“A-Aunty” Gloria stammered as she froze in her tracks, “you-you’re back so soon” she said, stepping back to pick her nightgown from the floor in embarrassment, “what is going on here?” Her aunty asked looking back and forth between Gloria and her husband, “it’s not what you think honey” her husband quickly responded, “I’m as confused as you are” he began explaining, “I don’t know what has come over your niece” he said pointing to Gloria.
“So this is how you’ve decided to pay me back for my kindness?” her Aunty said, “What exactly was your plan? Of all the men in Chicago, why my husband?” her Aunty questioned, “If this terrible migraine didn’t make me come back home earlier than planned is this how you would have forced yourself on him?” She asked looking at Gloria who stayed silent looking very ashamed and staring at the floor.
A migraine is a headache that can cause severe throbbing pain that usually occurs on one side of the head. It is usually accompanied by extreme sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vomiting. Migraines can last from a few hours to a few days and can prevent the sufferer from being able to carry out their daily activities effectively. Some people experience something known as an aura which is a warning symptom that happens before or during a migraine. An example of an aura is seeing flashing lights or experiencing a tingling sensation in an arm or a leg. Migraines can be triggered by some factors including stress, taking drinks that contain too much caffeine, taking certain medications and hormonal changes that happen during the menstrual cycle. They can be treated using medication.
“She can’t continue to stay here, she has to leave this night” her Aunt’s husband added, “please sir, don’t do this to me” Gloria begged dropping to her knees, “I don’t know anyone else in Chicago” she begged, “You should have thought of that when you were trying to sleep with my husband” her Aunty replied, “I give you half an hour to pack your things and leave this house, or else I will call the police to report you for sexually assaulting my husband” she added, “please Aunty, I promise I will never do it again” Gloria begged, “you have 29 minutes left” her Aunty replied looking at her wristwatch, “Pleaseeee” Gloria begged beginning to cry, “once it’s half an hour, you will leave this house with whatever you have managed to pack before your time runs out. Any left over property will be donated to charity. After 30 minutes, if you are still in this house, I will call the police immediately, perhaps, you will prefer to be an inmate” she said, hissing and storming upstairs. It was clear to Gloria that she was no longer welcome, she headed downstairs to the basement to pack her bags, looking very downcast.
Few minutes later, after packing her bags, she left her Aunt’s house without saying goodbye, called a taxi and asked the taxi to take her to the nearest two or three star hotel. She had some savings from the money she stole from Chief, but if she didn’t get a job, she would quickly run out of funds.
After a week, she began to get frustrated, her funds were depleting fast and were not being replenished. To make matters worse, she still had no friends or family.
One day, she decided to go to a nightclub to see if she could make some new friends and that was where she stumbled on Efua, her old classmate. Efua had been living in the United states for the past 10 years and was now a green card holder. “Eii Chale, tell me, how did you do it?” Gloria begged, “Do what?” Efua asked feigning ignorance, “I’m talking about your green card of course” Gloria replied, “you said you didn’t have papers when you came to this country, so how did you regularise your stay?” Gloria asked, “let’s talk about it over coffee tomorrow” Efua said, “here, punch in your phone number” she said handing an excited Gloria her phone.
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The next day, they met at a cafe and caught up on old times. She confessed to Gloria that she got married to an American citizen, through an arranged marriage. “Basically, the person is pretty much like your housemate, you share bills and house chores like normal housemates but there are no strings attached” Efua explained, “ok, so how do I find someone willing to do this kind of contract marriage with me?” Gloria asked, “that’s not a problem as long as you are ready to pay” Efua said, “I can get my contact to arrange someone for you” Efua said, “how much will it cost me?” Gloria asked,” just $25000” Efua replied, “$25000 what?” Gloria screamed, “that’s almost all my savings gone” she added, “it is not by force to stay in America, if you can’t play ball, then go back home” Efua hissed, “ok, ok, I’ll play ball” Gloria said raising her hands in surrender.
Few weeks later, all the arrangements had been finalised, Gloria had a contractual marriage with a Jamaican-American man called Jason, they had to live together in order not to raise any eyebrows, the only problem was that Gloria didn’t have enough money to pay rent monthly as she was still unemployed. She was expected to pay the rent for both of them as part of the deal, however, she proposed that she would offer her body to her arranged husband every weekend as a form of payment until she was able to pay rent. She had willingly put the offer on the table because she considered her arranged husband to be very attractive and felt having to sleep with him on weekends would be more of pleasure than pain. After all, even without the existing contract, she would have attempted to get into his pants. Deep down, she had planned to continue using her body as payment even if she eventually secured a job.
The first few days living with Jason was fine, he was neat, always cleaned up after himself and didn’t get in her way, he was good at minding his business, They were pretty much living like housemates just as Efua had said.
Gloria was unhappy about this because she was physically attracted to Jason and wanted to get to know him beyond their contract.
Finally, it was Friday, their first weekend together. “At long last” Gloria thought, “at least if he wouldn’t speak with me throughout the week, he would have to speak with me now.”
By evening when he came back from work, Gloria waited patiently for him to make a move but he just had dinner and stayed in his room. By a few minutes past 9pm, she got tired of waiting and decided to make a move, “I better go and remind him about my payment before he tells me that I am owing rent at the end of the month “ she thought as she changed to a sexy red costume that she had bought for the occasion. She knocked on his door shortly afterwards.
“Hey” she said looking seductively at him when he answered the door, “wah gwan?” He asked, poking his head out only to see Gloria dressed in her costume, “oh! It’s Friday, he said, hitting his forehead with his palm, “where did all the time go?!” He exclaimed.
“Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess” Gloria said smiling, “so shall we?” he asked, “of course” Gloria replied, stepping into his room as he shut the door behind them. “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back” he said pointing to his bed as he went to his walk-in closet.
Gloria dropped to the bed and relaxed feeling very excited, “my first time in bed with a Jamaican man, this should be interesting” she thought smiling to herself as Jason returned naked holding handcuffs and a long whip, “ermm what are you doing with that?” Gloria asked sitting up, “what does it look like I’m doing, “the handcuffs are for your hands and the whip is for your body” he said holding up the whip, “oh no, I don’t do BDSM” Gloria said shaking her head, “well it wasn’t stated in the contract” Jason replied, “lie down” he shouted as Gloria felt the whip land on her back sending heavy pain signals to the receptors in her body, “if you’re not ready to play ball then I am going to be forced to report this sham marriage to immigration” he threatened, “I-I will play ball” Gloria stammered in between tears, “that’s my girl” Jason replied, smiling as he handcuffed her two hands to the bed.
Find out what happens next in episode 20 #checkwithdotoro