Chapter 4: Choosing Me

“You haven't been picking my calls? Travis said in a hoarse voice, his chest thrusted out, eyes gleaming from Vanessa to Franklin.

They folded their arms allowing their silence stretch the room. Travis declined back, his eyes catching the strain that laid on Vanessa's veins. For every long glare, her grip on the paper tightened even more, her knuckles digging through it like she was about to tear it to pieces.

“Can someone answer me? What the hell is going on here?” His eyes flushed. Vanessa pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes tightly.

“I hate suspense.” He sneered, swirling back slowly. “Attorney Franklin. Has she brought you here as a witness while she signs the surrogacy agreement?” He turned to a seat, his back pressed to the couch.

No response came from them.

Vanessa stepped forward, pinching her lips tight to keep them from trembling. Lifting her chin, she swallowed hard, stifling back the weakness that burned in her throat.

“Travis.” She exhaled deeply. “For five good years, you…you've lied, cheated….” She tossed the medical report to Travis, leaning closer.

“Open it.” She swallowed briefly, lowering her head.

Travis stood up abruptly, his chin high and his feet widely apart. “Those crocodile tears would never get to me Vanessa, just cut the chase and fulfill your marital duties already.” He smirked, as he unfolded the paper.

“What!” His mouth fell open as he sighted the subject line. “Vasectomy.” His eyes bulged.

“H- How did you do this?” His voice shaky as fingers trembled beneath the paper.

“Answer me!” He lashed out, eyes turning dark.

Vanessa cocked her brows at Franklin then pulled forward. “Listen up Travis.” Vanessa ran her hand through her hair, her feet pacing back and forth. “You better start saying everything you know about this report.”

“ Is this some joke or something?” He ripped off the paper into two, tearing it in shreds and letting it fall to the ground. “Nonsense.”

“I've got a copy already,” Vanessa snapped, her feet moving in circles. “Stop lying and start owning up to your shit.” Her voice deepened and Travis shuffled backwards.

“Attorney Franklin. Are you gonna stand there and watch her cook up some cock and bull story about me? My fertility…” His eyes darkened. “When she clearly knows she is the impotent one.”

The word stung Vanessa's ears. She lurked forward but Franklin was fast enough to pull her back.

“You wanna fight me?” Travis smacked, his heart pounding in his chest.

“I…I want to grab you by your ears and scream all the lies you've ever told me until you come to realise how much… you've played me for a fool! for five years Travis… five solid… years.”

“Then go ahead and do it. Do it Vanessa. Do it!” Travis lurched forward, his breathing shooting through his chest.

“Let me go, Franklin.” Vanessa pulled his hands off and looked Travis in the eye. Piercing.

“I love my dignity as a woman so I won't be fighting you.” She paused, walking one step closer to him. “ I will be divorcing you instead.” She slammed the divorce papers on his chest making his muscles snap, her jaw tightening.

“We are done Travis. I'm done with the lies. The document and report proves that you got a sterile surgery and yet didn't deem it fit to let me know all these years. You made me work under your company and when you had no use for me again you decided to impose surrogacy on me.” Vanessa's hand pressed her mouth, so hard, just enough to make her lips tremble.

Travis stood frozen to a spot as he held the divorce papers. His shoulders slouched. He couldn't look at Vanessa.

“You want the truth?” Travis's laugh was sour. “Fine. It wasn't supposed to be permanent. Five years ago, I had a surgery—an appendectomy that went wrong. There were complications, infections. The doctors had to go back in, and they... they damaged something. Said I needed a corrective procedure to prevent further issues.” Travis rubbed his temple, his voice dropping.

He sank into the armchair,suddenly looking older.

“The vasectomy wasn’t planned. It was a medical necessity. They told me it might be reversible later, that there were options—sperm extraction, storage, treatments. I froze samples before the procedure, Vanessa. That's what surrogacy would use.”

He paced, not meeting her eyes.

“My father... he built everything on the idea of legacy. Heirs. Continuing the family name.” His hands trembled slightly as he poured himself a drink.

“When I found out about the vasectomy complications from that surgery years ago, the one I never told you about—I panicked. I thought... I thought if I could just find a way around it, you'd never have to know. That we could still give him what he wanted before he died.” He looked up at her, something almost vulnerable flickering across his face before hardening again.

Vanessa's eyes squinted to their wedding photograph which was resting on the wall. She sighed, choking down a sob.

“But now Kate's circling like a vulture, and I'm out of time. So yeah, surrogacy is the only option I have left.”

Vanessa reached out for her bag, snatched out the small, red box. Lifting it up so Travis could see it, she looked at the ring in her finger, slid it out slowly and dropped it into the box.

He finally looked at her. “I didn't tell you because I thought I could fix it. Every year I’d go back, ask about reversal options, new procedures. I kept waiting for the right time to tell you when I had a solution. But then Dad died, and the reading happened, and Kate started making her moves…”

He slumped back into the chair. “The surrogacy was supposed to use my frozen samples with your eggs. Sandra carries it, we get the heir, we keep the inheritance, and you never had to know about my... defect.”

“So you let me believe I was the problem for five years?” Vanessa's voice shook.

“It was easier than admitting I'm the one who's broken,”he whispered.

“We are done!” She turned to Franklin. “My lawyer is already here as a witness,” she grimaced. “So sign the divorce papers and let's end this here.”

Travis laughed, faking calm as he straightened himself to his feet. “It may seem as though you are.”

“— save it.” Vanessa jabbed a finger as she tossed her pen to him. “For the first time in five years I'm choosing myself over you. Over this thing called marriage.”

As Travis scribbled his signature on the paper, she turned to the door strutted through the walkway, attorney Franklin falling to her side. Travis's wife was gone. Travis's stepmom is at the verge of taking over his entire property. Travis sank into the recliner, pressing his phone to his ears, he was calling his father's lawyers.

“Drive me out of here.” Vanessa shielded her eyes with her sunglasses as they got into the car, the screeching sound of the tyres made her face brighten. Done for good. Done choosing marriage over career.

“I've got a property down the next street. Travis barely knows about it.” She turned to Franklin, her lips curled softly. “Take me there and tomorrow , first in the morning, I'm leaving for good.”

“Just like that?”

“Of course. Staying one second around my husband— Scratch that, my ex-husband makes my blood boil. Who knows how many more lies he has in store.” Vanessa sucked her teeth as she looked away to the window.

“So you're gonna leave tomorrow without taking anything from your ex- husband?” A gleam played in Franklin's eyes.

“It's not in his father's will.” Vanessa rolled her eyes, “As long as we didn't have a child together I have no share in his property.”

“Too bad.”

“No. It's fine. I wasn’t a liability to start with so he owes me nothing.”

“What if there's more to this than we both know?”

Silence stretched between both as Vanessa stared at him for a moment.

“I mean. He also has an inheritance hearing to battle with just like you told me. So what if it's connected to something in the family?”

“Honestly Franklin, I don't care. And I don't want to know. I'm done with Travis and that's final. I can't live with someone I can't trust.” Vanessa cocked her head, her chin raised as she sighed softly.

The car came to a halt on a dusty, lonely street with scanty trees and a bungalow at the corner of two other buildings.

“Thank you so much Attorney Franklin, I'll help myself from here.” Vanessa flashed a brief smile to him before coming down from the car. Dust flickered upwards when the car spun off. Vanessa stood watching with her hands clutched to her bag containing all her vital documents and essentials.

Her eyes squinted as she heaved a sigh of relief reaching out for her cellphone. An email notification on screen made her pupils dilate.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine—Urology Department. It reads:

“Thank you for your application to our Advanced Urology Specialization program. Looking at already acquired credentials and medical experience, you have been selected to sit for the entrance examination and practical assessment. Please confirm your attendance for the examination scheduled for February 5th, 2026. The three-day intensive evaluation will test clinical knowledge, surgical aptitude, and research capabilities. Upon successful completion, candidates will be notified of final admission decisions within two weeks.”

She scrolled down to the exam details. Travel arrangements. Accommodation information. A reading list of recommended materials for preparation.

Her finger hovered over the “Confirm Attendance” button. She blinked, swallowing hard. This was real, finally rebuilding everything she'd sacrificed for years. She tapped the button, and a confirmation message appeared: “Registration confirmed. Examination materials and instructions will be sent within 48 hours.”

And as she shut her eyes it hit that she was no longer the timid Vanessa—an ordinary wife but Vanessa the soon to be Urologist.