, she said "You're friends with that little charmer, huh? I'm pleasantly surprised."

Harmony grinned and focused her attention on her shoes. "Yeah," she mumbled.

"Is he nice?" She quizzed, cause she knew a certain someone with the same name who wasn't.

"Yeah," Harmony replied, looking up to glance at the topic of their discussion. "He says he has lots of candies and sweets and he gives them to me. Do you want one?" She asked innocently, reaching instantly for her cardigan pockets.

Sara shook her head. "No, you keep it. He gave them to you, so they're yours. I'm glad you made a friend so fast, considering this is a new school and all."

Harmony nodded and then piped up. "Well, it is Freddie's new school too. He says his father came back to Lagos cos of work and he had to say goodbye to all his friends in Abuja and that made him really sad. But he's happy now that we're friends."

"I like him a lot," she added as an afterthought and smiled shyly. Sara couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Since you're great here, I'll leave now. So go see your friend and I'll pick you up after school, OK?"

Harmony nodded and ran off to go find Freddie who was eagerly waiting for her. Sara glanced at the boy for a few minutes before exiting the classroom.

The feeling of seeing her son for the first time in a while filled her thoughts for the day. It was like walking in a daze. She saw his face on every little boy she passed on the street, and the natural instinct to pull him into a hug had been overwhelming. Her day had been spent imagining all sorts of things about him. His favorite foods, colour, cartoons. Did he have favorite things to do or special songs? Perhaps he was a little bookish like his dad and preferred that instead. Not knowing anything about him made her miss him more. And that had her eagerly looking forward to meeting him again after school.

To her dismay, the commercial bus had been stuck in traffic, so that by the time she was running into the school, the Toyota Highlander jeep that was characteristically CAPPELs was exiting the school gates. Her ecstatic mood was dampened instantly, not even Harmony's tales about how many lollipop sticks Freddie promised to bring for her the next day helped.

The next morning she was up before dawn, eagerly awaiting Jules to come banging at her door. She was even tempted to go over but held herself back. Later, when Jules was narrating yesterday's morning ordeal, her mind was on the little boy that was Harmony's friend. The bus had never been so slow till that morning and she swore to buy a car before the month end.

The pair walked into the school premises, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Freddie, for different reasons, of course. Soon enough while waiting inside her classroom, Freddie bundled into the classroom excitedly as he ran to pull Harmony into a hug. The little girl blushed deeply at the action and he grinned, producing a lollipop which she accepted. Sara watched as the pair walked to their seats, obviously seatmates, talking excitedly about their mornings.

Miss Ujah called her attention to a matter concerning the schools' policy to have children choose sports they liked and she promised to talk it over with Jules and Harmony later. She turned around quickly only to have a fast moving body collide with her. Being unprepared, she watched in stupefaction as he stumbled backwards from the impact and landed on his butt.

Sara's lips parted in disbelief. Harmony cried out. His driver let out a gasp. Miss Ujah was furious. And she let him know instantly.

"No running inside the classroom, Freddie. You know the rules," she huffed.

Freddie looked rueful and stood to his feet, with Harmony by his side. It was obvious they had been playing tag. "I know, Miss Ujah," he mumbled.

Finally finding her voice, Sara asked stooping to his height. "Are you alright, Freddie?"

He bobbled his head up and down in agreement and smiled at her. "I'm OK."

And as though nothing had happened, linked arms with Harmony and they sauntered out of the classroom.

Miss Ujah stared at the two and sighed. "Kids..."

But whatever she was saying was lost in the winds as Sara realized what she felt yesterday on seeing her son was peanuts compared to now. Barely holding her emotions in, she had practically ran out of the classroom and the school as though pursued by a thousand demons. Her emotions soon turned melancholic.

She was still in that state of melancholy as she sat in the bus heading towards her apartment. She waited until she was inside her apartment to break down into tears.

Tears flowed easily as she remembered the pain she suffered to bring him into the world.

Tears flowed easily as she recalled the moments after birth when her perfect little world had come crashing down at her feet.

Tears flowed easily as she recounted the darkness that wrapped itself around her or the gloomy nights she spent crying about losing her son and the man she loved.

When the tears stopped flowing, Sara realized it was useless crying over spilt milk. The past was in the past, she couldn't change anything but the present was staring her deep in the eyes. And someone had promised to help her if she ever decided to take back charge of her life.

Reaching into her pockets, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contact list, stopping as the name popped out at her. Releasing a ragged breath, she dialed the number and waited.

He answered on the third ring.

"Miss Amadi. It's nice to hear from you." He greeted.

She coughed to clear her airways, and to give herself courage. "I need your help."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter is one of my favorites because of Freddie and Harmony. I'm a tiny bit jealous of their relationship because I did not have a friend that brought me lollipop sticks when he came to school. If he did, my parents would have beaten it out of me for accepting things from strangers. (Struggles of an African child)

Fact: I've read some novels here on Wattpad to realize our school system is very different. We don't do grade school. It's called primary to secondary schools (ages 5 to 17) then university/college.

Quick question: If Freddie is five years old and in primary one in Nigeria, What grade is he in an American school?

This chapter is dedicated to Hanishadevi for being the first person to vote on this story. You're my lollipop, sweetie. Thank you for giving my book a chance.

Remember to vote and comment.

Thank you 😍😘