A/N; The wait is over, sadly. I didn't mean to drag it so much, but there were so many other arcs going on. Anyway, let's move on. Happy reading! 

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[Trial - 2]

Ian was seated in the front row,  beside him was his lawyer, H.M. Jass was seated. 

The courtroom was silent considering how the judge was yet to come in. 

It was finally the day; the day where the truth would be out for the entire world to see. 

Considering how much trouble Ian was in while driving to the court, he had a lot of time to rethink what had happened during the past couple of weeks. 

After the first trial, he had gotten so many negative comments, which even affected the art movie he released a few days ago. 

In the first place, Marriage Story was Ian’s idea of checking how many fans were truly admiring Ian’s works. And it proved positively in Ian’s mind considering there also were so many comments and texts which supported Ian in so many ways. 

But on the other hand, some other people were ready to accuse Ian of something that hadn’t even proved correct. 

‘Do not care about others' opinions,’ whoever said this, must not have known about Hollywood and how it works. 

While taking a turn to the left in a street in California, he suddenly remembered Jeff, who promised to take care of the matters with the red tape. 

‘I’ll take care of it, my foot,’ Ian had thought. 

The people in the court stood up distracting Ian Renner from his thoughts. He looked at the judge who walked in with an emotionless face, and when the judge sat, everyone followed along. 

Ian, as well as his lawyer, sat on the respective benches. 

“A pleasant morning to everyone. As of today, we are on the second day of the trial between Ian Renner and Sarah Tuesday,” the person who sat next to the judge said loud enough for everyone to hear. 

“First, I’d like to ask you, Mr. Ian Renner, can you come to the podium?” The judge questioned. 

Ian nodded and walked around to the podium.

“Mr. Ian Renner, what if the kid was yours? What are the measures you’d take?” the judge asked as it was the day when the DNA results were supposed to be out. 

“Your honor, if Lilian somehow proved to be my child, I’d look after her and provide support for her financially, and as a father. There’s no doubt about it. The child deserves a father in his life, and if it's somehow my mistake, I’m ready to take the blame.” Ian answered truthfully.

“Okay, Mr. Renner, you can go back.” 

The judge said another worker in the court brought an envelope to the judge, which she took with a thank you. 

“The DNA tests that were conducted by the State have come through,” The judge said. 

The entire court’s atmosphere went up by several degrees.

Ian kept looking at the judge. 

Sarah’s eyes widened in the possibility of knowing what was yet to come. 

Everyone was silent, yet the surroundings were tense. 

“It has been revealed that-”

Sarah felt as if the entire world was slowing down. The words from the Judge felt extremely slow, and she didn’t want to hear whatever the judge was going to say. 

She knew the day she walked into the hospital that it was going to be the end of her life. 

Her life would completely be destroyed as she wouldn’t have any way to raise her 11-month—almost a year-old daughter.

‘Fuck fuck fuck, this can’t be happening’ she kept chanting to herself while the judge repeated the results that were on her hand. 

“It has been revealed that Ms. Sarah Tuesday’s testimony against Ian Renner is proved false. These results were prepared by DNA diagnostics, and they read as follows. 

In the case of Ian Vs Sarah, when it comes to almost one year old, Lilian Tuesday, it has been determined by this court, Mr. Renner, you are not the father,”

The latter words were enough for Ian to sigh in contentment. Ian’s fist tightened in happiness. 

“This court hearing was special. Ian Renner, who is also a director, had to face a lot of challenges with the accusation he faced with. The lawyers must step up on the defense’s side, and pave justice for his career. 

Ms. Tuesday, would you please come up to the podium?” The judge asked. 

Sarah, who was already sobbing through the judge’s words, stood up and walked to the square-shaped wooden place, and looked the judge in the eyes. 

“Ms. Sarah Tuesday, are you aware of your actions here?”

The judge asked but Sarah remained silent. Tears were streaming down her face, and she still stood straight without even shaking a bit even though she was crying hard. 

“Ms. Sarah Tuesday. The court you presented your file against Mr. Ian Renner, is unbiased upon every piece of evidence we got, and truthful for the decision we arrived at. Somehow, the DNA test proved that your testimonial against Ian was false. Which also I believe considering that the case you had filed was asking for child support, you’ve no security financially, am I right?” the judge questioned again.

“Y-yes, your honor.”

The judge sighed and continued, “The person you blamed for your entire situation is a director and someone who is attempting to reach a goal in their career. Not just you lied to the court, but also your choices followed by bad consequences. This court would like to warn you about your misinformation, due to that, the court charges $500, for the reasons mentioned before.” the judge asked and everyone nodded, even the people in the audience. 

“Thus, the court is dismissed.”

The judge stood up and walked away from her seat.

So did the other people who followed her. 

“FINALLY!” Niko said and hugged Raelynn who was equally excited after the truth was uncovered. 

Jass walked along with Ian to meet Mason, Niko, and Raelynn who waited outside to meet Ian. 

“Ian, I think we should listen to the judge. This was just Sarah today, and tomorrow there could be other girls who come and ask for child support, so I guess it’s better to file a complaint against defamation and move to Child Protective Services because Sarah is incompatible with raising a child,” Jass muttered while walking outside. 

“Yes, I think we should do it. Can we arrange to file another complaint?” Ian asked back.

“I’ll work on it within two days,” the lawyer said and shook hands with Ian.

She walked away bidding goodbye to Mason. 

Outside, there were several reporters already waiting to hear the results. 

“Ian Renner, can we please have a word?”

“Director Renner, can you talk to us?”

“Ian, is it true that the child is not yours?”

The questions were asked over and over. Ian, who put his shades on, walked through the crowd as if it was another normal day.

Inside his mind, he wanted to shout at the reporters saying he was not the father of the child they all assumed to be, but he kept his calm.

Getting in his SUV, he removed the shades, and to accompany him, Niko and Scarlett got in. 

“Gosh, that was one nerve-wracking trial!” Niko said and shook his head while combing his hand through his hair.

“Well, who is to blame except the public and the media?” Raelynn said and chuckled. 

“Yeah, from tomorrow, back to work. Although there might be another trial,” Ian said as he took his cell phone out.

“Another trial, what for?” Niko asked. 

“Mrs. Jass said that it’s better to file a case against Sarah. She weaponized a toddler just to get the money to survive, and as we all know, it affected my last movie release very badly. I can’t let this go, even if it’s a woman who’s in need,” Ian said and focused on his phone. 

“I kind of feel awful for her. She is pretty, she should have just begged for a chance to act,” Niko said and shook his head. 

“Wish she did that instead of all of this,” Ian said and sighed. 

He was extremely devastated about how the people were throwing different sorts of comments at him for weeks.

Even if it’s someone who had been in the industry, and knows ins and outs, it would still feel awful when people say mean things toward you, left and right.

Ian even had people frowning upon him, when he walked in and outside the office building. 

“It’s alright, Ian. If anything you proved that you’re not what they all assumed. I’m pretty sure Home Alone 2 would do great, and there’d be people singing your talents by the end of this week,” Raelynn said with a smile.

“I don’t want people to sing my talents, Rae,” he said.

But he thought in his mind that, ‘maybe it’s time for me to mature up.’

“It will be alright. I’m sure. Hollywood has one or many topics to talk about every single day, these would just go away in a day or two. Let’s focus on Home Alone, and oh, I wanted to talk about tomorrow’s filming,” Raelynn said while grabbing Ian’s attention. 

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