"No, no, Dad! I can't do this," Amina protested as she wiped the tears from her face.
Her father lifted his head, avoiding Amina's gaze, keeping his voice stern. "You don't have any choice. Your mother and I spent all our years making sure you and your two sisters had a good life and sound education. We came here illegally, risking everything and leaving everything behind; this is the least you could do for us."
"There must be some other way," Amina sobbed as she knelt, trying to beg her father.
Amina's childhood had its ups and downs. She was born to two illegal immigrant parents; they weren't rich, but they tried to provide everything for Amina and her two siblings, Chloé and Sofià. Amina was the first child amongst the three of them; she always catered to their needs and put their needs before hers.
But everything began to go downhill when Amina struck thirteen, and her family's business began to decline day by day. It got so bad that they could not afford three meals a day, and Amina would skip meals to enable her little sisters to eat to their satisfaction.
Her mother, Rosa, had to start working as a cleaner in shops and as a nanny on weekends to get money, which amounted to little or nothing in comparison to the bills and cost of living.
Her father, Jose, had an automobile store; his business was doing quite well and flourished for years. Unfortunately, he was accused of fraud and got arrested. Even after his release, a lot of people refused to patronize his store. As a result, his business started declining to the extent that he had to sell his cars at a loss to feed his family.
That fateful day, Amina's mother came home with a tense expression; for some reason, she did everything to avoid Amina. With her mind elsewhere, she kept on spilling and pouring things as she moved around. She requested all the kids to go upstairs and called her husband to speak to him privately.
Earlier at the shop, Rosa's friend, Tina, had informed her that one of the richest men in town had shown a liking to Amina when she was running some errands and would like to marry her. She immediately rejected the idea, telling her friend that Amina was only sixteen, about to turn seventeen, but her friend informed her that the man already knew and didn't mind.
The mysterious man, Andrew, was the owner of a big business chain. He was a Mexican raised in the US; he was in his late forties, almost the same age range as Amina's dad. He took an interest in Amina because she had manners and training that he felt most American girls lacked.
"Jose… what do you think about this?" Rosa asked with a low tone full of uncertainty.
Jose immediately felt awful he couldn't stand the thought of such a man liking his daughter, his thoughts was interrupted by the noise caused by his two other daughters upstairs fighting over the last piece of bread at home, his heart sank he looked around and for the first time he realized he had nothing left, his eye began to tear up but he had to hide it, he had to make up his mind.
"We do not have any choice, Rosa; it's high time Amina takes up her responsibility as the first child," Jose replied.
"But she's only sixte—"
"Enough!" Jose screamed as he cut off Rosa from speaking. "She will marry him. That's final."
Rosa couldn't sleep; she spent all night crying and thinking of ways to break the news to her daughter, Amina.
Some weeks passed, and Amina noticed that her parents were being extremely nice to her and kept agreeing to everything she asked for. She was suspicious at first, but since that was the week she turned seventeen, she simply thought they were being nice to her because of her upcoming birthday.
It was a beautiful morning, and Amina woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing from friends and family, all wishing her a happy birthday. She jumped out of bed expecting to see her parents outside her room, but instead, she met her bags and clothes packed up. She was confused for a moment. "Why would they pack all my things? What is going on?" she thought, but instantly convinced herself that her parents had arranged a vacation for her birthday. She was quite surprised, wondering where they got the money to do all this, but she ignored it.
She heard her dad call out to her, and she excitedly ran downstairs.
"Amina, my daughter, you turn seventeen today," her dad said. She happily nodded, expecting him to break the news of her vacation.
"I am sure you are aware of our financial status," her dad said. Her smile turned into a little frown as she nodded.
"Mr. Andrew has an interest in you, and I want you to—" Amina burst out in laughter, interrupting her dad, and said, "Dad, there's no need to try to prank me on my birthday like you do. I'm not a child anymore."
Her dad frowned and gave a stern look. "Amina, you will be moving to Mr. Andrew's house today."
Amina's face visibly changed, her fist clenched, as she had a strong feeling of disgust towards Mr. Andrew; she had seen how he acted around little girls and wasn't comfortable with it. Her mother tried to interfere but her dad shut the door right in her face.