The night before my wedding, my best friend flew back from overseas to attend my bachelor party.

We were just having a few drinks when his stomach started acting up, so I quickly reached into his bag for his medication. Instead of pills, I found a naughty remote control.

I grinned mischievously and waved a hand toward him.

“Didn’t know you were getting this wild overseas, man.”

He smiled awkwardly and told me to just hand him the medicine and not to touch anything else. Alas, his reaction made me even more curious.

So I purposely pressed on one of the buttons.

The next second, my fiancee, who was sitting right next to us, shuddered.

“Ahh!”

My fiancee, Clara Sanders, gasped out a soft moan before squeezing her legs shut. Her face suddenly pinched into a strange expression.

Her friend leaned in and asked, “Clara, are you okay?”

Clara looked flustered. She stood up quickly and muttered, “I’m okay… I think my period just came. I’m going to the restroom.”

She then hurried out of the room.

I was stunned. The remote in my hand felt scorching hot.

Barely half a second had passed between me pressing the button and her reacting that way. However, I did not dare to think too deeply about it. I wanted it to be nothing more than a bizarre coincidence.

Jonah and I had grown up together. We had known each other for over a decade. There was no way he could be involved with Clara like that. Besides, he had been abroad all these years. They had barely even met!

As I was lost in my thoughts, Jonah smacked my shoulder.

“What’s up with you? Come on, just give me the meds already. My stomach’s killing me.”

Only when I saw his face twisted in pain did I snap out of my thoughts. I mumbled something back, found the medication, and handed it to him. I could not bring myself to ask what I really wanted to because the party was full of people I knew.

If it were just a misunderstanding, not only would it ruin the friendship I had built with Jonah over the past decade, but I would also embarrass Clara in front of everyone.

Jonah looked much better after he took his medication.

I raised my glass and clinked it against his. I tried to sound casual as I said, “Jonah, you got yourself a girl and didn’t even tell me? Am I not your best friend anymore?”

Jonah froze for a second, then laughed and shook his head.

“What are you talking about? You know me, no strings attached. I’m not one to settle.”

He reached over and took the remote back, as if he could tell what I was thinking.

“This thing? It belongs to a flight attendant I met on the plane.”

He rubbed his hands together, lowering his voice but failing to hide the smugness.

“I mean, it was a twelve-hour flight. I had to find a way to entertain myself, you know? She was down for it and even made the first move. Who was I to say no?

“I must’ve tossed it in my bag before landing and forgot about it.”

The whole group of friends burst into laughter at his confession.

“Man, you really have been abroad too long. Even on a plane, you don’t miss a beat.”

“Just don’t let her run you dry.”

The banter sent the energy through the roof again.

I managed a smirk, but something felt off.

Soon, Clara returned to the room.

She sat back down beside me, perfectly composed. It was like that little moment earlier had never happened.

Someone suggested we switch venues. They were tired of the same old drinking games.

Everyone agreed, and I was not about to kill the mood.

Before we left, I ducked into the restroom.

But once I reached the door, I swerved and slipped into the women’s restroom.

Luckily, no one was in there.

Clara wore a skirt with no pockets today and had not brought a bag. Before she went into the restroom, she borrowed a pad from her friend.

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.”

“I bet Dylan’s kicking himself right now. He probably thinks he just overreacted.”

He paused, then said in a mocking tone, “I swear, he’ll come crawling back tomorrow to apologize.”

...

I sat frozen in the backseat of the cab. I could feel all the warmth drain from my body in an instant.

My best friend, who had been through everything with me, and the woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with, had betrayed me.

The agony I had been putting myself through was just a joke to them.

The truth hit me like a knife straight through the heart.

“Sir, are you getting out of here?”

The driver’s voice sounded distant, but it managed to pull me back.

My trembling hand hovered over the door handle.

If I were to get out of the cab, I could stand in front of them and demand answers from them.

Why did they betray me? Of all people?

But the truth was painfully clear.

Any accusations or arguments would only make me look more pathetic.

I limply retracted my hand from the handle.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Actually, let’s just go.”

Through the rearview mirror, I watched their intertwined forms shrink into the distance until the night swallowed them completely.

Returning home late at night, the wedding portrait hanging on the wall hit me like a punch to the gut.

In the photo, Clara was beaming as she leaned against my shoulder.

Both of us looked so hopeful about our future together.

We had decorated every corner of this home together.

She said that after we got married, she wanted two children and a cat.

We would be the happiest little family in the world.

Those hopes and promises had become utter lies.

Why?

And when had all of this even begun?

I collapsed onto the couch as memories came flooding back.

Clara had once told me that her parents divorced because of infidelity.

For that reason, she despised people who were unfaithful.

One time, while drunk, she curled up in my arms with her eyes brimming with tears and asked me, “You’re only ever going to love me, right?”

In that moment, she looked so vulnerable. I swore to myself that I would always protect her. But at this moment, she had become the very thing I despised most. Had she cheated with someone else, I would perhaps not feel this devastated.

Why did it have to be Jonah, of all people?

We had grown up together in the orphanage.

For as long as I could remember, we were each other’s only family.

He took beatings for me. I took a knife for him.

He said we would be best friends for life.

Three years ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia.

Jonah had wept and gripped the doctor’s hand. He had not hesitated to offer himself for a match test.

He would have given his life to save mine without a second thought.

The day we learned it was a misdiagnosis, he held me tight and cried his eyes out.

That was the first time I ever saw him cry.

It was also the moment I began to trust him completely.

I believed with all my heart that he was my ride-or-die.

I picked up the photo of the three of us from the coffee table with trembling hands.

I had my arm around Clara. Jonah had his hand on my shoulder. We were all smiling so brightly.

The picture blurred as tears silently rolled down my face.

I could not help but wonder.

Had Clara ever truly loved me?

Were all those sweet moments and promises fake?

Did Jonah ever really consider me his best friend?

Was that loyalty, the whole “ride or die” act, just a performance too?