Love Died In Autumn

If my suspicions were correct, there was no way she could have kept that thing on her, which meant that it could only be in the trash bin.

I held my breath and walked quickly to the trash bin.

I crouched down and was just about to dig through it when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“What are you doing in here?”

I turned and saw it was Jonah. Cold sweat broke out on my skin.

He frowned and asked, “Dylan, why are you in the women’s restroom? If someone catches you, they’re going to think you’re some kind of pervert.”

My face flushed red as I scrambled for an excuse.

“I just had too much to drink and got a little tipsy. I must’ve walked into the wrong restroom by accident.”

After I said that, his smile faded.

He stared at me and said in a low voice, “Dylan, be honest with me. Do you think I’ve been sleeping with your fiancee?”

I opened my mouth, but before I could respond, he snapped.

“We’ve been friends for almost fifteen years. How could you even think that about me?”

The sheer fury in his eyes made me question whether I had imagined the whole thing.

Then, Jonah grabbed the bin next to him and flipped it upside down.

Trash scattered across the floor. Among the crumpled papers was a bloodstained pad.

There was nothing else other than that.

When I saw this, guilt swallowed me whole.

“Jonah, I...”

“Dylan, I flew twelve hours to be here for your wedding, and you suspected me over some little thing? Is that really how you see me? Am I that disgusting and crude to you?”

Jonah stormed out of the restroom mid-rant.

I ran after him, but he had already vanished from sight.

In that moment, all I felt was deep regret.

Back in the private room, my friends looked at me with confusion.

“Dylan, where did Jonah go? He stormed off, looking really mad. He did not even say goodbye.”

I opened my mouth, but I had no idea how to explain it to them.

Then Clara walked over and gently took my arm.

“Dylan, what’s going on? Everything was fine a minute ago. Did you guys fight?”

I kept my head down and stayed silent. She did not ask further questions.

She just sighed and said, “Never mind. Stay here with everyone. I’ll go find him. Whatever happened, just talk it out once we get back.”

With that, she hurried out.

I was too unsettled to keep the party going.

So I told everyone we were calling it an early night.

On the way home, I could not shake off that guilt.

I would hate myself for the rest of my life if a ridiculous misunderstanding like this destroyed over a decade of friendship with Jonah.

After pondering for a long time, I told the driver to turn the car around.

Thinking Jonah had probably gone back to the hotel, I decided to find him first and properly apologize for what had happened earlier.

Soon, I arrived outside the hotel.

But just as I pushed the door open to get out of the car, I caught a glimpse of something at the entrance.

I was in disbelief.

I saw Jonah and Clara cuddling each other.

Clara was playfully pounding her fist against Jonah’s chest as she whined with a pout, “Are you insane? Why would you just carry that thing around with you? And you let Dylan find it! We almost got caught!”

Jonah chuckled as he said smugly, “Clara, you’re the one who said you wanted to spice things up. Relax. You should’ve seen me in there. I was so convincing I almost believed it myself.”