Autumn's Farewell

"𝗜𝗳 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲, 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂." His hand reaches out to hold hers, his eyes filled with yearning and guilt.

"𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲! 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝙢𝙚 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁." The clanking of her heels against the hard floor seemingly taunted him as she stepped back. His hands clenched tightly at the tears that cascaded from her eyes, the inability to wipe away her sorrow and comfort her, confirming his fear.

"𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱!" Angrily, she took the ring off her finger, throwing it onto the floor. "𝗜 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝘆𝗼𝘂." Her words echoed in his mind, full of abhorrence.

He didn't reach for her as she turned on her heels. Letting the young lady run as far as she 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 to.

"𝙄𝙛 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩," He clenched the ring she left on the floor. "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮..."

"𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙃𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧." His jaw tightened, and his brows furrowed into a line.

"𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨."

***

She couldn't hate him, never in her life. But his reason for returning was to use her, how could she not feel betrayed? Why does he need to marry her when they were just friends? Why did he leave without telling her?

Or...

Did he return only because