Never Judge

Ayanna had begged Cedric the night before to drive her to get the wedding license, Ray would meet them there and Ayanna would ride with Ray going to the old Reyes house. Cedric knew that Ayanna wanted to do this as a symbol that her family was wholeheartedly letting her marry Ray. 

Cedric chose to drive Ayanna in his white Rolls Royce Ghost, not only was it white making it very appropriate for the occasion, but it was also the most secure and the most comfortable of his cars. He liked it so much that even after his accident he had a new one purchased and out fitted like a tank. 

"Adrianna, stop fussing you're even worse than mom!" Cedric heard Ayanna complain as the women walked out of the front door. 

Ayanna wore a simple off shoulder white dress that came to a halt a little below her knees with a godet cut. Her long hair was braided and the girls placed small flowers on her braids. It made Ayanna look like a young bride rather than her usual mature look in public. Cedric smiled, he felt this look fit his little sister the best. 

"Mom and Adrianna are just excited for you." Cedric said with a smile as he offered his sister his arm. 

"No disguise today Ced?" Ayanna asked as she looked at her older brother.

"It's in the car. Don't get your hopes up." Cedric said with a wink. He knew his sister wanted him to show the public who he really was so that the rumors that often hovered around Adrianna would go away. "You look gorgeous Ayanna." Cedric said, placing a gentle kiss on his sister's head.

"We'll see you at the old house?" Cedric's grandfather, Emilio Reyes II, asked as the other members of the Reyes family came out of the Mountain View mansion.

"Yes grandpa." Ayanna said happily. 

Cedric nodded and led his sister to the back seat.

The ride was silent. Cedric knew that Ayanna must have felt nervous and excited at the same time, he recalled his own wedding day many years ago. 

Five years ago

Cedric stood in his small apartment with his phone on speaker.

"Can't I come?" Ray asked over the phone.

"Hey if Ray is going I'm going too!" Alexi complained.

"No one is going guys." Cedric groaned as his friends insisted on attending his wedding.

"What if I was just there because of work?" Alexi asked, trying to convince his friend to let him be there.

"If you were there Adrianna's family would insist that you officiated the wedding." Cedric said with a laugh. "I don't want you officiating my wedding."

"It's just a piece of paper. It's not like I'm going to dish out some romantic advice! That's for the ceremony when you get back." Alexi was laughing over the call.

"Look, not even my mom or my dad is going to be there. So the five of you, stay away." Cedric warned.

"Fine." Came the synchronized reply. 

"Have you guys even seen this Adrianna Hernandez?" Eric asked over the call. He was much older than the other boys so he never got to see Adrianna in person back when they were at university.

"She's A-list level." Ram said with a laugh.

"Now I feel bad for going to school abroad." Miguel complained. He had only seen Adrianna once but only briefly and Cedric seemed to be in a rush that time.

"I'm just surprised her family allowed this." Ray teased, they all knew that the Hernandez family were very snobbish and were practically rich social climbers.

"Adrianna refused to marry anyone else, so as a compromise they agreed to a civil wedding only. Which is good for me, when I'm back as the Reyes Heir I'm going to throw her a lavish wedding ceremony." Cedric said as he grinned.

"It's not like you can't now. Constellations is doing really well, we've earned so much already!" Ray boasted. 

"I prefer to keep the ownership a secret." Cedric told his friends.

"You Reyeses and your low key lifestyles. It's so annoying." Alexi complained. As the son of a political family he had always been exposed to the public, of course constant exposure didn't mean he showed his lifestyle was lavish, Alexi still had to keep things at a bare minimum. The worst the press had on him was his womanizing ways, but that didn't stop him from getting elected to congress.

"Look I really should go. I can't be late to my own wedding." Cedric said as he bid goodbye to his friend.

Since Cedric had little money at the time he took a cab to the government office. On the cab ride he was nervous, he was worried that Adrianna wouldn't show up, or that his identity would be exposed when Ayanna saw the names of his parents on his birth certificate. There were so many things that could go wrong.

At the present.

"I was nervous too." Cedric said as he continued to drive.

"During your wedding?" Ayanna said as she looked up at her brother. 

"Yup. I was afraid Adrianna wouldn't show up." Cedric confessed. "You know how much her family didn't want her to marry me. I was convinced that them letting her marry me was too easy a victory."

"She was there in the end." Ayanna said with a smile.

"Did you know she ran away that day?" Cedric asked.

"No, you never told me that." Ayanna laughed.

"She was also afraid that they wouldn't let her come to our wedding, so the night before, she snuck out and went to Julia Tiu's house. When I got to the government office she pulled me inside as if in a rush not to be spotted." Cedric recalled.

"Did they try to stop the wedding?" Ayanna asked.

"The Hernandezes did. The funny thing was, they got the time wrong. Apparently Adrianna told them that our wedding would be at two in the afternoon, we got our licenses at 10 AM." Cedric explained.

"I can't imagine going through what you did brother." Ayanna said, shaking her head. "I'm glad I'm not the Reyes Heir. I never want that pressure."

"I think you would have done well in my place." Cedric said with a smile. "Ayanna, love always finds a way." 

As they came to the government office Cedric, placed on his disguise and got out and opened the door for his sister. As he helped her out they saw Ray jogging towards them. Cedric nodded at his best friend and handed his sister's hand over to Ray.

"I have a gift for both of you." Cedric said as he pulled out a black box from his pocket. "I don't know if either of you remember, but uncle Benedicto used to take us along when he would visit different mining communities for Lau Jewelry. One time, Ayanna got lost, we were all so worried, we eventually found her when an old lady came up to uncle Benedicto. Ayanna got separated because she saw something shiny on the ground."

Cedric nodded, telling Ayanna to open the box, inside were two simple gold wedding bands. "Those two rings are made of the same gold nugget that Ayanna found. Uncle Benedicto gave it to me for safe keeping and I thought this would be the most appropriate use."

Ayanna smiled and hugged her older brother tightly.

"Thank you Cedric, thank you so much." Ayanna said as she began to tear up.

"Don't cry Ayanna, you'll mess up your makeup, Ray might see what kind of a monster he's actually marrying." Cedric said with a laugh. 

"Let's go." Ray said as he held Ayanna's hand and led her to get their marriage license.

Cedric took out his phone and quickly typed a message. 

'Congratulations bro, we'll always be here for you.' It was the exact same message Ray sent him on his wedding day. 

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