If I Fall

Chapter Three

****Six months later*****

Ofa'ange ae otua e

Ke ne taki ho fononga

Oua nake tue'noa

Lolotonga pe etau mavae

Ke mo o mo ia

Shoulder to shoulder, side by side. Everyone stood together. A crying April was clinging onto Christian who was trying to hold back his own tears as well. She felt as if her legs were going to give up and she was going to fall. Eden was leaning on the other side of Christian for support.

The three watched as the boys gathered around the coffin to carry the body of their beloved brother, into the church. April took Edens hand and they walked into the church, so Christian could join the boys in carrying Jasons body. Aprils family from all over the world flew just to say goodbye to her fallen brother. There were also many girls that April had not seen in her life show up.

Without a doubt, April knew that they were ex girlfriends, girls who had hopeless crushes on him or hoes on the sideline from the past. Whichever one they were, April didn't want them at her brothers funeral, but then again, she didn't have the energy in her to fight. She hadn't slept for an entire week.

The two girls found a seat next to Aprils mum who was sitting next to her older sister Mateline. They both clung onto each other and watched as Jasons body was being taken in. Aprils cousins also flew in from Hawaii, Vera and Mia. 

"I can't believe he's gone" Vera cried into Aprils shoulder.

Jimmy, Roman, Nicholas, Tevita, Una, Roger, Jerry and Christian walked in with the coffin. Each one of them wearing black, with traditional Tongan mats wrapped around from their waists, all the way down to their ankles. The other seven, besides Christian, were also wearing their jumpers the boys made last Christmas as a symbol of family & love. Not one of them had their heads high, they were all staring at the ground as they walked. Roger was the only one wearing dark sunglasses, probably to hide his crying.

April became annoyed seeing all these girls enter, she didn't mind but they kept eyeing out every one of the boys. She also noticed a great number of guys enter, she hadn't met them either but she also knew that they were friends. So many people had shown up, Aprils aunties grew cautious when she saw all the guys enter, filled with tattoos, piercings and extremely built.

April pulled Roger aside and led him outside. She saw him feeling down and pulled him into a hug, she felt warm, he smelled nice. But Roger did look as bad as her, dark circles around the eyes, you could barely recognise him.

"Umm.. would you mind telling your boys to not look so.... um scary. My families being a bit...."

"Fearful? We get it a lot. It's ok, I'll tell them. How you holding up?" Rogers head was hurting. He just lost his bestfriend, he wanted- no he needed to be with April. To hold her again. To smell her beautiful scent. He needed to hold her and never let go. He can't loose her, not after loosing his true brother.

"Alright" April threw a weak smile. Roger knew well enough that she was lying. She was about to explode into tears. He was beating himself up for not having the courage to comfort her. I mean, how could you? She would know about his undercover feelings for her..... and no one could know about that.

It took every bone, every organ and every part of his body to get him to walk away. If he had stayed any longer, he would've kissed her.

"Don't cut your hair, Jay would've wanted you to let it grow?" He said over his shoulder as he entered inside.

"As long as you don't" April followed him back inside, she took her seat with her family and he took his with the boys.

Aprils uncle, Pastor Lea'aetoa stood up and began the ceremony. Soon enough he called April and Christian to speak about their brother. April put on a brave smile as Christian helped her walk to the stage. She spoke first.

"Umm.....Hi, I'm April. I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to come and see my brother off, especially those who come from overseas. It means a lot to me, my brother and my mum. There were times where I'd get so mad at him where I wouldn't say one word to him. But now that's one of my deepest regrets because all I want to do right now is hear his voice again. I'm sure almost everyone in the world can agree with me when I say Jason was a stupid idiot. I didn't support most of his choices but I did understand why he did what he did, depending on the situations. Jason was probably the main reason why I'm in uni. He always drove me to do better, made sure I was studying, reminded me to eat, I owe a lot of my success to him. He didn't want me to end up like him, he wanted the best and only the best. Even though my brother was very dumb at times, I love him very much and miss him a lot. I'm sure everyone can agree that family was one of the most important things to Jason. Thank you all for coming." The church was silent. All of his boys showed up, some of them were attracted to April but everyone knew she was off-limits. 

" Guess it's my turn now. For those of you's who don't know, I'm Jasons little brother, Christian. Just going to keep this short after my sister's long-ass speech but anyways. Yes, I do miss my brother, but mum said that God needed him, and he's always watching over us. I'll be holding onto that, until the next time we meet. Just a massive thanks to everyone who showed up today, those of you who helped set up, prepared the food, we're all family here. Thanks" Christian flashed a smile. He didn't feel as depressed, he knew that Jason was taken away for a reason. He just wished April would hurry up and stop crying. His sister was hard-headed, but when she cried, she could cry for days. Their mother watched the way Christian helped April down. Her daughter was physically, emotionally and mentally drained.

A few family members got up to say a few words but April had tuned out all the noise until she heard Rogers voice.

"Um hello, my names Roger Afoa, I won't say much, he was the true definition of a day one and was always there for the people he loved. I promised him that I'll look after everything and everyone. I'll be holding it down toko, in this life and the next" He rubbed along the side of Jasons' coffin.

April noticed the promise look in his eyes, he was going to watch over her like how Jason did. April helped her mother and her aunty up as the entire church prepared for the march. The cemetery where Jase was to be placed in was only a thirty-minute walk, so everyone decided to march. Every five minutes they would swap who held his coffin, so everyone could have a turn while the rest of the people sang gospel songs in Tongan.

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