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. Now he was avoiding her.

She resumed bathing in the white bathtub with her sponge, soap, and water. After she finished, she rinsed her body and walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom to dress.

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

He saw Jessica step out of the bathroom but immediately looked away from her and faced the wall as he lay on the bed.

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

Jessica walked 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, and she wondered to herself, "Who's the new woman in his life now?"

Jessica stood searching for a nightgown for what felt like hours. Even as she touched the white one she wanted, she didn't take it out of the wardrobe.

She stood beside it, lost in her thoughts as hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

Jessica finally snapped out of her trance and took out the white nightgown. She put it on while staring at her sleeping husband on the bed.

Her eyes moved to the divorce papers on the headboard. She shook her head in sadness and walked to the bed to join him in sleep.

Dylan was already fast asleep, but as Jessica climbed onto the bed, he felt her weight and his eyes opened slightly. He stared at the pretty woman's face beside him.

Seeing that the pretty woman was his wife—the one he was about to divorce—and that she was sobbing, Dylan sat up in bed. Sleepily, he asked, "What's wrong, babe?"

Jessica sniffled and wanted to reply, but Dylan lay back down and fell asleep again. The alcohol hadn't worn off yet, and he was tired and exhausted after spending half his time since 5 p.m. with Rosie in her room. He needed to rest.

Dylan turned his back on Jessica once again and adjusted his pillow properly under his head.

He resumed sleeping while Jessica blinked her tears away. She sat on the bed, looking at her sleeping husband for a moment.

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

She cuddled up beside him closely, inhaling his manly scent as she hugged him for warmth.

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 opened subtly again. He sprang up from the bed—even in his drunken state—and pushed her 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?"

He was seated on the bed with her, noticing that she wasn't wearing a bra under her big breasts. Her white nightgown was almost transparent, revealing them to his view.

Dylan looked 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 papers tomorrow and leave! I'm not joking." Dylan said curtly. He immediately took his pillow from the bed, put on his black slippers, and left their bedroom. He snatched the pillow from Jessica's hands as she tried to stop him by holding onto it.

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

Jessica hurriedly stepped down from the bed and chased after him as he exited their upstairs sitting room and went downstairs to the guest room to sleep.

"Dylan! Open this door!" Jessica stood in front of the guest room door and banged heavily on it, urging him to unlock it from inside, as he had locked it.

Dylan ignored her and went to the bed in the guest room to sleep, since she had tried to seduce him in their bedroom.

"Dylan! Open this door now! I'm your wife!" Jessica cried out, standing in front of the door and banging on it.

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

Jessica shook her head and finally went back upstairs to their master bedroom to sleep alone, not wanting to wake their kids. The master bedroom was the biggest room in the mansion. She walked toward the king-sized bed, covered in a white bedspread, and climbed onto it slowly.

She lay on the bed and tried to sleep.

It was Wednesday night. Jessica knew her kids would be going to school the following Thursday morning, as they attended a day school. She needed to sleep on time so she could wake up early to prepare them.

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 was destroying her marriage by breaking up their previously happy home.

Jessica continued to think about how she would lose weight to impress Dylan and become the slim woman he wanted again.

She knew she had tried losing weight before, but it wasn't easy for her. She loved eating a lot of food and sleeping, since she was always at home and not going out to work.

Jessica had spoken to her best friend, Esther, on Friday about her plans to lose more weight.

Esther had advised her that the best way to lose weight was to hit the gym.

Yet she had been exercising daily, but losing weight hadn't been easy.

Jessica sniffled on the bed again and fell asleep. She dreamt of a beautiful short woman coming into her home with a big black traveling box of clothes in her hand. This short woman wasn't Jessica in the dream; she was taller. The short woman looked at Jessica irritably and ordered her to serve her meals.

Jessica saw herself serving this beautiful slim woman in her dream. The woman sent her away from her husband's home, and she tried to plead, "Please, you cannot send me away from my husband's house. Leave Dylan alone so that he can look at me; that's his wife."

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

Jessica saw Dylan throw her box of clothes outside their matrimonial home. He didn't even mind their kids' presence. He told her, "Leave my house, Jessica. This marriage is over between us. Go away and get out of my life!"

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

Jessica continued struggling on the bed in her sleep, still lying on the luxurious white bed in the master bedroom and dreaming.

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

Jessica watched as Dylan rushed to her in the dream, dragging her away by her left wrist to throw her outside their mansion. She cried out to him even more, "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. As he sat beside her, he shook her again and again to awaken her from her nightmare.

When he had woken up in the guest room where he had slept the night before, Dylan had a headache. He remembered that he had returned home the previous night with the divorce papers that Rosie Andrew had given him to give to Jessica. He had even asked her to sign them.