After Five Years Of Marriage

5 - Avoiding 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 already leaving Rosie's house.

He took one of the divorce papers and glanced through it before putting it down into his black briefcase. He shut the briefcase as he went into the bathroom to bathe.

He decided to prepare for work and thought he would read the divorce papers in his office.

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

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

“Mummy! Mummy!” Caleb and Nina both rushed up to hug her legs as soon as she stepped into the living room.

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

Jessica knew her two kids were late for school, and she realized that if their former maid were around, the maid would have helped her prepare the children for school, bathed them before Jessica woke up, and prepared their breakfast too.

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

Jessica had thought that the young maid tried to seduce her husband in her absence, but after the maid left, she didn’t receive any complaints from the maid's parents. The housemaid even cried when Jessica sent her away, insisting she hadn’t done anything wrong to offend her.

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

The young maid was very smart and nice, managing all her chores even before Jessica woke up or sent her on errands.

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

“Time has run out for today, Caleb. Not to 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, then I will go and prepare your bath afterwards,” Jessica told her son, smiling at him as she squatted to meet both her kids at their height.

She finally stood up and went into the kitchen to prepare their breakfast.

As Jessica wondered if Dylan was still serious about divorcing her, she walked into the kitchen and checked her cupboards for what to prepare.

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

After she finished cleaning the kitchen floor and cabinet top, she proceeded to prepare her kids' breakfast, making noodles and fried eggs. She stepped out to the dining table to serve their meals.

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

Nina was too small to climb the dining chair by herself and cried out, reaching for Jessica to lift her up. After her third attempt to climb the dining chair by herself ended with her little bottom crashing to the tiled floor, she cried, “Mummy!”

“Wait, Nina, I'm coming!” Jessica quickly rushed to lift Nina into her arms, dusted her little daughter's bottom, and sat her on her thighs. She began to feed Nina.

Nina stretched her small hand to take the spoon from Jessica to feed herself, but Jessica refused, continuing to feed her daughter.

Jessica knew that her two kids were happy children, and she didn’t want them to become sad as they grew up, witnessing their parents quarreling and falling out of love.

“Mummy, why are you crying?” Caleb asked as he noticed tears silently rolling down Jessica’s face.

Nina tried to look up at her mother's face while sitting on Jessica's lap, eating her noodles.

Just then, Jessica heard footsteps behind her and quickly sniffed, plastering a fake smile on her face as she replied to Caleb, “I’m not crying, I’m just overwhelmed.”

“Over what?” Caleb asked, not understanding the big word his mother had used. But Dylan quickly cut the mother-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 expression, already dressed in a black suit, adjusting his black tie as he wore a white undershirt.

Jessica glanced back at Dylan's hardened expression.

She wanted to put Nina down in the next chair so that Nina could start eating by herself. She also wanted to stand up to prepare Dylan's breakfast, but Dylan coldly told her, “There’s no need for that; I can't wait to eat again.”

Jessica had already stood up from the dining table, realizing that Dylan didn’t want to wait for his breakfast. After adjusting his suit and undershirt, he placed some money on the center table for them and left the house.

“Mummy…” Nina cried out, unable to reach the dining table by herself. Her little hands couldn’t lift her spoon to feed herself.

Nina’s crying snapped Jessica out of her trance. She rushed back to her little daughter, lifting Nina back onto her lap at the dining table.

Jessica knew that Dylan wasn’t joking about the divorce, and she silently contemplated what she could do to appease him as she continued to feed Nina.

After Jessica finished feeding Nina, she noted that Caleb was also done with his meal.

Jessica knew that Dylan only left the security guard at the gate to lock and unlock it whenever he left for the office in the morning and returned home in the evening since he had dismissed all the maids and domestic staff.

She heard the sound of Dylan’s car starting in the garage, and he finally drove out of their compound, indicating he was heading to work.

Afterward, she went to the kids' room downstairs to prepare their baths. Once she finished bathing them, she dressed them in new clothes and brought them to the living room with their toys to play.

She then switched on the television and tuned to a cartoon channel for them to watch before heading back upstairs to her bedroom.