Chapter 1: Sign Them

Jessica paced around the living room, waiting for her husband, Dylan Robinson, to return home from work.

She was a beautiful, chubby, fair-skinned, 27-year-old woman, and she had been married to Dylan for five years.

She had been submissive and loving. She took care of their home and their two kids. Yet all of a sudden, Dylan changed.

Jessica had a son and a daughter with Dylan. Her first child, Caleb, was a five-year-old boy, while her second child, Nina, was a two-year-old girl, and they were fast asleep in their separate bedrooms.

For two nights, after Dylan left for work on Monday morning, Jessica hadn't seen her husband return home. She had noticed that his mood had changed before he left the house that Monday morning.

Jessica stood in the living room and called Dylan to know where he was, but the network provider told her, “Sorry, the mobile number you are trying to call is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.”

"Oh! Where could Dylan be?" Jessica muttered. She had called Dylan’s phone several times, and she really needed to see her husband.

She had lied to their two kids that their father went to work on Monday morning. Yet Dylan didn't return home at all, and she couldn't keep up with the lies.

Jessica heard the sound of a car drive into their compound and park. She went outside and peeked, and saw that Dylan had returned home.

She sighed and went back into the house to wait for Dylan to come inside.

Soon Dylan stepped out of his car and walked into the mansion. He was a 30-year-old black man, and he owned DY Mobile Company.

He entered the living room and saw his wife, Jessica Albert, standing there in her long white nightgown. She greeted him, "Welcome home, sweetheart."

"Hmm," Dylan frowned. He held the divorce papers in his hands. His longtime lover, Rosie Andrew, had given them to him to give to Jessica at home and to divorce her.

Dylan walked up to meet Jessica without responding to her greeting. He stopped in front of her and shoved the divorce papers into her hands. "I cannot continue to pretend with you anymore, Jessica. Read through these divorce papers and sign them. Pack your things tomorrow and return to your father's house. You can leave with our kids if you want to, or you can leave them behind and go alone. But make sure that you pack your things tomorrow and leave. I will give you some shares of my company revenue and pay you off later, but this marriage is over between us."

"What!" Jessica was taken aback by her husband's statement, and she looked at the divorce paper in her hands.

'Is this a dream?' Jessica wondered, and stared up at Dylan as she watched him walk away toward the living room stairs.

Instead of Dylan explaining to her where he had gone for the three days and two nights she hadn't seen him, he shoved the divorce papers into her hands and ordered her to sign them.

Jessica snapped out of her trance and called Dylan back. "Wait, Dylan. What's the meaning of this? You just got home now, and instead of explaining to me where you went, you are talking to me about divorce? What has come over you, Dylan? What did I do wrong?"

Jessica looked teary, and Dylan paused and turned back to face her. "Have you taken a good look at yourself in the mirror lately, Jessica?"

Jessica was puzzled by her husband's question, and she stared at herself from head to toe to understand what he meant.

"Are you the same woman that I married five years ago? Take a good look at yourself, Jessica. You have turned fat overnight, and I cannot continue with you anymore. I cannot carry you and make love to you the way I want because you have outgrown me, and that's the truth. This marriage is not working anymore. So sign the divorce papers and leave," Dylan spat in a cold voice and turned to walk away toward the living room stairs.

"No, Dylan! We cannot divorce. I love you, and I'm already working on myself," Jessica replied.

Jessica had been a banker before she met Dylan. But after giving birth to Nina, she started adding weight at home. Dylan complained that she had turned lazy and forced her to quit her job and to look after their two kids at home. He said she wouldn't be leaving all the work to the maid alone.

Dylan sent the poor maid away. Jessica had thought that the maid did something wrong, but the maid was innocent.

Dylan insisted that Jessica must cook his food and spend time with their kids, and Jessica did all that happily, if it would make their marriage work and please Dylan. Yet Dylan was filing for divorce now.

Jessica cried, "No, Dylan! I cannot divorce you. After five years of our marriage, no! This cannot be happening to us."

Dylan paused and replied, "Just sign the divorce papers paper and leave, Jessica. I'm not the first man to divorce his wife, and I won't be the last."

Jessica asked tearfully, "What did I do wrong to you, Dylan? Why do you want to destroy our marriage?"

Dylan turned and replied, "You've turned ugly, Jessica, and not the same woman that I married before. So leave!"

"What!" Jessica was shocked at Dylan's statement, and she looked at her husband's face in disbelief. He smelled of alcohol, and she could see red lipstick on his lips.

Jessica didn't want to believe that Dylan was already cheating on her. "What did you just say, Dylan? That I'm ugly now? Really?"

"Yes, Jessica! Or am I lying to you? Was this how I married you before? Agreed, you're a billionaire's daughter, and your father helped me establish myself in the past. So what? I cannot continue to pretend with you anymore because you have turned fat. You are not the kind of wife that I want to have at home again or be coming back home to meet. So leave," Dylan spat in a cold tone. Jessica's heart broke into pieces at his final statement to her.

Tears streamed freely from her eyes and wet the divorce papers in her hands.

She sobbed, "No, Dylan... I cannot accept this divorce. I think you're getting it all wrong. It's not my fault that I'm fat now. Some women turn fat too after giving birth to their children, and it's not a disease."

Dylan climbed the living room stairs and paused. He looked back at Jessica and saw that she looked so innocent in her long white nightgown. She wasn't really fat before, when he first married her.

He replied, "I cannot continue to pretend with you anymore, Jessica. So take your time and read through those divorce papers and sign them. I acknowledge all your efforts in making our marriage work, and all your family's efforts in supporting us in the past and present. But this marriage isn't working anymore. And I cannot continue to sleep outside my matrimonial home or pay for a hotel room when I have a magnificent duplex here as my home. So sign the divorce papers and leave."

Dylan climbed the living room stairs and went back upstairs to the master bedroom that he shared with Jessica, leaving her standing alone in the living room and staring at the divorce papers in her hands.

Jessica looked at the living room wall clock and saw that it was after 11pm. Yet Dylan was just returning home from work, and she knew that his company usually closed by 5pm.

Jessica screamed, "No, Dylan!!! This cannot be happening to us. We can never divorce! Never!"

Tears freely rolled down her cheeks and soaked the divorce papers in her hands. She said, "You cannot divorce me now, Dylan! I'm not like this before, and I cannot turn thin overnight just to please you and satisfy you the way you want."

Jessica fell back onto one of the living room black couches behind her. They had seven black couches in their living room. She remembered the first day that she met Dylan.

Dylan was a handsome black man, trustworthy, friendly, and the kind of man that every other lady out there would pray to have.

In the initial stages of their relationship, Dylan was sweet and romantic to her, and he never got tired in bed with her. He made her want him, and she couldn't withstand his sexual prowess either.

If anyone had told her then that Dylan would one day break up with her or divorce her, Jessica would have cursed the person as a hater. She dated Dylan for two years before they got married.

But now, Dylan wanted to divorce her and end their five years of marriage after all she had done for him.

"No, Dylan! I cannot take this. That means you are already cheating on me out there with someone else. Come back here, Dylan. You need to explain to me what happened to the Dylan that I met and married. You cannot divorce me now. No! After five years of our marriage. Never! I cannot take this."

"How can you just be returning home tonight, after spending two days outside of our matrimonial home, and you are telling me that I'm fat and ugly now, and not the kind of wife that you want to come back home to meet? No, Dylan! I cannot accept this divorce." Jessica stood up from the living room couch and rushed back upstairs to their bedroom to meet her husband.