Episode 1

 THE RICH MAN'S DAUGHTER

(Based on a true story)

By Luke and Prim.

Episode 1

Emerald (Emy) was a very popular person in the same facebook group I was and as such made funny comments on my posts. I liked all her comments and after a while, I sent her a friend request and we started chatting privately. I had no idea how to kick off a conversation with a person I was only friends with on social media but she saved me the trouble and started the chat with, “Hello stranger friend” followed by a smiley face emoji. To respond, I typed and deleted severally because I didn’t really know how to reply but I settled for, “Hello my dear.” A series of friendly messages to and fro followed from which I learnt we both had just finished high school and being from Kenya, Emerald was so thrilled to have a friend from Uganda. We exchanged contacts and started communicating more often off Facebook. She told me about her rich family but I couldn't tell her about my humble background, thinking maybe we would never meet.

Being full of jokes, I often made her laugh. This got us so close that we started calling each other ‘bestie’. With time, she opened up to me about the plight of her relationship with a guy she had been dating for five years at the time. I had no way of actually offering better help so I talked to her as a friend, gave her my thoughts in regards to the matter, then cracked jokes to make her laugh it off, even for just a moment. The international call rates were high but we managed to communicate about thrice every day. Even after joining campus, we continued as great friends much as we had never met physically. Emy and I had a lot in common, and these helped us maintain the beauty of a real friendship.

After about six months of great friendship and regular communication, I started developing feelings for her. It felt beyond friendship to the extent that if her phone was off for the entire day, depending on whatever the reason, I would literally fall sick. I pretended nothing was going on and held myself back in respect for her relationship though it was stressing her. For as much as it hurt concealing my feelings, I still wouldn’t do anything given our background difference. Emy's Dad was one of the Ministers in Kenya then, her boyfriend, Edger, was a final year medical student at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India and she had enrolled for Bachelors in Oil Engineering at the University of Nairobi. I was at Makerere University doing Bachelors in Business Administration on a sponsorship from a local NGO and my parents, being peasants, were having such a difficult time raising upkeep for me. It was hard to compare so I let my feelings pass and we continued as great of friends we had become.

One day, I got a surprise call from a local line and oh, it was Emerald. She had come to Kampala for a Softball Competition. She asked me to go and pick her up since the game was done. You can imagine the look on my face as I wondered where I would host her. I had sent her pictures of me in beautiful places so literally she didn't know I was such a poor lad that resided in the cheap zones of ‘Kikumi Kikumi’ and worst of all, I was staying in a room with three more people. My hostel didn't look pretty, so I thought of taking her to a lady friend’s place but even that could not be arranged on time. I had only 23,000 Ugandan Shillings (about $ 7) left for upkeep so I simply took a taxi to go meet her while I budgeted in my mind how I would spend it on her. I regretted having not told her about my situation and I was caught in my own web. The traffic was slower than usual and I hated to keep her waiting but after a while, it loosened up and I got to where she was. Looking at her physically for the first time, she was indeed a beauty to behold. She was actually prettier than she looked in the photos she had sent to me.

Having no other choice of place to take her, I took her to my not pretty hostel. Nearly everyone we met on our way to my room gave us an eye that bore a question, “What on earth is this beauty doing with a beast?” When we got to my room, I shyly told her, "Emy, this is where your friend lives!" I didn’t even want to look at her given that I had never mentioned my misfortunes to her and I was guilty about it. She looked around as if examining the room and I didn’t wait for her to comment before I would tell her all about me. I poured myself out and I was afraid she wouldn’t want to be friends with me anymore. Surprisingly, she held my hand tightly and told me not to worry because she was actually never bothered about my background. She told me I had always been so sweet and kind to her even better than her boyfriend and for that reason she would never regret having met me.

I was speechless for a moment and so grateful in my heart that my background didn’t matter. Winning a lottery wouldn’t have compared to the joy that flowed in my heart and for a second, we had a moment. Looking into her eyes, the twinkle in them was life giving. I was lost in the thoughts of what my hands could but couldn’t do. Just then, her boyfriend called her on Skype from India. When she picked the call, he noticed she was in a room which wasn't so decent and so he started questioning her about her whereabouts. Truthfully, she told him she was in Uganda and that she was in a friend's room. "Is it Jasper, the guy that over comments on your Facebook posts?" Edgar asked. Emy didn't deny and Edger snapped angrily at her about what she was doing with a guy like me. To save us both the frustration, she ended the call. He called back severally but she never picked up and eventually switched off her phone. The great moment became awkward but I didn’t mind. She had told me about him sometimes being a jerk.

Emy asked me to take her to her hotel room where she had been booked to spend the night. When we got there, she requested me to stay a while and keep her company to about 10:00pm and so I stayed. We had a great time and were really happy to have finally met. My jokes were endless and so were the smiles on Emy's face which had been my intention. It was around midnight when I left for my hostel. I got there pretty exhausted and sleepy so I decided to check for a few updates on my facebook account before going to bed. On logging in, sleep evaded me when the first thing I saw was a threat from Edgar. I felt at gun point as I read it. "Poor boy, whatever you're doing with my fiancé will cost you your life." I got so scared but couldn't mention it to Emy. I didn’t even know how I would.

The following day, Emy came back to my hostel and told me she hadn't gotten enough of me so she wasn’t going back that day with the rest of the team and she wouldn’t stay at the hotel since she had already checked out. She openly said to me that if she could change things, she would change me into Edger, so that she could be happier in her relationship. At this point, I started thinking, "Maybe she likes me too!" We spent the day watching movies and arguing about the characters though the loveliest thing was watching her eat and enjoy the street food, ‘kikomando’ (chapati and beans). When night came, I told her she would spend the night at a lady friend's place I had talked to but she said she didn’t want to spend that night away from me. So, I explained to the other three roommates that she would sleep over on my bed while I shared with one of them and they all agreed. Emy and I kept watching movies till late and didn’t realize when we both slept off. When Emy woke up in the morning, she woke me up with a perplexed look on her face. We had shared my bed. She asked me how it so happened that I slept next to her but didn’t touch her. My answer was simple, “We are great friends and friends don’t hurt friends.”

As we were still assuring ourselves how our trust hadn’t been misplaced, Edgar called again. This time round he was more furious at her for still being in my room, more so, in the early morning. He asked to talk to me and when I got the phone, I was only in a vest. Upon seeing that, he promised he would kill me. "Trust me, I'll kill you. I can locate where you stay in just a day and send my people to show you what happens when you mess around with a rich dude." I couldn’t bear any more threats so I cut the fun short and forced Emy to leave. I didn't want any trouble to befall her or myself but little did I know I was already in a grave danger. I took her to a bus terminal where she could find a bus to Nairobi. While saying good bye, we both shed tears, and after a long hug, she kissed me and said, “Good bye my..............”

Thanks for following.

Catch us again next Thursday with Episode 2.

The Rich Man's Daughter.

Written by:

Luke Davis 

lookndavis@gmail.com

 +256770391771

Edited by:

Prim Nabwire 

primnabwire95@gmail.com

 +256786852800

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you've been blessed by this story, and also incase of any feedback, or question.