Only Because It’s You by Rebecca Fisseha

Summary of Only Because It’s You by Rebecca Fisseha

I. The Accidental Discovery and the Engagement Panic

The narrative of Only Because It’s You begins in August in Toronto, on a sweltering afternoon that sets the stage for a chaotic chain of events. The protagonist, Mizan (Miz) Begashaw, a thirty-four-year-old physiotherapist, is in her bedroom preparing for a run with her best friend, Aimé. While rummaging through her “one-night stand” Daniel’s gym bag looking for her borrowed AirPods she discovers a small black velvet box. Inside is a one-carat square-cut diamond engagement ring.

Miz, who defines herself by her “anti-marriage” stance and her “need-to-never-know basis” relationship with her parents regarding her love life, is thrown into an immediate state of panic. She and Daniel have been in an “on again, off again” hookup arrangement for two years, and marriage has never been a topic of conversation. Miz’s aversion to marriage is deeply rooted in her childhood; at fourteen, she was “deported” to Ethiopia by her mother, Genet, as punishment for dating a boy in Canada. During that trip, she met her father, Gashaw, for the first time and discovered that her parents were technically still married despite living on separate continents for decades.

To avoid the “catastrophic moment” of a public proposal, Miz decides she must break things off with Daniel immediately. She takes the ring with her on her run to show Aimé, intending to return it to the bag later that night. However, the situation implodes when she returns home to find Daniel waiting at her kitchen island. Their interaction is interrupted by a phone call from Daniel’s co-agent and mentor, Naomi, whose voice on speaker reveals a sexual “side piece” relationship with Daniel. Relieved to have a “silver platter” excuse for a breakup, Miz feigns devastation and orders Daniel to leave. He departs abruptly, taking his gym bag but forgetting that Miz still has the diamond ring tucked in her nightstand drawer.

II. Kal’s Break and the Sponsorship Crisis

Parallel to Miz’s drama is the story of her lifelong friend, Kalkidan (Kal) Legesse. Kal is an Ethiopian immigrant who moved to Toronto eight years prior to pursue acting, a career choice his family in Addis Ababa viewed as a coping mechanism for his devastating breakup with his first love, Muna. Kal has been an understudy for the role of Mark Antony in a High Park production of Antony and Cleopatra.

Kal’s life reaches a peak when the lead actor, Grant, is injured in a car accident, and Kal is called up to perform the lead role for the remainder of the run. His performance is a triumph, fueled by the “purging” of his unresolved feelings for Muna. However, the glory is short-lived. Immediately after the closing night performance, the director, Oliver, informs Kal that the theater board has decided not to proceed with his permanent residence sponsorship due to a lack of resources. With his work permit set to expire in six months, Kal faces the very real prospect of being forced to return to Ethiopia and abandon his dreams.

III. The Bold Strategy: Finding a Wife

Miz, witnessing Kal’s “hollow” and “small” state after the sponsorship rejection, becomes obsessed with finding a way to keep him in Canada. She researches immigration laws and considers everything from graduate school to the US Green Card lottery, but Kal rejects these as “one in a million” chances. Eventually, Miz settles on the most practical, if ethically complex, solution: spousal sponsorship.

Miz initially plans to find a stranger to “sign” for Kal. With Aimé’s reluctant help, she embarks on a series of “interviews” with Ethiopian women in Toronto. The search is a disaster:

• Gelila (Gigi): Looks and sounds exactly like Kal’s ex, Muna.
• Khadijah: A “prepared foods” lady from a local Rabba who demands a ten percent deposit just to discuss the matter.
• Helina: An artist who cancels at the last minute.
• Nardos: A dental assistant who reveals she has done “paper marriages” before, which Miz realizes would be a red flag for the government.
• Samri: Flee the “group interview” at SanRemo Bakery in a state of confusion.

In the aftermath of the failed interviews, Kal points out that such arrangements work best between people who already know and trust each other. In a moment of mutual vulnerability and “monumental” tension, Miz asks, “Why won’t you let me sign for you?”. They agree to the arrangement, acknowledging their two decades of friendship and deep mutual trust.

IV. The Toronto Wedding: A Fraudulent I-Do

On October 1st, Miz and Kal enter into their “marriage of convenience” at Toronto City Hall. Miz, despite her “anti-marriage” stance, wears a borrowed white wedding dress (formerly belonging to her friend Sosina) and a veil. Kal wears a plain black suit and brings a bouquet of roses. Their witnesses are Silvio (Kal’s roommate) and Aimé.

The ceremony is a blur of stilted, scripted vows and a “missable peck” on the lips that Miz initiates to satisfy the “application” requirements. Afterward, the group has a celebratory lunch where the line between “fake” and “real” begins to blur. Aimé toasts to the fact that Kal has finally made Miz “take a break from dating”. Though Miz maintains the “hubby-wifey” concept is strictly paper-based, her internal alarm bells go off when Kal suggests that being “attached” might be exactly what he needs to start dating again.

V. Building a Life: The Red Binder and the Mattress

The months following the wedding are dedicated to building a “Proofs of Relationship” file, organized into a red four-inch binder. They spend time at Miz’s apartment filling out form IMM5532 (Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation), recounting their first meeting in Addis Ababa in 1996.

As a “small way of saying I appreciate you,” Kal surprises Miz by having a luxury mattress delivered to her apartment, replacing the ancient, back-pain-inducing one she had slept on for years. He explains that the sales guy promised every sleep would be like an “eight-hour massage”.

Their relationship shifts from “project partners” to something more intimate during a “romantic photo tour” of Toronto. They visit locations like Ripley’s Aquarium, the CN Tower, and the Humber Bay Arch Bridge to create a photographic history for the government. On the bridge, at the insistence of a passerby, they share a second kiss this one “silky soft” and filled with a “warmth” that leaves Miz’s heart on the edge of exploding. This intimacy culminates when Kal stays over at Miz’s to “try out” the new mattress. They become physically involved, and Kal confesses, “I love you… so much, nefse” (my soul).

VI. Crossing Borders: The Return to Addis Ababa

The application is sent off just before they fly to Ethiopia in January for Kal’s parents’ forty-eighth wedding anniversary. The trip is freighted with tension. Kal has begun calling Miz his “wife” in public to the Uber driver, to airline staff, and to his family which causes Miz deep unease. She worries that he is becoming “dreamy” and forgetting the terms of their arrangement.

The landing in Addis is an emotional homecoming for both. Kal is met by a massive crowd of relatives at the airport, while Miz is struck by the “sepia glow” of the mountains. During a feast at the Legesse villa, Kal’s father, Abay, makes a shocking public announcement: because Abay and his late wife never had a proper wedding celebration, he wants Kal and Miz to stand alongside him on Saturday for a “double grace” celebration. Miz, trapped by the family’s “delusional” joy, finds herself unable to say no and instead “smiles and nods” while panicking internally.

VII. The Parent Trap: Hotel Mirages

While Kal is occupied with family “wedding matters,” Miz spends her days with her mother, Genet, who has been “delayed” in Addis for weeks. The core of Miz’s world is shaken when she spots her father, Gashaw, in the lobby of the Elilly Hotel the same hotel where her mother is staying.

Suspecting a rendezvous, Miz follows her father and enters her mother’s room, only to find her parents shacked up together in a “hotel room affair”. They are both wearing their wedding rings. In a tearful confrontation, her parents admit that they “married too soon” and “just let each other go” because of the difficulties of getting exit visas thirty years ago. They tell Miz they are “so proud of her for not getting married,” believing her independence is a sign of wisdom they lacked. This irony is almost too much for Miz to bear, as she is currently “pretending” to be married while her parents have been “pretending” to be separated for three decades.

VIII. The Fracture: A Coffee House Rejection

The morning of the planned celebration in Ethiopia, Miz reaches her breaking point. She realizes she cannot go through with the “charade” of a public wedding alongside Kal’s parents, whose love she views as a “timeless, spaceless bond” she hasn’t earned.

She summons Kal to a café and delivers a “murderous” rejection. She tells him, “I am not your wife… I can’t do today”. She accuses him of “manipulating” her with his family’s expectations. Kal, who had spent the week hoping Miz was “catching up” to his real romantic feelings, is devastated and furious. He characterizes her as a “sulky, spoiled brat” who uses “crying to get her way”. Miz boards the flight back to Toronto alone, while Kal petulantly upgrades to business class to avoid her for the sixteen-hour journey.

IX. The Cold War and the Red Ring

Back in Toronto, they enter a period of “cold silence”. Miz is nursing a hairline fracture in her ankle from a running accident, and she feels a “sinkhole of sadness” over the lost friendship with Kal.

The “Daniel ring” plot line finally reaches its conclusion when Daniel barges into Miz’s apartment with the help of the concierge, Everest. In a humiliating scene, Daniel rummages through her nightstand dumping her collection of sex toys onto the floor to retrieve the diamond ring. Kal arrives at the same moment, carrying a bag of “love limes,” and witnesses the scene. A heated argument ensues where Kal questions Miz’s loyalty. Miz fires back, telling him his “perfect mom” would never understand her, causing Kal to storm out once again.

X. The Final Reckoning: The Immigration Interview

The climax of the novel occurs at the Service Canada Centre for their immigration interview. After weeks of not speaking, they arrive separately, looking “detached” and “robotic”. The officer, sensing their tension, grills Kal on why he waited so long to propose and whether Miz was merely “backup insurance”.

Miz decides that “truth is the only way to salvage our relationship”. She admits to the officer that she “never thought of marriage” and that she “wanted to take our time” and “just date”. Kal, moved by her honesty, corroborates the story, admitting he was “so hurt at first” but that they eventually chose to enjoy being together without pressure.

In a surprising turn, the officer reveals himself to be a fan of the theater and asks Kal about his role as Mark Antony. The interview ends on a high note, with the officer promising to give their case “a lot of thought”. Outside, Miz and Kal finally reconcile, realizing that they have “rescinded the proposal” in a way that allows them to start over as a real couple.

Conclusion and the Final Approval

The novel concludes with a “first date” at the Rabba, the location where they first reconnected years earlier. While standing at the cash register, Kal checks his email and finds the official notification: the sponsorship has been approved.

In the Epilogue, set one year later, Kal is officially a “landed” permanent resident. Miz’s projects are all successful: her parents are living together in Ethiopia, and Aimé is a professional running coach. On a romantic trip to Niagara Falls, Miz finally asks Kal to order “custom-made rings from Teklu Desta,” signifying that she is ready for a real marriage. Kal’s response is the final line of the book: “I thought you’d never ask”.