My story is a long one, but I intend to clear my name and explain everything in detail. I hope you will be patient enough to read it all.

It all started when I just finished school. A friend of my mom’s asked that I come to her place. When I got there, she told me how she had watched me grow and was impressed by my attitude. She pleaded that she would love for me to marry her son. My mom, my parents, and the whole family were in support of it, and they all pleaded that I consider her decision. I decided to give it a try.

We connected on social media, exchanged contacts, and did voice and video calls. He seemed to be a nice person, and we both liked each other. A date for the wedding was set on December 22nd, and he came and finalized everything. After the wedding, it’s true that I refused to get pregnant for him because I insisted on us being on birth control. I had seen a lot of cases where guys come from abroad, get married to a lady, and then only come home to get them pregnant and leave them frustrated with multiple kids. I just wasn’t ready to take any chances.

My husband was forced to get more serious and speed up the process of my papers so I could join him abroad. Luckily, my papers were ready in a few months, and I finally joined him in the States. This is where the problems all started.

While abroad for just four weeks, I noticed that my husband didn’t like me going out. All he wanted was for me to stay at home and wait for him. He didn’t even like me talking to neighbors. He asked me to make a list of food items I might need for a week or two, and he would take the list to the market himself, buy, and stock the kitchen with enough groceries to last at least a week or two. I stayed in America for over a year, stuck in my husband’s house. The only time I left the house was when he took me out during the weekend to have a few drinks and catch some fun.

For over a year, I kept pleading with my husband to grant me permission to start working and earning something, no matter how little, to at least help my poor parents and siblings back home and not run to him for everything. Please note that I am the first child. My siblings are all school dropouts, and my parents had to put all their resources and savings into me to see me through school. I really felt bad when my parents or siblings needed help, and I was unable to do anything about it because I fully depended on my husband for everything. Most times, I would run to him about my family problems, but he didn’t react in time or at all, using the excuse that he forgot.

On a very faithful day, luckily for me, after so much pressure and pleading, my husband finally accepted that I could go out for sport every morning and run around the neighborhood. In the course of that, I was lucky to have met some good friends who introduced me to their other friends. That’s when I started asking questions. Sometimes they would come around the house when my husband was at work, and we would chat. That’s how I was enlightened on so many things I had no clue of here abroad.

These same friends even helped me secure a job in a hospital to work as a nurse. I was so excited and told my husband, but he forbade me from taking the job, saying he didn’t bring me to America to work but brought me to be his wife, take care of his home, make babies, and certainly take care of them and make his meals. He insisted that it’s what a good wife does and that I must respect his decision as the chief commander of the house. I was shocked and disappointed to hear these words come out of my husband’s mouth.

However, I ignored him and insisted on working, hoping that he would come around. The week I started work, he started refusing to eat my food or talk to me. I still ignored it and acted like everything was okay. This went on for about two weeks, and he suddenly came around.

This man patiently waited until Christmas holiday and cajoled me into believing that we were going home to spend the holidays and celebrate with family and old friends. When we arrived in the country, he took me back to my parents. When the holidays were over, he abandoned me in the village and took a flight back to the States. I guess he wanted to teach me a lesson and probably break me. I spent almost two months in the village. Thank God I still had my phone, and I communicated with some friends who sympathized, helped me, and I was able to book a flight back to America.

For six months, my husband had no clue I was back in the States. He probably thought I was still in the village. I guess someone told him I was back, and he came to where I work to see for himself. I could see the shock, anger, and disappointment on his face when he saw me. A few weeks later, he asked me for a divorce, saying that I’m stubborn and disobedient to him and that my family is in support of my bad behavior. He has been insisting that my family refunds every dime he spent on me as “dowry.”

Can you believe that this man has been sending me threats of late, asking me to leave America? He says he picked me from the gutters and doesn’t want to see me in America. According to him, he was the one who brought me here in the first place, and if not for him, I would never have dreamed of coming to America. To be honest, I was shocked that my husband came public with this issue. I guess he wants to expose and embarrass me.

Derick, you’ve tormented me enough. Can you imagine that this man also blames me for our childlessness, accusing me of messing up my womb? God knows I’ve never indulged in such. Several tests carried out on me prove that I’m okay, but he refuses to do his own tests, insisting that he is okay because he once impregnated a girl in his school days. Because he once got a girl pregnant, he keeps insisting the fault is mine.

Well, Derick, I’m so happy to break this news to you. Your divorce papers have been signed. Yes, I’ve found someone so sweet and a million times better than you. I’m a month pregnant by him, and we’re getting married in two months. Guess what? You’re invited. We’ll be so delighted to see you at our wedding. You asked that your “dowry” be refunded. Well, I’ve talked to my family, and everything will be refunded in full payment anytime you’re ready. You also insist that I leave the States because you do not want to see me here. I promise you, if you continue like this, I’ll be forced to dial 911, and you sure do know what will happen. Please do not push me any further.