Chapter 5: Refused To Eat

Dylan walked towards their bed and saw the divorce papers on the headboard. He hadn't read them yet, as there were two copies given to him when he was leaving Rosie's house.

Dylan took one of the divorce papers and glanced through it as he put it into his black briefcase, shutting it, before going into his bathroom to bathe. He decided to prepare for work at the office, thinking he would read the divorce papers there instead.

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Meanwhile, Jessica rushed downstairs into the living room and saw her two kids sitting on the black couch eating popcorn from the previous night—the same popcorn she had used to keep herself awake while waiting for Dylan to return home.

She saw that the living room wall clock read 8:35 AM, and she knew her two kids were late for school.

"Mummy! Mummy!" Caleb and Nina both rushed up to hug Jessica's legs as soon as she stepped down into the living room.

Caleb asked, "Mummy, aren't we going to school today?"

Jessica knew her two kids were already late for school. She knew that if their former maid were still around, she would have helped prepare them for school, bathed them before she woke up, and prepared their breakfast as well.

The maid would have even assisted Caleb and Nina with having their breakfast at the dining table. But now, Jessica had to do it all alone, as Dylan was now strongly against them having any maid.

Jessica had initially thought the young maid tried to seduce her husband in her absence, but after the maid left, she didn't receive any complaint or report of the sort from the maid's parents.

The housemaid had even cried, being sent away without doing anything wrong to offend Jessica.

Jessica had to give the young maid extra money, telling her that she would still be going to school and that she wouldn't stop paying her school fees, even though the maid was no longer under her care.

The young maid was very smart and nice, doing all her house chores alone, before Jessica would even wake up or send her on an errand.

Florence Gregson was a 15-year-old girl, and Jessica had seen how much Florence cared for Caleb and Nina, even helping them with their homework like she was their real elder sister. Yet, Florence was only a maid and not related to them.

"Time has passed for today, Caleb. Don't worry, I will try to wake up very early tomorrow morning to take you and Nina to school on time. Wait here, let me prepare something for you both to eat first, and then I will go and prepare your bath afterwards," Jessica told her son with a smile as she squatted down to meet his height, alongside her little daughter's height, too.

She stood up from squatting on the floor in front of her two kids and went into the kitchen to prepare their breakfast.

Jessica wondered if Dylan was still serious about divorcing her as she walked into the kitchen towards her cupboards to check what to prepare.

She resumed mopping the kitchen floor, since she didn't have a maid anymore.

After she was through with cleaning the kitchen floor and cabinet tops, she proceeded to prepare her kids' breakfast. She made noodles and fried eggs for them and stepped out to the dining table to serve them.

The aroma of the fried eggs and delicious noodles attracted her two kids' nostrils, and they rushed over to meet her at the dining table to take their respective seats.

Nina was too small to climb the dining chair by herself, crying out and reaching for Jessica to carry her up.

On Nina's third attempt to climb the dining chair on her own, her little bottom ended up crashing to the tiled floor, and she cried out, "Mummy!.."

"Wait, Nina, I'm coming," Jessica quickly rushed to pick Nina up in her arms. She dusted her little daughter's bottom and sat down with Nina on her thighs, proceeding to feed her small mouth.

Nina continued to stretch her small hand to take the spoon away from Jessica's hand to feed herself, but Jessica refused and continued to feed her daughter.

Jessica knew her two kids were happy children, and she didn't want them to become sad while growing up seeing that their parents were now quarreling and no longer in love with each other.

"Mummy, why are you crying?" Caleb asked, noticing that Jessica was crying silently as tears rolled freely from her eyes.

Nina tried to look up at her mother's face while sitting on Jessica's thighs eating her noodles. She tried to look up to see if her mummy was truly crying, but just then, Jessica heard footsteps from behind her back. She quickly sniffed, plastered a fake smile on her face, and replied to Caleb, "I'm not crying, I'm just overwhelmed."

"Over what?" Caleb tried to ask, not understanding the big grammar his mother had used with him. But Dylan quickly cut the mother-to-son conversation short with his deep, sharp voice, replying to his son, "That's enough, Caleb. Now eat your food. You should know that talking isn't allowed while eating."

"Okay, Dad." Caleb smiled at his father's words.

Dylan stood with a strict face, already dressed in a black suit to leave for his company. He adjusted his black suit necktie properly over his inner white long-sleeve shirt.

Jessica stared backward at Dylan's face and saw the hardened expression he wore.

She wanted to put Nina down on the next chair so Nina could start eating on her own, intending to stand up from the dining chair to prepare Dylan's breakfast. But Dylan quickly told her coldly, "There won't be any need for that, as I cannot wait to eat."

Jessica, who had already stood up from the dining table, saw that Dylan didn't want to wait for his breakfast.

Having finished adjusting his suit, Dylan placed some money on the coffee table for them and left the house.

"Mummy..." Nina cried out, unable to reach the dining table by herself, as her little hands couldn't reach far enough to grab her spoon and feed herself.

Nina's crying snapped Jessica out of her trance. Looking back at her crying daughter trying to feed herself, Jessica rushed back to her. She carried Nina back onto her thighs and resumed feeding her at the dining table.

Jessica knew that Dylan truly wasn't joking about divorcing her, and she silently pondered what she could do to appease him as she continued to feed her daughter.

After Jessica was through with feeding Nina, Caleb finished his meal as well, she cleared the plates to the kitchen.

Jessica knew Dylan had only left the security man at the gate to open and lock it whenever he left for the office in the morning and returned in the evening, having sacked all the domestic staff.

She heard the sound of his car starting in the garage. She peered out the kitchen window and saw him driving out of their compound, and she knew he was leaving for the office.

Jessica went to her kids' room downstairs to prepare their bath. After she was done bathing them, she dressed them in new clothes and brought them back to the living room with their toys to play.

She switched on the television to a cartoon channel for them to watch, before going back upstairs to her bedroom.