3: The dream

Jessica shook her head in the bathtub, knowing that Dylan usually made love to her in the bathroom whenever they bathed together as a couple, and now he was avoiding her.

She resumed bathing in the white tub with her sponge, soap, and water. After she finished her bath, she rinsed her body and finally walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to get dressed.

Dylan had already put on his white night robe and was sitting on the bed, feeling tipsy from the alcoholic drink he had consumed at Rosie's home.

He saw Jessica step out of the bathroom, but he immediately turned his gaze away from her and towards the wall as he lay on the bed.

Dylan turned his back on Jessica and faced the wall. She frowned at her husband's behavior and knew that he was truly avoiding her.

Jessica walked up to their wardrobe to take out a nightgown. She tried hard not to cry, as she didn't want to divorce Dylan.

She knew he had been behaving strangely lately; he had been absent from home for two days in a row. She wondered to herself, "Who's the new woman in his life now?"

Jessica stood searching for a single nightgown for hours. Even after touching the white nightgown she wanted to wear, she hesitated to take it out of the wardrobe.

Beside the wardrobe, she got lost in thought as hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

Finally, Jessica snapped out of her trance and took out the white nightgown she had been holding. She put it on as she stared back at her sleeping husband on the bed.

Her eyes moved to the divorce papers on the headboard, and she shook her head in sadness before walking over to the bed to join her husband in sleep.

Dylan was already fast asleep, but as Jessica climbed onto the bed, he felt her weight pressing down and his eyes subtly opened a little. He stared at the pretty woman beside him.

Seeing that the beautiful woman was his wife, whom he was about to divorce, and seeing her sobbing too, Dylan sat up in bed and sleepily asked, "What's wrong, babe?"

Jessica snuffled and wanted to reply, but Dylan lay back down again and fell asleep. The alcohol hadn't worn off yet, and he was tired and exhausted from spending half of his evening with Rosie after leaving the office at 5 PM.

Dylan turned his back on Jessica again, adjusted his pillow properly underneath his head, and resumed sleeping while Jessica blinked her tears away, sitting on the bed and looking at her sleeping husband for a moment.

Not wanting to accept the fact that they were going to divorce the following day, Jessica decided to be the good wife she was. She wrapped her left arm around Dylan's waist and moved closer to him in bed as he lay with his back to her.

She cuddled up beside him, inhaling his manly scent as she hugged him, seeking warmth from him.

Jessica rested her head on Dylan's left arm to caress his face and jaw, but Dylan inhaled Jessica's sweet blossom scent, and his eyes subtly opened again. Even in his drunken state, he sprang up from the bed and pushed Jessica's arm off him.

Dylan looked at Jessica angrily and asked, "What's wrong with you, Jessica? Why don't you want me to sleep tonight?"

Dylan was seated on the bed, and noticing that Jessica wasn't wearing a bra beneath her large breasts, he saw that her white nightgown was almost transparent, revealing her figure.

Dylan turned away, and Jessica replied, "I want you, Dylan."

"But I don't want you anymore, Jessica. I want a divorce, and you should sign the divorce papers tomorrow and leave! I'm not joking about it," Dylan curtly stated before grabbing his pillow and drunkenly stepping off the bed. He put on his black slippers and prepared to leave their bedroom, snatching the pillow away from Jessica's hand as she tried to stop him by holding onto it.

Dylan walked out of the room, leaving Jessica alone in their master bedroom. She cried out, "No, sweetheart! Wait! Where are you going?"

Jessica hurriedly got off the bed and chased after Dylan as he exited their sitting room upstairs and went downstairs to the guest room to sleep.

"Dylan! Open this door!" Jessica banged heavily on the guest room door, urging him to unlock it from within.

Dylan ignored her and went to bed in the guest room, wanting to escape the situation in their bedroom.

"Dylan! Open this door now! It's me, your wife!" Jessica cried out as she continued banging heavily on the door.

She glanced at the clock in the corridor and saw it was already after midnight.

Jessica shook her head and finally went back upstairs to their master bedroom to sleep alone. She didn't want to wake their two kids, and she climbed slowly into the king-sized bed covered in white bedspread.

She lay there, trying to sleep. It was Wednesday night, and she knew her kids would be going to school the following Thursday morning. She needed to sleep on time to wake up early and prepare them for school.

But sleep was far from her eyes as she kept crying on the bed, thinking about the new woman who had come into her husband's life and destroyed her marriage.

Jessica continued to ponder how she would lose weight to impress Dylan and be the slim woman he desired again.

She recalled trying to lose weight before, but it hadn't been easy for her since she loved eating and sleeping as she was always at home and not working.

Jessica had spoken to her best friend, Esther Friday, about her plans to lose more weight. Esther had advised her that the best way to lose weight was to hit the gym.

Though she had been exercising daily, losing weight was still a challenge for her.

Jessica snuffled on the bed again and eventually fell asleep. In her dream, a beautiful, short woman walked into her home with a big black traveling bag. This woman was not her; she was taller. The short woman looked at Jessica irritably and ordered her to serve her meals.

Jessica found herself serving this beautiful, slim woman in her dream, pleading with her, "Please, you cannot send me away from my husband's house. Leave Dylan alone so that he can look at me, his wife."

But the woman replied, "No. I have known Dylan longer than you have. Your time in his life is up, so go away."

Jessica saw Dylan throw her bag of clothes outside their home, disregarding their kids' presence. He told her, "Leave my house, Jessica. This marriage is over. Go away and get out of my life!"

"No, Dylan! Please... Don't send me away. I love you... Please, Dylan..."

Jessica continued to struggle on the bed in her sleep, dreaming.

She kept pleading with Dylan in her dream, "Please, Dylan, don't send me away. Please..."

In her dream, Jessica watched as Dylan rushed to her and dragged her away by her left wrist, attempting to throw her outside their mansion. She cried out to him, "Please, Dylan! You cannot send me away! Dylan! Dylan! Dylan, please!"

"I'm here, Jessica! Wake up!" Dylan shook Jessica vigorously on the bed to wake her up. He sat beside her and shook her again and again to rouse her from her nightmare.

When he had woken up in the guest room the night before, he had a headache and remembered returning home the previous night with the divorce papers Rosie Andrew had given him, asking him to have Jessica sign them.