Chapter 1: Sign Them

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

She was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman of twenty-seven, with a full figure, who had been married to Dylan for five years.

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

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

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

Jessica stood in the living room and tried to phone Dylan to find out 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 exclaimed, frustrated. She had called Dylan’s number several times, and she desperately needed to see her husband.

She had lied to their two children, telling them their father had gone to work on Monday morning. Yet Dylan had not returned home at all, and she could not continue with her lies.

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

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

Soon Dylan stepped out of his car and walked into the mansion. He was a thirty-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 grunted, frowning.

He looked at the divorce papers in his hands, which his long-time lover, Rosie Andrew, had given him to pass to Jessica at home, ordering him to divorce her immediately.

Dylan walked up to Jessica without responding to her greeting. He stopped in front of her, thrust the divorce papers into her hands, and said, “I cannot continue to pretend with you any more, Jessica. Read through these divorce papers and sign them. Pack your things tomorrow and return to your father’s house. You can leave with the children if you want to, or you can leave them behind and go alone, but make sure you pack your things tomorrow and leave! I will give you some shares of my company’s revenue and pay you off later, but this marriage is over between us.”

“What!” Jessica was taken aback by her husband’s words. She stared at the divorce papers in her hands.

*Is this a dream?* Jessica wondered. She stared up at Dylan and watched him walk away towards the living-room stairs.

Instead of Dylan explaining where he had been for the three days and two nights she had not seen him, since he was only now returning home, he had shoved divorce papers into her hands and ordered her to sign them.

Jessica snapped out of her daze and quickly called Dylan back. She asked him, “Wait, Dylan, what is the meaning of this? You just got home now and instead of you explaining where you went before, you are speaking to me about divorce? What has come over you, Dylan? What did I do wrong to you?”

Jessica looked tearful. Dylan paused and turned back to face her. He asked her, “Have you taken a good look at yourself in the mirror lately, Jessica?”

Jessica was puzzled by her husband’s question. She stared at herself from head to toe, trying to understand what he meant.

“Are you the same woman I married five years ago? Take a good look at yourself, Jessica. You have turned fat overnight, and I cannot continue with you any more! I cannot carry you or make love to you the way I want to, as you have overgrown me, and that is just the truth! This marriage is not working any more. So sign the divorce papers and leave!” Dylan spat in a cold voice and turned to walk away towards the living-room stairs.

Jessica replied, “No, Dylan! We cannot divorce. I love you, and I am already working on myself.”

Jessica had been a banker before she met Dylan, but after giving birth to Nina, she began gaining weight at home. Dylan complained that she had become lazy and insisted she quit her job to look after their two children at home, stating that she would not be leaving all the work to the maid alone.

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

Dylan insisted that Jessica must cook his food and spend time with their children. Jessica happily did all that if it would make their marriage work and please Dylan. Yet Dylan was filing for a 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 and leave, Jessica! I am not the first man to divorce his wife, and I will not be the last either.”

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

Dylan turned and replied, “You have turned ugly, Jessica, and you are not the same woman I married before, so leave!”

“What!” Jessica was shocked by Dylan’s words. She looked at her husband’s face in disbelief. He smelled of alcohol, and she could see the red lipstick on his lips.

Jessica did not want to believe that Dylan was already cheating on her. She asked him, “What did you just say, Dylan? That I am ugly now? Really?”

“Yes, Jessica! Or am I lying to you? Was this how I married you before? I agree that you are a billionaire’s daughter, and your father helped me in the past to establish myself. So what? I cannot continue to pretend with you any more, as you have turned fat and are not the kind of wife I want to have at home any more, nor be coming back home to meet. So leave!” Dylan spat in a cold tone, and Jessica’s heart broke into pieces at his final words.

Tears streamed freely from her eyes, wetting the divorce papers in her hands.

She sobbed, “No, Dylan. I cannot accept this divorce. I think you are getting it all wrong. It is not my fault that I am fat now. Some women usually gain weight after giving birth, and it is not a disease.”

Dylan climbed the living-room stairs and paused. He stared back at Jessica and saw that she indeed looked so innocent in her long white nightgown. She had not really been fat before, when he had initially married her.

He replied, “I cannot continue to pretend with you any more, Jessica. So take your time, read through the divorce papers, and sign them. I acknowledge all your efforts in making our marriage work, and all your family’s efforts in supporting us too, in the past and present, but this marriage is not working any more. I cannot continue to sleep outside my matrimonial home or pay for a hotel room when I have a luxurious 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 he shared with Jessica, leaving her standing alone in the living room, staring at the divorce papers in her hands.

Jessica looked back at the wall clock in the living room and saw that it was already past eleven o’clock at night. Yet Dylan was only just returning home from work, and she knew that his company usually closed by five p.m.

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

Tears rolled freely from her eyes, soaking the divorce papers in her hands heavily. She said, “You cannot divorce me now, Dylan! I was not like this before, and I cannot turn thin overnight just to please you and make love to you the way you want.”

Jessica fell back onto one of the black couches in the living room—they had seven black couches—and she remembered the first day she had met Dylan.

Dylan was a handsome Black man, very trustworthy and friendly, the kind of man every other woman out there would pray to have.

In the early stages of their relationship, Dylan was sweet and romantic with her, and he never tired in bed. He made her want him, and she could not resist his sèxual prowess either.

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

But now Dylan wanted to divorce her and end their five-year 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 I met before and married, because you cannot divorce me now. No! After five years of our marriage. Never! I cannot take this!”

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