At work early today, and in high spirits, Mamle switched on the lights to brighten up her showroom. There was darkness and quiet all around. It was surprising to notice this since the generator was an automatic one and came on soon after the power outage. Surely, this was surprising. Though it was unusual of her to show up first in the morning, doing this job by herself would not be much of a problem. Looking around, it seemed someone tampered with the artificial seams and many of her manikins just before she entered. All of them were undone and nothing was in its complete state. Recalling to mind the previous night that she was almost done for Saturday's show, she was totally surprised and lost for words.
I thought I had it all worked out yesterday? Gawking at the damaged works, Kwei Fosu had the chance to sneak out. Mamle seemed to have entered just in time. A truck was waiting in the corner to take some of the manikins away. The only one who could relieve Mamle's mind of all this confusion was Amihere. After all the work she had done, there was nothing else left to do than to break down and cry. Before the tears could start flowing however, the thought of calling Amihere up dawned on her strongly. It was the first thing she should have thought of in such a situation. Amihere encouraged her to relax and ask her workers to create new fabrics in the shortest time possible. It seemed impossible though, for all they had toiled for the whole week had gone to naught. It was a daunting task and the workers vowed to punish anyone who was responsible for this unfortunate situation. Scrolling carefully through the CCTV cameras, the monitor manned by a security expert revealed a familiar face; Kwei Fosu. Why would he bother? Wouldn't he even have the courtesy to hire someone else to do the dirty job for him? Jealousy and love for vengeance had so blinded him that he could not think straight. Was the company going to press charges against him? Focusing on the task ahead was more important since the main goal of distraction was to ruin their reputation for delivering on time.
"We saw your handiworks, my dear friend," said Amihere to Kwei Fosu. "Why don't you get on with your life and leave her alone?"
"I don't know what you are talking about," Kwei Fosu said, feigning ignorance.
"It's all been caught on camera if you care to know," Amihere replied confidently.
Kwei Fosu's demeanour changed all of a sudden.
"She must move on and so must you," he said "Else we'll press charges against you." Kwei Fosu contemplated about all that had transpired between the two of them. He would be better off with Mamle than moving on. Why not try convincing her once again if he had the chance? Without any dint of shame, he was in Mamle's office once again.
"After what you did to me when I almost had it, you expect that I would come back to you?" she said. "I've moved on. I'm in partnership with someone else."
"I know that. You'll be the major shareholder," he said, pleading.
"No, I'm not interested," she replied, insisting. Kwei Fosu kicked his foot against the swivel chair, angry with himself. If violence did not work for him, begging should, lest he be down to nothing once again.
"Mind you, we may press charges against you," Mamle said, warning him.
Sabotage
It was time for the goods to arrive for the show. The stage had been set, props were ready. All they had to do was to wait for the ship to arrive for the clearing agents to do their job, to offload and get on with the show. The personnel responsible for receiving the goods at the port reported that there were no goods with the address 'Mans couture'
"Please be sure what you're saying is right because this means a lot to us," said Madam Oforiwaa, going in and out of the offices of the authorities in charge and making the necessary calls . "You might have been mistaken." So sure of herself
"We know how much importance you place on your goods. We will not ruin our name with such a discrepancy," said the officer. "I'm sure of what I'm saying."
"What a disaster!" Madam Oforiwaa exclaimed. "We have been so expectant and now this? Should we let our Madam know about this or not? We might need to inform her so she knows what action to take under such circumstances." Impatiently, the questions did not cease to flood her mind.
"Are you not in charge? Can you not do anything about this?" she asked.
"I can't let the ship bring us our missing goods, can I?" replied the procurement officer was silent. His colleague was right after all. Mamle got wind of this failure early enough to tell Amihere about it.
"Let's not hang our harps yet," he said, calling up some of his workers. His private pilot was at his service.
"We need to cart a few goods from the United Kingdom to Ghana before tomorrow," he said. "Let's get to work." Fortunately, the weather was favourable and the aircraft could take off without any hindrance. By evening, all the goods needed for the show were available.
"I don't know how to thank you, Amihere," said Mamle. "You have been of so much help to me"
"It's always been my pleasure, Mamle" he replied.
The show went off as scheduled and soon. Mamle had even forgotten that she almost could not meet expectations. A week later, the clearing agent reported that the goods had arrived and had been tampered with. The port authorities apologised profusely.
"What are we going to do with these, now that the show is over?" said Mamle.
"We can receive them officially, keep them, and then decide later on what to do with them," said Amihere. "We must be grateful that the show was not a fiasco after all.
The accounts officer received report today of a budget deficit of 30,000 Ghana cedis. Upon inquiry, Mans couture ordered for goods worth that amount which was fictitious. Mamle was furious and so was everyone on the accounts committee.
"How could this be possible?" she asked. "We must get to the bottom of this." "And anyone responsible will be apprehended. We can't overlook this discrepancy." All the list of employees lay before Mamle and the executives. One by one, they discussed the possible culprits and eliminated the least possible ones. A few names on board were those of Kwei Fosu and Akwei who had bones to pick with Mans couture. Finally, all evidence led to the fact that someone else who was a signatory to Mans couture early on had done this evil deed. Extensive investigations revealed the brain behind the saga. Carefully, all the invoices were scrutinised for the slightest hitch. Just a dot could make a difference in the signature. Unfortunately, the signatory used a stamp. Who could possibly be in possession of a stamp? A company stamp for that matter. Madam Sena remembered that Akwei, who was in close contact with her had a spare stamp in his possession when he left. Kwei Fosu feigned innocence and accused Mans couture of trying to ruin his reputation and destroy his business. "If you are having problems, solve them on your own and leave me out of it!" he exclaimed. Investigators pulled out a stamp from Akwei's top drawer in his bedroom, carefully concealed. Kwei Fosu also signed Mamle's signature and nearly got away with it. Fortunately, they did not. The police charged them with fraud. Kwei Fosu was under house arrest for a few days for obstructing the investigative process and his house searched for any possible evidence.
Stressed out
The tasks were undaunting. The pressure from the demands of the customers were mounting day by day. Mamle, the workaholic that she was, was beginning to feel the weight of the burden all on her shoulders although she had several employees. Her competitors were poaching some of her employees, luring them with more attractive packages. Mans couture needed loyal employees.
"Mamle, from the way I see you handling issues, you may break down soon," said Amihere,
"Do I have a choice, Amihere?"
"I'm here for you," he replied. "I'll help you." Amihere put out adverts in the newspapers and on social media for more employees. The response was overwhelming. Mans couture needed more hands in handling interview and recruitment. Mamle lost several hours of sleep over this. It was a weeklong of watching models, some novices, and other experienced ones. Secretly, she was taking sleeping pills to help her with sleep issues. Now, she could not do without them. The prescribed dose was insufficient to meet her demands. When Amihere found out about her addiction, it was too late. Hiding the pills from her did not solve the problem because there was an incessant supply of the pills from an unknown source.
"I'm worried about the way you have been gulping down these pills into your system, Mamle," said Amihere. "Delegate your work to a few of your trusted staff. I think that will help."
"I can't trust everyone," she replied.
"But you can at least trust someone?" Mamle carefully deliberated on his advice. Trust had become a deep-seated issue ever since she fell out with Dome over unfaithfulness. There was the need to separate her personal life from her work life.
No amount of evidence could convince Amihere that Mans couture did not need more hands especially in the administrative section, especially when Akwei had been able to infiltrate their camp with the use of a stamp he still had in his possession even after he was long gone. Mans couture surely needed a complete overhaul. Until then, Mamle refused to rest on her oars, overworking herself to the letter until ill health attacked like a storm. Doctors told her there was nothing wrong with her body per se. Her mind was overworking and it could lead to a mental breakdown. It could be. Not long after that warning, it happened that Amihere was going through her books and found out some shady deals of some of her trusted staff. It was too much for her to bear.
"I thought I was the best CEO?" she asked. "What more did they expect? Are they so ungrateful?" Mamle could take it no more. She went catatonic. When she found herself in the same institution where Dome was being treated, it was Dome who welcomed her, aware that his own former fiancée would not recognise him in her state. He gawked at her and felt so sorry for her.
"This is what the love of money can do," he said. Yet, Mamle developed that passion because of him. Perhaps, she overdid it.
Dome opened the windows to allow for proper ventilation. Looking at her seated quietly made him remember the good times they had together. At least, he had regained his memory now. Yet, Mamle looked different, if not more beautiful than ever. Wondering why she chose to change her face, everything made sense now. He had been away for too long and much had gone on unnoticed. Would he be able to make things right? Dome leered at her until he fell asleep. She fell asleep too. Amihere walked in and found both of them asleep.
He must have been watching her all day.
"Dome..." he woke him up softly. " Wake up, brother." Dome woke up with a start.
"Oh! It's you. I'll leave you two alone."
"Not so fast, Dome, we may need you around."
"From experience, I think I better leave you two alone." Amihere gawked at him, stunned. The words he said were true. They did need time alone. This man sat by Mamle from morning to evening without batting an eyelid. The only time he slept was when he came to meet him doing so.
"You were so beautiful," Dome said to her after Amihere left. "But you look even more beautiful. You had it all. Why are you here? To get back at me or to reconcile? I hope it's because of the latter?" Though his words seemed to fall on deaf ears, he surely knew what he was doing and he was not going to regret it ever.