Chapter 2

Randy's POV

“Whatever,” Clara stated as her phone buzzed again with another message from Kyle which made her giggle. Without another thought, I watched my wife pick up the pen.

“Hey Kyle,” she said with a smile on her face as soon as she picked up the incoming call, “I'll be right out, let me just change my clothes,” she continued, signing the paper without even looking at it. “Yeah, I can't wait to see you too,” she added as she stood to her feet.

My eyes widened slightly as the meaning of what she had just done settled heavily on me. For as long as we've been married, this is the way it has always been–I talk, she tunes out, even when I'm asking for divorce.

“Clara, do you have any idea what you just signed?” I asked, standing up to my feet.

“Yeah, some form about my medical treatment?” she replied, pausing to look up from her phone for a second. “I don't know why you bother me with such unimportant things, Randy,” she said, going back to texting on her phone. “You know you should be more like Kyle, he actually knows how to take care of me and he's done more for me than you ever could.”

“Kyle has done more for you than me?” I asked, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“Yeah,” She replied, rolling her eyes like she was stating the obvious, “When I had that accident after college, I had really painful seizures that were a side effect of the treatment I had received. Kyle stayed up for months until he founded and invented the inhaler-based relief treatment I use whenever I have my episodes so I could pass through considerably less pain.”

With a shocked expression on my face, I stared at her as she quickly scrolled through her phone and showed me the certificate of patent for the inhaler medication. “Kyke helped me heal, what have you done for me?”

“You think Kyle was the one who founded that medication for you?” I asked in utter disbelief.

“Yeah, I mean who else could have been that thoughtful?”

“Clara, I spent night after night researching that medication for you. I had no…”

“Hi, I'll be right outside,” Clara said into her phone with a smile as soon as Kyle's call came in and just like that she walked away without even allowing me to finish what I was saying.

At that moment I was transfixed as the words my professor had said to me years ago resounded into my ears. “I just hope that she realizes how much effort you're putting into this,” Professor Daniel had said after watching me for several months tirelessly research for that medication for her with so many sleepless nights and my health even deteriorating due to malnutrition.“I hope she's worth all of this,” he had asked several times again. And I remembered how many times I told him that she was.

My heart sank as the realization hit me like a punch in the face. She never really listened to my words or anything I had to say or even my heart for that matter. Right from the beginning, I always knew Kyle was her first love and I knew she married me just to make him jealous.

And for five years, I tried so hard to make her love me, I gave up my career, I gave up my dreams for her, but all I got was the cold shoulder. My phone rang in my pocket, pulling me out from my painful memories.

“Dr. Daniel?” I said into the phone, a little surprised–not because I had just been thinking about his words from years ago.

“Randy, Congratulations. Everyone here at the National Regenerative Medical Centre is blown away by your proposal,” he said and I could hear the excitement in his voice. “Now, if the data holds up, we believe it has the capability to change the world. But I would feel much more confident if you could lead the research. How do you feel about heading the research that could potentially find the cure for debilitating spinal cord injuries?”

A small smile spread across my lips as I quickly considered his offer. It has always been my dream to do something meaningful, something as meaningful as finding a cure for a disability that the world has written off. And when I married Clara, I shelved it. Not anymore.

“Count me in,” I replied almost immediately.

“That's what I want to hear,” Dr. Daniel replied cheerfully, “Look Randy, I'm going to be real with you. You're going to be off the grid for a year, no calls, no contact whatsoever. Some people crack under that,” he added.

“It won't be an issue for me,” I replied, “I'll see you at the Center.”

As soon as the call disconnected, a certain calm that I haven't felt in a really long while settled over me.

“I spent the last five years putting my life on hold for you. Not anymore, Clara. Starting today, I'm living for me,” I said to the open space in front of me.

***

“Hey Randy, good to see you,” Samuel greeted me with a smile on his face as soon as I walked into his house later that morning. Samuel Hall was Clara’s dad and the only one in the Hall family who treated me like a human being.

“Hey Sam,” I greeted back as I took the seat beside him. “I wanted to be the first to tell you, the NRMC has chosen me to lead a team of researchers in finding the cure for degenerative spinal cord injuries. I'm to report at the head centre in a few days to start the preparations. Plus Clara is already doing fine so she'll be okay without me.”

“That is so great, you'll finally be able to fulfill the wish you made to your mother years ago. I'm so happy for you, Randy.” Samuel said with a cheerful smile on his face. “You know? I always knew you were headed for big things,” he added.

“Thank you Sam, that means a lot coming from you,” I replied. Then I paused for a moment, my smile leaving my face as I said to him, “I also wanted to tell you that Clara and I are divorced.”

“What?” He asked, his cheerful smile leaving his face, “Is this another one of Clara’s tantrums? Look,” he said, taking my hand in his, “whatever awful things she might have said to you, she didn't mean it. Just ignore whatever papers she may have asked you to sign.”

“It was my decision to get a divorce.”

“I understand,” Sam said with a deep sigh as he gently let go of my hand. “Randy, I am so sorry I made you take care of Clara.”

“I owe you,” He added, another deep sigh leaving him.

“No, no,” I said immediately, “you paid for my entire tuition at Oxford, without you I wouldn't have been able to pursue my dream in any way. So after Kyle broke Clara’s heart and you came to me, asking me to marry her, how could I refuse?” I owe you everything, Sam.”

“Randy, your marriage to Clara may have started as a debt, but I know you fell in love with her. Anyone could see it,” he said, even more seriously.

“Well, it doesn't matter anymore,” I said sadly,” Kyle is back and Clara chose him. So as far as I'm concerned, the marriage contract has run its course.”

Though I said the words lightly, there was nothing light in the way I felt. It really sounded weird to the ears that Clara readily and easily accepted a man that cheated on her and abandoned years ago as soon as he came back over a man who has been here for her all along and it really hurt to say the least.

With another deep sigh, Sam stood to his feet, making me do the same, “It's her loss and one day, she's going to regret ever letting you go.”