Never Judge

"Oh Cedric. I've already set up the partnerships you needed." Alexi Sebastian said as he recalled their little side project. 

"What is this one for this time?" Jose Sebastian asked his son and Cedric. 

"Some companies that we want to lift to the top." Cedric told the elder Sebastian.

"You guys are evil." Adrianna scolded her husband.

"Not as bad as those bullies." Ray quickly jumped into the conversation to defend his friends. "You don't even know half of what they did to Cedric. You're a girl so they were always super nice to you. Plus they all had a crush on you making things horribly difficult for Cedric." Ray went off telling Adrianna how she didn't know what her husband actually went through with the bullies.

"Ray, enough." Cedric didn't want Adrianna to feel bad about what he had to go though. She didn't have to know these things.

Ray quickly listened to Cedric and stopped talking.

"Why don't you want me to know?" Adrianna asked as she gently held her husband's hand.

"It's all in the past. It doesn't matter." Cedric lovingly told her, he couldn't bear to see her in pain or even just worried because of something that happened long ago. 

"Someone would dare bully someone from the Reyes clan?" Francesca asked with a confused look. 

Cedric remembered that to the world the reason they hadn't seen him for thirteen years was because he was extremely low profile and that he was studying elsewhere. It was a secret to everyone that for generations the Reyes Heir walked around as an ordinary person, focused on simply making ends meet.

"May I?" Ram asked Cedric and Emilio Reyes.

Cedric looked at his father for direction, it wasn't just his secret to tell anyway.

"You have this covered?" Emilio asked his son, to which Cedric simply nodded. "Go." Emilio told Ram who quickly explained to Francesca the logic of the Reyes Clan's Poverty training. 

"Are you moving forward with the plans?" Ram asked Cedric. Cedric had given each of his friends an opportunity to help out, they were just as eager as him to get back at the five boys.

Cedric simply nodded with a grin.

"Don't let revenge consume your life." Priscilla warned her son. "I don't want you boys living with anger in your hearts." As she said this she smiled tenderly at the boys.

"Listen to your elders." Benedicto Laurence said in agreement. 

"Just a few more, mom." Cedric said with a reassuring nod.

Just as Cedric said this the waiters served their food and everyone chatted happily. Ray had brought in a Michelin star chef from America to cook at the Bamboo Room for six months and they were his first customers. 

"This is delicious!" His mom, Amy So - Laurence praised. "How did you manage to convince Chef Francis to come to our country and work for you?" 

"I didn't, he followed us till I agreed." Ray said with a sigh. "He has a crush on Ayanna and said he would like to see his muse longer."

"My sister, his muse?" Cedric said as he laughed.

"Cedric, be nice." Adrianna warned her husband.

"Ignore my brother, Adrianna." Ayanna said as she placed down her silverware. "I'm going to the washroom." She said as she excused herself.

The other girls suddenly said that they needed to use the washroom too so they all left together.

"There they go again with peeing together. What do they even do in there?" Alexi complained, as he watched the girls leave. 

"They talk about how smelly you are at home." Eric teased the younger guy.

"You're just taking my sister's side cause you're sleeping with her." Alexi accused Eric, making everyone laugh.

When the girls arrived in the bathroom Ayanna let out a sigh.

"Adrianna, I'm actually happy when my brother does things like make fun of me." Ayanna told her sister-in-law. "For years I was worried that when he came back he might be someone else. I know everything he's been through. Whenever he would come home we would spend the whole day talking about how his and my year was like. I was always worried that if I told him how happy and easy I had it he would ditch the poverty training and come home." Ayanna said with a frown.

"Don't worry, I know he loves you." Adrianna said with a nod.

"I know. He actually finished his poverty training for me." Ayanna said with a sigh as she fixed her hair. "If he had quit or surrendered at any point I would have to do it. And I really don't want to be head of the family. I'm happy with my life. I'm happy to help my father and brother out in any way I can. I'm not built for the life Cedric is living." 

"So you know what he went through? Back when he was still poor? Like everything?" Adrianna asked. "Yeah. He told me most things in great detail. I even saw in his eyes how much he loved you and how worried he was that you would leave him because he was poor. He always hoped that you would stay despite your family." 

"Can you tell me about the bullies?" Adrianna asked. 

Ayanna looked at her sister-in-law and hesitated. She knew her brother wanted to protect Adrianna from all the harsh treatment he had lived through, but as a woman Ayanna understood where Adrianna was coming from, so she hesitantly agreed.

"How much do you know?" Ayanna asked.

"Only that they picked on him, embarrassed him, and made him into their errand boy while we were at University." Adrianna was clearly worried as she said this, Ayanna could tell.

"They did worse." Katerina said as she came out of the cubicle. "I saw some of it." 

"What Katerina is saying is true." Ayanna said with a nod. "They often beat my brother up when they were mad, most especially when he was with you."

"Cedric never told me this." Adrianna said as tears dropped from her eye.

"My brother was just protecting you." Ayanna said slowly. "Those that came before him had to go through much worse, and all his life he had been prepared to face things like this."

"What else? I want to know everything." Adrianna asked.

"Sister-in-law, one night wouldn't be enough to tell you the suffering my brother has endured. But understand that his plans for revenge are not unfounded, just like how your desire to rise by your own skills won't make sense to everyone." Ayanna said with a nod.

"The other boys found a way to lightly deal with the bullies in the past." Veronica said, as she washed her hands in the sink.

"Yeah, Alexi and the other boys beat those bullies up back in university. They just said they were offended and beat them up. I hate that not helping rule." Katerina said with a sigh.

"Cedric survived it and now he can do as he pleases." Nicole said after going back to the bathroom for the nth time. Her pregnancy gave her a weak bladder.

As they were talking, Adrianna's phone suddenly rang. It was her cousin Amanda Lobo.

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