Over Him ✔

|Chapter Ten|

Copyright ©2022_Over Him ✔ written by OluchiHelen
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By New Year, Evelyn had been discharged from the hospital and the court hearing had already taken place, heading the news. It was a disgrace as most people knew the Hart family and how close and tight they were. Or at least once were.

April, Cherry and Evelyn had showed up along with the Rivers family at court. April who was dressed in a black hoodie and a pair of blue jeans was seated second row next to Colt who promised to be her backup and shield. The media men were all about them, pressing in on both sides trying to get a picture of them. Cherry, without being told had worn the largest hoodie she had, pulled the hood over her head and then slipped on a pair of dark sunshades. As for Evelyn, there wasn't much she could do to hide her identity, she was the only one in the room who was injured. From her posture alone, it was easy to tell she was the victim.

April could vividly remember how the court hearing had all happened. Ben had walked in dressed in the bright orange overall, accompanied by two police officers and a pair of silver handcuffs bound around his wrists. He looked tired and could barely even glance at his family.

As he walked past his family, Colt's glare hardens. In his own words, his respect for Ben had died. Ben was like a second father to him and seeing how he would treat family under the influence of confusion, anger and alcohol, his mind had been made up. There was no respect.

Once the judge had settled into her seat, Ben's lawyer, a well known man around town had stepped forward and given it his best shot, doing all he could to defend a pretty guilty Ben. Two hours into the court hearing, an argument had started and Ben begun to weep.

The sight was pitiful, at least to the rest of his family members, but to the others in the court room, neither was moved, not even the judge. He deserved to be sent away, someone had said.

Another hour later and the judge had made her final verdict.

25yrs in Prison.

At the sound of that alone, Ben wasn't the only one crying. Cherry, Evelyn and April had joined in. April who had been fighting the tears had gotten out of her chair and rushed out of the room, desperate to gather herself together. Colt followed behind her and the moment the door shut behind them as they stepped into the empty hallway, she let them flow, collapsing into Colt's chest. It was then that she was thankful to have Colt by her side, despite the number of times she'd told him not to worry about her.

The tears didn't stop, they just kept coming. She would never see her father again. The judge had said twenty-five years but to her, it sounded like a lifetime which it was! Seeing him through a glass panel wasn't her idea of actually seeing him.

When she had eventually been able to calm herself down, she decided to head back to the car and wait for the rest. As she say next to Colt in the silence, she silently prayed for her mother to keep strong. Ben shouldn't have done what he'd done but then again, she didn't believe he should be sent away for that long. Either way the deed had already been done and she wouldn't be able to see him again.

It was a miracle that Evelyn hadn't died by the time they'd gotten to the hospital. The cleaning up April had done wasn't as professional as that of the doctor's own. They had to remove the stitches and redo it back after checking her vitals to make sure they were stable. Then they'd placed her on a drip and a blood bag. Within a week, she was fine and discharged.

The question of what would've happened if Evelyn had died on the spot flashes through her mind and she shuts her eyes tight, inhaling deeply. Colt's hand rubs against her back as he pulls her into him.

She was fine. They would get through this. They had to.

______

Tristan was definitely the last person April expected to see at the door. Evelyn was upstairs taking a nap while Cherry was taking a shower, giving the both of them some time to talk.

It hadn't been up to even five hours since they had returned from the court room, and deep down April knew she was in no mood whatsoever to hear what Tristan had to say. The only thing she'd put into consideration was that he'd come all the way.

"Your dad's not home right?" he asks, taking off his coat and April stiffens. Hadn't he heard? It was all over the news. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she forces a smile on her face and shakes her head.

"No he's not home but my mum is. She's just taking a nap upstairs," she replies, shutting the door behind him.

"Okay great. I figured we need to talk, so I decided to come over," he states .

"Right this way." April leads him into the living room and they awkwardly sit in silence before he decides to break it.

"So how's everything been?" he asks, watching her and her face twitches.

"If you've hot nothing else to say, please leave," she snaps, anger flaring quickly.

"I just want us to talk about what happened the last time I was here ," he states, running a hand over his face.

"Truth be told, there's really nothing to talk about. Things between us ended in a bad note," she replies. It was obvious where this was going. He was going to break up with her and make her day even worse.

"Yeah, it really did that's why -" He'd already begun to say that he wanted them to work things out when April said something else, "I think it's best we just went our separate ways."

The look of surprise and hurt on his face had instantly thrown April into confusion. Wasn't that what he wanted?

"Seriously? You're okay with just ending this? After everything we've been through together?" he asks slowly, his eyes narrowed and she sighs.

"I really don't know Tristan. I don't know what I want anymore. Everything seems to be falling apart. My relationship is in shreds and so is my family."

"What'd you mean your family? Is everything okay? " he asks, concern laced around his words.

"I don't know anymore. I guess we're just hanging on " she shrugs, her eyes distant. Moving to sit next to her, he tilts her head up to meet his eyes. "You can talk to me about it. I'm here," he offers and neither say anything. Slowly he begins to lean in, closer and closer until his lips brush against hers and April is first to back away.

"I don't need this right now. There are more important things on my mind and honestly I hope kissing isn't your way of helping," she snaps.

"We'll talk about this later when we've gotten back to New York. Right now, I've got more important things to attend to," she sighs suddenly feeling in need of a nap. Silently Tristan gets off the couch, grabs his coat and walks towards the door. "Well, okay then. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you by the way," he states with a small smile before walking off into the snowy afternoon, not bothering to wait for April to say it back.

A/N:
Short chapter. I know I know, I just got back from trying to get my voters card down here in Nigeria. I'm tired as anything right now and I didn't even get it at the end of the day. But let me know what you think of this chapter.

To those who kept following up with this book, voting and commenting on every chapter, GOD BLESS YOU! it's hard to find devoted readers I guess.

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