01

Life is a constant stream of experiences. While some are exciting and beautiful, others are agonizing. As you live through them, your heart feels like it is being torn into pieces. For me, one of those was my sister's murder.

Leni was two years older than me and had always been my guardian angel. She had a sunny disposition and her happiness was infectious. She spread it wherever she went, warming even the coldest of hearts. My life turned upside down when her body was found in a ditch, battered as if she was some dangerous thing that needed to get flushed out of the world. 

Losing someone you love and not knowing what happened to them is one of the most painful things in life. The police said they were conducting investigations but whenever we went to them, they had nothing, not even a single lead.  It was disappointing, but not surprising in a developing country like Uganda. So many cases went unsolved, especially because most people only did their jobs for money and not out of passion. To some police officers, the outcome of a case didn't matter because they'd still get paid at the end of the month. For my family, those two months of waiting were the most excruciating months of my life.

And then came the letter. A threat from my sister's killer saying he was going to kill me next. It was then that I realized I had to leave the country. By some stroke of luck (for me), my American cousin was involved in an accident. My aunt helped me get a visa to stay in the United States temporarily, claiming she needed a relative for support during that trying time. With my recently attained bachelor's degree, playing nurse to my cousin wasn't exactly what I wanted but I did not have any other choice. For my own safety, I had to leave. I left my home, the country I'd lived in all my life for one I knew almost nothing about. 

Although my visa was valid for only six months, I knew I wouldn’t return until Leni’s killer had been arrested. Knowing the number of cases that went cold in our country annually, it’d be a miracle if justice was served. My mother didn’t give any details but apparently, there was a plan to get me a green card for permanent residence. I knew it was going to be hard to get a green card but I never imagined it'd be as hard as it turned out to be.

***

He glanced at me, again. He had been doing it a lot during the thirty minutes I'd been in the restaurant. The elderly people he was seated with at the table seemed to be his parents and the young girl, his sister. They were all Caucasian. 

He was lean, muscular with an almost perfectly symmetrical face partly covered by a light stubble. He had that kind of perfect face that stopped you in your tracks. His sandy brown hair was combed back neatly. He had thick dark brown eyebrows and lips that begged to be kissed. This man was perfection in every sense of the word. My first glance at him had lasted longer than I'd have liked. There was something about his face that arrested one's gaze. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties and the girl a few years younger. 

The brain works in weird ways. The more I tried not to look in their direction, the more I did. Moreover, my face would heat up whenever our eyes met. What was wrong with me? I tried to convince myself that it was not about his extremely good looks. Maybe it was the way he was ignoring his sister who kept trying to talk to him. I glanced again and saw her snaking her arm around his shoulder. Grimacing, he shook it off and stood up, walking out. How rude.

It was a good thing I'd never see him again. Or would I?

A few minutes later, my aunt sauntered into the airport restaurant. I recognized the lady in a long blue dress and large African styled earrings immediately. I’d seen her in pictures and once in a video call. She came straight when she saw me. 

“Sorry, I’m late,” she said. “How was the journey?”

“It was tiring,” I replied, not having anything else to tell her. It had always been hard for me to make small talk.

“Are you done here?” she glimpsed the nearly empty mug. I could tell she was not a fan of small talk. Perfect.

“Yeah,” I used my fingers from both hands to rub the sides of my head to relieve some of the stress I had.

She took me to her beautiful home in a small town called South Bend. After getting a few hours of rest, I woke up. I don't know how she knew I was awake but she came into my bedroom a few minutes later.

“Glad to see you're awake.” She said, sitting on the edge of the bed. My aunt was a woman with a stern face and serious personality. She was so different from my mother and her other sisters who were all younger. At twenty-five, she'd left Uganda to come and study for a master’s degree at the University of Notre Dame. After finishing her studies, she was retained to become a teaching assistant and never went back home, not even when my grandfather died. Apparently, she didn't care so much about family. It was a miracle that she'd accepted me into her home. My mother refused to tell me why her sister was detached from the family.

“Hey aunt,” I sat up. “I was feeling extremely tired but now I'm better.”

“I see,” she said with a serious nod. The times I'd seen my aunt smile were countable so I wasn't expecting much. 

“You're going to see Tobias tomorrow,” she spoke as if I knew who Tobias was.

My mom had told me that her sister had a plan that would get me a green card when my visa expired in six months. I had tried to ask for details but none of my parents had given any. I had felt like it was a plan they thought I would not like. Knowing my parents, they always wanted the best for me so I hadn’t wasted time worrying about it.

“Who is Tobias?” I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

My aunt studied me. “He's the man who is going to get you a husband.”

“A husband? What are you talking about? I don't want to get married right now.”

Given all the problems I had, marriage was something I hadn’t given any thought to.

“You'll have to. To get a green card, you have to get married to an American citizen.”

“What?” I glanced at my phone which had lit up because of a new notification. “Does my father know about this?’

“He does but this is the easiest way for you to get permanent residence in this country. Don't worry. It'll be a contract and nothing more. It's called a paper marriage. You won't have to live together for long.”

A Paper Marriage is a marriage of convenience made with no intention of forming an actual marital relationship. The term is commonly used to refer to marriages made to gain permanent residence in a particular country.

“I can't do something like that,” I protested. “And if I’m going to ever get married, it’s going to be to my boyfriend Henry not some American man. I cannot trade him for anyone.”

“Do you want to go back home to die?”

“No, aunt.”

“Well then,” she stood up. “Forget about your fairy tale marriage to Henry. Get ready to meet Tobias tomorrow so you can start the process.”

Every girl dreams of marrying the man she loves most in the world but it seemed like that dream would never come true for me.  I couldn’t see myself marrying a stranger. How did my parents let this happen? Wouldn’t it be better to die? 

Tears clouded my eyes the moment my aunt left. Coming to the United States had filled me with so much happiness and hope. Now, I wished I was back home in Uganda. I'd be afraid of getting killed anytime but at least I wouldn't have to marry a stranger.