Never Judge

"Mom, Mae, Dave, what are you guys doing here?" Mien asked as he stepped out of his apartment. "Shouldn't you be showing mom her place?"

"Yep, it's right next door." Mae said with a nod. "We were wondering if you and Aunt Lara would want to join us."

"Let me check if Mo-, no, Aunt Lara wants to join us." Mien said as he quickly corrected himself, remembering that his aunt was not his biological mother.

"You can call her mom, I don't mind. I won't be hurt." Marisa said as she reassured her son. "She raised you. She was more of a mother to you than I have ever been." She explained.

"No mom." Mien said as he shook his head. "You did the hardest thing for a mother, you sent your own child away to protect me. I should call you mom."

"We can both be your moms." Lara said as she came out of Mien's apartment. "You don't need to choose Mien. You can even call me aunt if you feel that is more appropriate."

"No, I want to call both of you mom." Mien said as he pulled both women into his arms and hugged them tight.

"I hate to break this mothers-son moment, but shall we look at the apartment?" Dave said as he pointed at the door next to Mien's.

"How many units are on this floor?" Lara asked as they walked over to Marisa's apartment.

"Well, this is a VIP floor, so ten rooms." Mae explained as she unlocked the door.

"And how many are occupied, I've never seen anyone on this floor." Mien said as he looked around the empty hallway.

"Four, I think." Mae said as she entered the apartment followed by her family and Dave.

"Including mine?" Mien asked.

"Including yours and this one, now let's see what mom will need to move in." Mae said as she walked around the apartment.

Marisa gasped as she saw the size of the room, she looked around trying to take in everything about the place.

"It's a four bedroom, it comes with a kitchen and a dining room that's fully equipped." Dave explained as he pointed at the kitchen to the right.

"This is way too much." Marisa mumbled as they made their way through the room.

"Oh, it looks like Ian already furnished this unit." Mae commented as she looked around. "Well, of course it's only semi-furnished. There are still some things that need updating. We should go to the mall this weekend." Mae said with a nod.

"Sure." Dave replied.

"Mae, I don't need more things. This place is bigger than the house I'm renting and I don't have that much stuff." Marisa insisted.

"But mom -." As Mae complained someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get it." Dave told his girlfriend and her family as he walked over to check who it was.

To his surprise it was the moving crew that he had dispatched to get all of Marisa's belongings. He was surprised that they had finished so quickly.

"Did you get everything?" Dave asked.

"Yes, sir." The man that looked to be their supervisor said. "There wasn't much in the house. We even checked hiding spots but found nothing."

"Alright, bring everything in. We'll ask the person that's moving in where we should put her things." Dave said as he led the group inside.

"Marisa, we had all of your things brought over, you can just tell them where to place stuff." Dave called out as he approached Mae and her mother.

"Wait, mom hasn't even decided on which room will be her bed room." Mae grumbled. "Come on mom, let me show you the rooms." Mae said as she gently pulled her mother over to check each of the rooms.

Eventually Marisa did pick the master bedroom and decided to turn two rooms into guest rooms while keeping the fourth room empty.

"Maybe you should transform it into an entertainment room, mom." Mien suggested as the movers brought in all of Marisa's things.

"That's too much Mattias." Marisa said as she shook her head. "Having a TV in my room and in the living room is already a luxury to me." She said with a frown. 

"I've survived without many comforts for years, this is already way more than I am used to." Marisa added as she noticed that her son was not exactly happy with her refusal to take a luxury. 

"Don't worry, Mien." Dave said as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your sister was like that at first too. The thing is, the longer you spend with the Reyeses and their wealth, you realize that these comforts are nothing to them."

"I hope you don't abuse Cedric's kindness." Mien said as he glared at Dave.

The assistant couldn't help but laugh, he often forgot how limited Mien's knowledge was about him and his background.

"Mien, I don't take much from Cedric. At most it is my apartment and my salary. All other expenses are my own." Dave explained with a smile.

"Mien doesn't know." Mae said as she shook her head. "Mien, Dave comes from an extremely wealthy family, he is here to learn from Cedric."

Mein's jaw dropped at the news, making Dave and Mae laugh.

"It's alright. I never wanted people to treat me differently anyway." He said with a shrug as the last members of the moving crew exited the apartment.

As soon as the door closed, Marisa made her way to the master bedroom.

"What is mom doing?" Mae asked as she tried to see from afar.

She watched as Marisa took out a stack of envelopes from the dresser that the movers had brought over.

Marisa paused and started at the envelopes in her hand. She placed it on her chest and hugged it.

As she did this, Mae realized that these letters must have been the ones from her father, the ones Marisa had promised to show Cedric.

After a while, Marisa finally joined them once more and handed Mae the stack of envelopes.

"Those were all of your dad's letters. From beginning to end." Marisa explained.

"So before Andrew Chan was born?" Mae asked. 

"Yes, even before Andrew Chan was born. Back when your dad could still come home monthly." Marisa said with a smile as she recalled one of the last few happy moments in their lives.

"Please give them to Cedric, if it will help." Marisa said with a smile as Mae took the crisp documents in her hand.

"I hope we can find what we are looking for in these.." Mae said with a nod.

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