Never Judge

The next day the Reyes and Laurence families sent Ayanna off at the airport. Just like last time Ray accompanied Ayanna and would fly back once she was settled in.

"Will you take it to the next step?" Cedric asked Ray when they were alone at the side. ​​

"Yeah. Will you let me?" Ray asked Cedric.

Cedric nodded. "In the end it's Ayanna's choice. Even my parents won't object."

"She'll think it's still part of the plan." Ray said with a sigh.

"It still is. Just think of it as a long term engagement. Get to know each other more in this time." Cedric told his best friend.

"At least it will keep her safe." Ray said with a smile.

After saying their goodbyes Ayanna and Ray boarded the plane to leave.

"Two weeks." Adrianna told Cedric.

"I think she can go a month this time." Cedric said, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about this time?" Priscilla Reyes asked her son.

"Oh, we're betting on how long Ayanna will stay in America this time." Cedric told his mom.

"If I'm right he won't buy me a company, if I'm wrong he'll buy me a design firm." Adrianna explained rolling her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure my sister can stay away for longer than a month." Cedric said with a nervous laugh.

Cedric and Adrianna decided to take the rest of the day off from work. Both of them had been incredibly busy recently and they weren't spending as much time together as they wanted.

After sending Ayanna and Ray off in the morning they decided to have lunch at the private room in Nouveau.

They were pleasantly eating their meal when Adrianna's phone began ringing. When she checked to see who was calling she saw that it was Veronica.

"What could Veronica want?" Adrianna asked Cedric as she showed him who was calling.

"Maybe she wants to go shopping?" Cedric said with a shrug.

"We both know that those girls do things other than shopping." Adrianna said, shaking her head at Cedric as she picked up the call.

"Adri, where are you?" a sobbing Veronica asked over the phone.

"I'm with Cedric. We took the day off and we're now having lunch at Nouveau." Adrianna told the crying woman.

"Do you think you could send Cedric away? You know what nevermind, he isn't like them so he'll understand things better. Please wait for me." Veronica said as she dropped the call.

Adrianna was puzzled by the call and told Cedric what Veronica had said.

"I find it weird that she called me instead of one of the sisters." Adrianna told Cedric.

"It's probably about something the five of them don't exactly agree on." Cedric said as he took a bite of his food.

It seemed that Veronica was in the area, because after five minutes she came in and quickly asked for wine.

"Don't complain. You can afford what I just ordered." Veronica said before Cedric could even complain.

Cedric simply sighed and went back to his meal.

"What's wrong Veronica? Why did you look for me?" Adrianna asked.

"It's something I can't talk to the other girls about cause they don't really understand." Veronica said with a sigh.

"And only my wife can?" Cedric grumbled, clearly unhappy that Veronica had crashed their date.

"My parents and all our family elders think I've spent too much time playing around and it's time for me to do my filial duty and get married." Veronica complained.

"What does Ram think?" Adrianna asked.

"Of course Ram is fine with it. He was brought up to be fine with it." Veronica said as she let out a frustrated scream.

"Here throw this." Cedric said, handing her a plate.

Veronica did as he said and threw the plate at the other end of the room.

"Isn't that too much?" A surprised Adrianna asked.

"They are making me marry a man I don't love! I'm not even allowed to be seen with a guy that people could think I was dating!" Veronica complained.

"He is actually decent, you know. At least you're engaged to someone you're familiar with." Cedric said.

"Don't you dare take their side on this Cedric Reyes! We both know you'd throw a fit too if this happened too." Veronica threatened.

"Why can't you say no?" Adrianna asked.

"Ah, the bliss of being an outsider." Veronica sighed, shaking her head.

"With families like ours, you can't just refuse them. There will always be consequences and they usually turn out bad. For Veronica, they would disown her, so zero inheritance, zero benefits. That would result in her losing around 80% of her clientele and it wouldn't end there, anyone that she chooses who is weaker than the Abad family will fall and will be forced to leave." Cedric explained grimly.

"Some are luckier, the Sebastians, the Reyeses, and the Laurences all have a more progessive view on the world. It's because adapting is what has helped them survive, unlike my family. My family has always relied on the traditions of the past, including arranged marriages." Veronica said.

"The Laurences only adapted recently. Two generations ago they were still doing arranged marriages, that's why Ray and Alexi are cousins." Cedric explained.

"Who do they want you to marry?" Adrianna asked.

Veronica bust out laughing. "He isn't bad. I just don't feel anything romantic towards him. He's smart and good looking, and he's kind -"

"It's Miguel, Miguel Chan." Cedric said cutting Veronica off mid sentence.

"What? Miguel?" Adrianna was shocked. This whole time she thought it was some stranger she had never met.

"The upside is, Nicole and I will be sister in laws." Veronica said with a sad laugh.

"Are you and Miguel the only ones on this kind of arrangement?" Adrianna asked.

"Yup. But that hasn't stopped our families from hoping that we would date amongst ourselves. That's why Nicole is so careful with not being in a relationship with Ian. They constantly try to set us up with one another as well." Veronica explained.

"That's one of the reasons why both Ayanna and Ray are so hesitant to act on their feelings. They don't want to fall for each other because it's what's expected of them. Much like how you felt Adrianna." Cedric explained to Adrianna.

"So will they announce your engagement?" Adrianna asked.

"It all depends on Miguel. If he refuses then we wait, but the Abads will continue to pressure the Chans to make the announcement, so sooner or later we'll have to announce it." Veronica explained. "I thought I escaped that fate when I became Veronica, but I'm still an Abad, and it's my duty."

For a while the room fell silent. Adrianna had no idea on what to say, Veronica was stuck in a dilemma that no one could get her out of.

"Adri and I are lucky we managed to marry for love." Cedric said as he held his wife's hand.

"Thanks for listening to my rant. I can't exactly take this to the others." Veronica said to the couple.

"Veronica, give Miguel a chance. You treat him so badly because of this arranged marriage, but he's just a victim too." Cedric told Veronica.

Veronica just nodded and left.

"Will she be alright?" Adrianna asked Cedric.

Cedric just nodded and escorted his wife out of the restaurant

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