Chapter 3 - The Dream

Jessica shook her head in the bathtub. She knew Dylan used to make love to her there whenever they bathed together as a couple, but now he was avoiding her.

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

Dylan had already put on his white robe and sat on the bed, feeling tipsy from the alcohol he had drunk at Rosie's house.

He saw Jessica step out of the bathroom and immediately looked away, toward the wall, as he lay down to sleep.

Dylan turned his back to Jessica and faced the wall. She frowned at her husband's behavior, knowing he was truly avoiding her.

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

Jessica knew Dylan had been acting strangely lately, even before his two-day absence from home. She wondered, *Who's the new woman in his life now?*

Jessica stood searching for a nightgown for what felt like hours. Even though she had touched the white one she wanted to wear and was supposed to take it out, she remained beside the wardrobe, lost in thought as hot tears streamed down her face.

Finally, she snapped out of her trance, took the white nightgown she had been holding, and put it on. She stared 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.

Dylan was already fast asleep, but as Jessica climbed onto the bed, he felt her weight press down on the mattress. His blue eyes fluttered open slightly, and he stared at her pretty face beside him.

Seeing that it was his wife—the woman he was about to divorce—and that she was sobbing, Dylan sat up and sleepily asked, "What's wrong, babe?"

Jessica sniffled and started to reply, but Dylan lay back down and fell asleep again. The alcohol hadn't fully worn off, and he was exhausted after spending half the evening with Rosie since leaving his office at 5 p.m. He needed rest.

Dylan turned his back to Jessica again and adjusted his pillow under his head.

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

Not wanting to accept that they would divorce the next day, Jessica decided to be the good wife she always had been. She wrapped her left arm around Dylan's waist and moved closer to him, pressing against his back.

Jessica cuddled up beside Dylan, inhaling his manly scent as she hugged him for warmth.

She rested her head on his left arm and reached to caress his face and jaw, but he inhaled her sweet scent. His blue eyes fluttered open again, and even in his drunken state, he sprang up from the bed and pushed her arm away.

Dylan looked at Jessica's face angrily and asked, "What's wrong with you, Jessica? Why won't you let me sleep tonight?"

Dylan sat on the bed with Jessica, noticing she wasn't wearing a bra under her nightgown. The thin white fabric was almost transparent, revealing her huge brẹasts.

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

"But I don't want you anymore, Jessica. I want a divorce. Sign the papers and leave—I'm not joking." Dylan cut her off curtly. He grabbed his pillow and stepped off the bed drunkenly, slipping on his black slippers to leave the room. He snatched the pillow from her hands as she tried to stop him by holding it.

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

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

"Dylan! Open this door!" Jessica stood in front of the guest-room door, banging on it heavily for him to unlock it from inside.

Dylan ignored his wife 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! It's me, your wife!" Jessica cried, banging heavily on the door.

She glanced at the corridor clock and saw it was after 12 a.m in the midnight.

Jessica shook her head and went back upstairs to the master bedroom to sleep alone. She didn't want to wake the children, and the master bedroom was the largest room in the mansion. She walked to the king-sized bed, covered in a white spread, and climbed onto it slowly. She lay down and tried to sleep.

It was Wednesday night, and Jessica knew the children would go to school the next morning—they attended a daily program. She needed to sleep soon so she could wake up early and prepare them.

But sleep was far from her eyes. She kept crying on the bed, thinking about the new woman who had entered her husband's life and was destroying her marriage, breaking up her once-happy home.

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

She had tried losing weight before, but it wasn't easy. She loved eating and sleeping, especially since she was always at home and no longer working.

Jessica had discussed her plans with her best friend, Esther Friday, who advised that the best way to lose weight was to hit the gym.

Yet, even with daily exercise, shedding the pounds hadn't been easy for her.

Jessica sniffled on the bed and fell asleep. In her dream, a beautiful, fair-skinned short woman walked into her home carrying a large black suitcase of clothes. This short woman wasn't her—Jessica was taller in the dream. The short woman looked at Jessica irritably and ordered her to serve her a meal.

Jessica saw herself serving this beautiful, slim woman, who then sent her away from her husband's home. She pleaded, "Please, you can't send me away from my husband's house. Leave Dylan alone so he can look at me—his wife."

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

Jessica watched as Dylan threw her suitcase of clothes outside their matrimonial home, not even minding the children's 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 struggled on the bed in her sleep, still lying on the luxurious white bed in the master bedroom.

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

Jessica watched as Dylan rushed toward her, grabbing her left wrist to drag her out of the mansion. She cried out louder, "Please, Dylan! You can't send me away! Dylan! Dylan! Dylan, please!"

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

Dylan had woken up that morning in the guest room with a headache. He remembered returning home the previous night with the divorce papers Rosie Andrew had given him to deliver to Jessica—and that he had asked her to sign them.