FICTION: Stabbed in the back

Aggrey Murenzi a vibrant young man had just completed high school when his parents decided that he goes to pursue his further studies from abroad.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Aggrey Murenzi a vibrant young man had just completed high school when his parents decided that he goes to pursue his further studies from abroad.

Two years into his studies in Ireland, he decides that he should start a relationship that could probably mature into marriage.

At 25 years of age, he felt he was ripe enough for marriage. His desire for this was coupled with the mother’s endless pleas about the issue of marriage whenever they would communicate.

‘You know you are my only child, I need a grand child before I die,’ she would always told him.

For the next few weeks, Aggrey spent sleepless nights thinking how he was going to get the future mother of his kids in a foreign country.

It is at that point that he flashed back and remembered the beautiful girls that his motherland Rwanda has. Deep in his heart he was determined that he was going to get a bride back home.

But since he had one more year to go before he could finish his studies, the young and vibrant Aggrey decided that he could get the love of his life through his relatives back home.

His cousin, the cheerful Laeticia Iribagiza was the right candidate whom Aggrey designated the task of looking for the right candidate.

Laeticia was a student in one of the Higher Institutions of learning in the country. So she decided to sweet talk one of the friends, the good looking Emily Keza  into the affair of starting a relationship with the handsome son of the land in the Diaspora.

Several exchanges of emails and phone calls proved that the two would go along fairly. Photos were exchanged and Emily seemed to be in high spirits and was fantasising on the day she would be living with the fine-looking, educated young man he had seen in the pictures.

Besides, which girl wouldn’t fantasise at the thought of marrying an educated man from abroad.

All this time in their conversations, Aggrey never mentioned about the prospect of getting married to Emily. ‘I will propose to her the moment I set my foot in mother land,’ he would muse.

Love seemed to be in the air as the two became more familiar to one another. The number of kilometres between them did not seem to affect the love birds. ‘I can’t wait for the time I will meet you visa avis,’ Emily would say over the phone.

Days went by, Aggrey’s days in school abroad started to be numbered. But his good grades in school and his intelligence had already started to win him potential friends who saw in him a potential employee.

No sooner had he graduated that year, than he landed a good job in one of the biggest companies in the Ireland called Ashley park International Ltd an entertainment service provider company.

As deputy CEO of the company, Aggrey was now doing well. It is at this rate that he thought that as a respected person in society, he had to get a spouse.

After three and a half years, Aggrey started planning to come back home and marry his one and a half years sweet heart.

Preparations for his grand come back set off with Laeticia playing the pivotal role in getting Emily ready to meet her would be husband.

Aggrey landed at Kanombe International Airport on a clear Saturday morning with Ethiopian Airlines. He was surprised by the rate at which the city had developed with tall buildings and cleaner streets than he had left them three and half years back.

At the Airport to receive him were his parents who were amazed at how their beloved son had turned into a fully fledged man.

The two lovers were delighted to see one another after a long time of communicating, thanks to the technological era.

According to plans, Aggrey and Emily were supposed to meet the very evening of his landing in Kigali.

That evening in a candlelight dinner, Aggrey and his sweet heart Emily discussed about a lot of things in the efforts to understand one another the more.

They also shared a lot of experiences ranging from the hustling life in the Diaspora to school life that both had gone through and everything seemed to be moving fairly.

After the delicious meal that the two enjoyed most especially Aggrey who was missing the home food, he decided that the evening would be the best time to announce his intentions to Emily.

‘Emily, I want to marry you,’ said Aggrey with much enthusiasm. The statement was slowly digested by Emily.

After along pause of thorough contemplation, she deep in her heart decided to act like any other average Rwandan lady would have done.

Remembering what her aunt used to tell her when she was growing up, she had to think twice before answering to the affirmative.

Her Aunt’s voice was ringing in her head. ‘My beloved daughter, never accept a man’s preposition on the first attempt, he can take you to be a slut.’

‘Am going to think about it,’ was Emily’s response after the long hiatus. From the look on Aggrey’s face, he seemed not amused. He however, decided to stay put and thus they ended the day’s date.

When Emily went back to the hostel, she narrated her day’s ordeal to one of the friends in their circles. The quick acting Jennifer Mahoro inquired about every thing and showed a lot of interest.

But even the much interest in the subject did not wake any cloud of suspicion to Emily, that there was something fishy behind the whole thing.

With a convincing tongue, Jennifer sweet talked Laeticia into letting her meet Aggrey. ‘I want to meet your cousin from abroad so that we could socialise,’ she convinced her.

During the conversation with Aggrey, Jennifer showed a high degree of communication skills to the extent that Aggrey was just shaking his head in agreement with whatever the beautifully striking lady was speaking.

Her intelligence and aggressiveness were hard for him to resist.
They talked for hours until Aggrey realised that he had gone the wrong way by dating Emily. To him this was the right girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

When Aggrey decided to bring fourth the suggestion of marriage to Jennifer, she was more than ready to answer in the affirmative.
Preparations for the wedding started immediately before they could even leave the date venue.

After one week, Aggrey and Jennifer introduced one another to their parents and there after walked down the Aisle in a colourful ceremony.

Mean while whenever Emily would try to reach Aggrey so they can finish the deal, she never got the chance. This left her perplexed and asking herself  what would have gone wrong between them.

Little did she know that her very close friend and room mate had stabbed her in the back and taken her man.

Ends