My family has already printed “Doctor” on the celebration cake

Dear Delyara, My medical licensing results arrive tomorrow. I trained abroad and have failed the exam twice. My family believes this attempt will be different. My mother ordered a cake with “Dr. Adeyemi” written across it because she says faith should prepare the table before the blessing arrives. My siblings have invited relatives. I asked them to wait, but everyone accused me of speaking negatively. The cake is inside my mother’s refrigerator now, hidden beneath foil, as if the title already belongs to me and only the website needs to confirm it. I have worked as a care assistant for four years while studying at night. Residents call me doctor when I notice changes the nurses miss, and each time the word feels like both recognition and accusation. If I fail again, I will not only read a number. I will walk into my mother’s kitchen and watch someone scrape my title from the icing. I know an exam does not measure my worth, intelligence, or years of training. Tomorrow it will still decide whether the country where I live permits me to become the person my family has already begun celebrating.