Never Judge

"Ayanna, did something happen last night?" Adrianna asked as she gave her sister in law a confused look.

"Yeah, we had a slight disagreement, but Cedric wouldn't just take off because of that." Ayanna said, shaking her head.

"So Ray didn't see him either?" Emilio Reyes asked his daughter.

"No dad. He said they wanted to give Cedric some time to rest." Ayanna recounted. "They mentioned something about Cedric being physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from all of this." 

"I have noticed something off about him recently." Adrianna said as she tried to recall Cedric's behavior.

"Eric approached me." Emilio Reyes confessed. "He was worried that Cedric wasn't allowing himself to feel and process everything that's going on. Like he was stopping his emotions."

"And last night he let it out." Ayanna said with a frown. "How could we not see that he was hurting?"

"Ayanna it's not your fault, I should have known too." Adrianna said as she placed a comforting hand on Ayanna's shoulder. "Cedric has always been good at hiding his emotions. It's his way of escaping."

"Wait, we don't even know if Cedric left." Emilio Reyes said in order to calm the already worried women. "He could just be working. You both know how much of a workaholic he could be."

Ayanna and Adrianna nodded wordlessly.

"Camilla, can you help us find him?" Adrianna asked Camilla.

"Of course." Camilla said with a nod. "I'll give the assistants a call. At least one of them should be with him."

Adrianna nodded. 

"I'll go check on Yoyo, maybe Cedric is with him." Adrianna said, picking up a piece of bread.

"You young people should eat a proper meal." Emilio Reyes complained as Adrianna left the dining room, laughing.

When she got to the nursery, she found Emilio playing alone as his nannies watched him. Cedric had gone overboard and hired three nannies to watch their son. 

Adrianna complained when he did that, saying that Emilio only needed one. But Cedric was stubborn on the topic and decided to hire three based on their specialization.

"Mommy!" Her son cried out as he stood up and ran over to hug her.

"Yoyo, has daddy come to play with you today?" Adrianna asked her son.

"Daddy brought me here." Emilio said with a yawn.

"What time did my husband bring my son over?" Adrianna asked one of the nannies. She was confused as to why Emilio would be so sleepy.

"It was really early madam." One nanny said as she tried to recall what time they had brought Emilio to the play room.

"I think it was around 5 am." Another nanny told her. "Yoyo was so sleepy that he just hugged his father and slept in his arms."

"How long was Cedric here?" Adrianna asked the nanny as she tried to trace back Cedric's steps.

"Around thirty minutes." The nanny told Adrianna. "We didn't want to disturb their moment so we stepped out of the room. After a while, Mr. Reyes came out and gave us instructions not to disturb Emilio who was sleeping on one of the beds in the playroom." 

"I need to do something." Adrianna said as she began to look distressed. "Watch over my son. We should be leaving for the Capital after lunch. Have some maids help you pack his things."

"Yes madam." One of the nannies said with a nod.

Adrianna quickly left the playroom and headed for the library. She was hoping that Ayanna or her father in law would be there.

Luckily, when Adrianna entered the library, Emilio Reyes, Ayanna, and Camilla were all inside. Each was on their phones, trying to find a way to find Cedric.

"Is he really missing?" Adrianna asked in a shaky voice.

"Adri, we don't know yet." Ayanna said as she helped Adrianna take a seat. 

"He was with Yoyo at 5 AM." Adrianna told them, recounting what the maids had told her. 

"Do you think he was saying goodbye?" Adrianna asked as she began to sob. "Why would he leave?" 

"We had an argument last night." Ayanna said with a frown. "I said things that hurt him. I should have realized that Cedric was suppressing his emotions."

"Have you tried calling his phone?" Adrianna asked. She felt bad for asking such a stupid question, but she knew that they needed to make sure all possibilities were exhausted before she started to worry that Cedric had really left.

"Yes." Ayanna said with a frown. "I was hoping he had brought his phone with him, but we found it here in the library." Ayanna said, handing Adrianna Cedric's phone.

"It's unlike Cedric not to take his phone." Adrianna said as a tear began to roll from her eyes.

"Adri we need you to keep it together." Ayanna told her sister in law. "We need you to think, where would my brother have gone, why would he have left? We also need you to open that phone. We can't access it."

Adrianna looked at the phone in her hands. She knew her husband had increased the security on it. The only people that could access it's contents were either Cedric or Adrianna.

"Cedric made sure that no one other than us could access his phone." Adrianna explained as she unlocked it. 

As soon as the phone was unlocked she handed it to Ayanna to investigate. 

Ayannna didn't waste any time, she quickly searched through her brother's emails, phone calls, and messages. 

When she was done she placed the phone back into Adrianna's hands with a frown.

"You didn't find anything?" Adrianna asked as she observed Ayanna's solemn mood.

Ayanna shook her head as tears dropped from her eyes. "I found what I was looking for."

"You know where he went?" Emilio Reyes asked as soon as he heard that Ayanna had found something.

"Dad, you need to calm down for this, your heart isn't as strong as it used to be." Ayanna told him in a calm and soothing tone.

"Ayanna, you are scaring me. What is it?" Adrianna asked as she opened the phone once more.

"Cedric left a message for each of us on his phone." Ayanna said as tears began to roll from her eyes. "He left because he needed space, because he needed to process his emotions. He said not to look for him."

Adrianna felt her whole world collapse around her. She and Cedric had been through so much together, how could have not gone to her in his time of need. Why did he have to run? Why did he have to leave?

Didn't he think he was hurting her as well?

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