06

I had never loved anyone as much as I loved Andrea Beza. Even though I had dated a number of girls before her, I still considered her my first love. I could never forget her because meeting her changed my life. It was during and after the relationship that many things became clear to me, things I had never taken time to think about. I realized who truly loved me, unconditionally.

She was twenty at the time and had the most breathtaking brown eyes I'd ever seen. Ever since I was a teenager, the first thing I noticed on people’s faces were the eyes. This was probably because I was very insecure about my left eye -it had a brownish blemish. I think I was always looking for signs of imperfection in other people’s eyes. Andrea’s round face was over loaded with cuteness which made her look almost like a child. She was wearing a blue tank top and shorts. We were both waiting for our room keys at the reception when she glanced at me and said 'hello'. I replied with the same and we both got received our keys before parting ways. I was not attracted to her immediately because she seemed so young. She looked fifteen and minors have always been a total turn off for me. 

Two hours later, I saw her again. This time, she was wearing a black pant suit and a ton of makeup, standing at the front of the room I'd just entered for a training in report writing. I remember watching her with intense admiration. The little woman with so much knowledge intrigued me. Her eyes were the most striking feature on her. They were bright and seemed almost magnetic. The more you stared at her, you felt drawn in. 

Later, I stuck around for a chance to talk to her. We became friends instantly and in less than a month started a relationship as the chemistry between us was beyond control. I was drawn in and somehow, she was too. We fell in love and I thought I’d never feel like that with anyone else.. The two years I was with her were uniquely wonderful and I thought she was the woman I would spend the rest of my life with. But, there was a problem. My parents.

My parents had never approved of anyone that was not Caucasian. The truth is they were racist. They believed our race was superior to others and the family line shouldn't be contaminated. When I broke the news of the engagement, they went crazy. I suggested to Andrea that we move out of town and get married but she broke up with me. Andrea loved peace and family was the most important thing to her. After losing her own to drug cartel issues in the Philippines, she needed a new one. Therefore, she couldn't get married to a family that would never accept her as one of their own. She said she could never be happy with in laws that thought she wasn't good enough for their son. She needed people who saw value in her and had no intention of forcing anyone to see that.

Two months after breaking up, she moved out of town. She was broken, I was broken. I tried but was unable to fall in love with anyone else at that time, not even Carla Jennings who stayed by my side during those difficult times. Even when I got over the post-break up depression, I remained generally unhappy. There were two people to blame for that. My father and mother. At some point, it had become normal for me to live this kind of life. Until I overheard Lena talking to lazy Jeff. I had heard about paper marriages and it seemed they were planning for one. For some reason, I felt like this was a chance to get back at my parents. Marrying a girl they wouldn't approve of.

It would be a marriage where we both got what we wanted without lying to each other. And she was very beautiful. People wouldn’t peg us for fraudsters immediately and would easily believe we actually loved each other. When it comes to relationships, people are more likely to believe there's love when both parties are good looking. It's pretty stupid but that's the world we live in. There was a problem, though. If my parents found out that she wasn't a citizen, they would work hard to ensure she was deported but I planned not to let that happen. This marriage was going to happen by all means. With Lena’s consent, of course. 

I turned off the computer and bounced into my bedroom where I shed off my clothing and stepped into the bathroom. I had to explain everything to Lena as soon as possible so that she would marry me and not that good for nothing man, Jeff. Having seen him around town, I knew he was up to no good.  

Twelve minutes later, I was dressed up to go. I froze upon seeing Carla in my living room. She was seated on the couch, right leg over the left. Her silky brown hair covering her face as she typed something on phone, unbothered with the fact that she had just broken into my apartment. Carla and I had known each other from childhood and we’d always been friends, more than that during our teenage years and broke up when she moved out for studies. When she returned, I had dated other people and my love for her was gone but she wasn’t done with me. My parents weren’t done with our relationship and wanted me to marry her.  That’s how without my knowledge, they'd let her into our annual family vacation. 

That year we'd gone to a country in Africa called Uganda. It was a beautiful country with the most hospitable people compared to all the other places we’d been to. In fact I had planned not to go that year but my sister couldn't so I had to. We couldn't let our parents go on their own. I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened to them. I had no interest in spending time with them and despite the fact that they were horrible people, they remained my parents and I cared about them. 

In their ignorant minds, Carla was the best woman for me. They thought we were compatible, even after I had explained to them a million times that Carla and I had changed a great deal and couldn’t be the couple we once were.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I came to see you,” she smiled. Once upon a time that smile used to drive me crazy. Not anymore. “Despite everything we are still friends.”

“Okay.”

“I can't forget how you treated me during the vacation,” she complained.

“The vacation you weren't supposed to be part of?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You kept flirting with that environmentalist from Holland and completely ignored me. I know that you're not in love with me but I'm a human with feelings. My only mistake is loving you so much. Why do you punish me for it?”

“I'm sorry, Carla. Just because you love me doesn't mean you can make me do whatever you want? Do you ever think of other people? How do you think I felt when you were part of a vacation reserved for my family? Why didn't you tell me you were joining us? You know what, I have to go somewhere. Let's talk about this some other time.”

“Where are you going?” she stood up.

“To visit a friend.”

“Which friend?”

“Don’t ask too many questions.”

I had to make sure Carla didn't get to know anything because she'd cause a lot of trouble for Lena if she found out what was going on.