Not all that glitters is gold, they say, but how can it not be? After all, it is glittering. Well, Sherinah thought so, as did we all.

Sherinah thought she had found her happily ever after when she married her husband, Antonio, but her world crumbled when he introduced another woman into their relationship without her knowledge.

Sherinah met Antonio in her second year at university, and he had been her rock throughout her university days. He provided her with all that she wanted, giving her a soft life amongst her peers.

Sherinah started living with Tony three months after getting to know him. He bought her a Rav4 so that she could easily move from Bukoto to Makerere University. We all admired her because of the life Antonio was giving Sherinah.

In her third year, they decided to make it official by introducing the love of her life to her parents. At first, her parents disagreed, saying that she was still young, but Sherinah was determined to marry the man of his dreams. Her parents later blessed her, and she was officially given away to her dream man traditionally.

Tony never mentioned anything about having a church wedding, but Sherinah was okay with it; after all, she was doing life with the love of her life.

We all graduated and took different paths in life. We looked for several jobs for quite some time, and it is safe to say that adulthood is a trap, but that is a story for another day.

I recently reconnected with Sherinah over dinner, and with how we left things at university, I was compelled to ask how Antonio was. I needed to know how life had gotten better and sweeter now that the university power couple was married. The conversation after that did not go as I had hoped and imagined.

“One Saturday, my husband left early morning and said he was travelling upcountry. Two days later, he came back home with food stuffs like any man who has travelled upcountry. That night, for some reason, I was compelled to go through his phone. Girl, I could not believe my eyes. There were photos of my husband introducing another lady. I felt like my whole world had been turned upside down. I couldn’t put my head around the entire situation. Why would he do this to me, to us?” Sherinah questioned.

Sherinah said she struggled to come to terms with the new reality and that she began questioning their entire marriage. Had he been dishonest from the start? Were there signs she had missed? Was this an affair or a deliberate attempt to practice polygamy? How long had this been going on? What were his true intentions? 

I was completely dumbstruck as she narrated her story. I remember failing to finish my food while at dinner and instead ordering a number of cocktails. 

Sherinah faced an impossible choice by accepting this new dynamic of betrayal and polygamy. She said that after months of turmoil, she realized she deserved better and decided to choose her happiness without quitting because Antonio had built her a home.

“I couldn’t continue living a lie. I decided to make lemonade out of lemons, enjoy my life, and take care of my three children. If I feel like going out till morning, I do so. I also have my boyfriend somewhere who treats me well. I chose happiness over self-pity,” she said.

Sherinah’s journey toward healing has been long and difficult, but she is determined to rediscover herself and find happiness again.

I do not know how I got home that evening considering I had quite a number of drinks, but we are due for another dinner, where I guess I will have to update her on my life since we departed from university.