Never Judge

"So if Eric Chan is the other prince who is the fallen prince?" Jam recalled what Cedric had said about there being seven princes in total.

"The fallen prince is someone really brave and really strong." Nicole began to explain. 

"Ugh, love sick women." Alexi complained as he rolled his eyes.

"So who is he?" Jam had a hopeful look in his eyes as he asked Nicole.

"It's the guy that's seated next to Nicole." Cedric said, finally pitying the poor kid. What Cedric failed to realize is that there were two men seated next to Nicole.

"But Miguel Chan is already counted in the-- oh oh oh, you!" Jam began to think that what Cedric said didn't make sense until he realized that it was actually Ian, the assistant that had come down to fetch them and make him sign the NDA. "How?" Jam managed to say.

"Are you asking how Ian became a fallen prince?" Cedric asked his wife's cousin. 

Jam simply nodded vigorously. 

"Do you mind sharing?" Nicole asked Ian tenderly. 

"My family used to be at the same level as the Chans and the Abads, I guess you could say that everything that could go wrong went wrong. We lost almost everything and we went from being one of the richest to being so poor that we couldn't even afford our next meal." Ian explained. 

Cedric watched his friend tell his story, he felt bad for Ian. The man was a victim and circumstance. He genuinely hoped that Ian would be able to bring his family back to its former glory and Cedric was willing to help no matter what the cost.

"Wow Mr. Ian! You're amazing! You managed to survive and thrive after all that!" Everyone, especially Ian, was shocked with Jam's reaction. The first reaction of most people was to feel pity for him, that was of course only natural. His family had been at the top when they were pulled down to the bottom.

"So is he your favorite now?" Cedric teased. 

Jam was visibly nervous, Cedric was sure he didn't know what to answer, all the people on the table were important and he couldn't offend them.

"Relax Jam." Alexi said with a laugh. "You don't need to pick one." 

"Yeah, don't worry. Alexi is used to not being picked by now." Miguel teased. "Did you know that Mr. Playboy over here has been rejected almost every day for almost a year by one of my nurses?" Miguel said with a laugh.

"No way!" Jam said in disbelief.

"Some women are just too difficult." Alexi said, shaking his head. "But, I've had some progress." He said proudly.

"You managed to take her on dates. I don't think that's a success story." Eric teased.

"We've gone on dates, and I've kissed her in a non-sexual way." Alexi boasted.

"Kissed her in a non-sexual way?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Nurse Jen used to like girls, till she met Alexi and, well, ended up in bed with him. Alexi on the other hand fell hard for her. But Nurse Jen doesn't want anything emotional, something about being afraid of commitment." Cedric explained. 

"Why? Who hurt her?" Jam asked.

"A woman named Selina Ramirez." Alexi said the name as if it was a curse. 

"She didn't seem like a bad person when I met her." Cedric recalled the two times he met Selina and she seemed to be an honest and genuine girl, a little strong willed and wild, but genuine nonetheless. As a matter of fact he saw some similarities between Selina and Katerina. 

"She hides it well." Alexi hissed. "Jen followed her everywhere, dedicated her best years to going wherever Selina went. She followed her to America when she studied at Julliard, then to England, Paris, Milan, and Berlin where Selina learned about fashion and business. Jen would uproot her life to follow Selina. The bitch led her on. Letting her think that she had a chance, she really thought she and Selina would spend their lives together, but Selina, that snake tricked her. Do not be fooled by her outward appearance Cedric." Alexi warned.

"So what happened?" Ram asked.

"Eventually Selina broke Jen's heart. Jen flew back home to her province where she applied to be a nurse. One of the places was a private hospital on Kashmere, that's how she ended up working for Miguel." Alexi said with a shrug.

"Is it possible that Jen is exaggerating this story about Selina?" Cedric asked, he rarely judged people wrong, and he didn't see anything wrong with Selina Ramirez.

"I've known Jen for years." Nicole said. "She isn't one to lie or exaggerate. She's a really good person. Right brother?" 

"Yep. She's also a good nurse. You saw it first hand when she was caring for Adrianna." Miguel added.

Cedric simply nodded in reply.

"She is really nice Cedric, I was actually sad to see her go, but she was only on loan from Saints till I recovered, and I did recover earlier." Adrianna said, agreeing that Nurse Jen really was a person of integrity.

"Such as shame." Ayanna pouted. "Miss Ramirez brings in so much opportunity, I wanted to work on a partnership with her. She owns the rights to distribute some of the most famous fashion lines, add to that the fact that she would be an amazing endorser, imagine a former actress and model that slays in business. What a waste on a rotten character." Ayanna sighed.

"You still have Maureen." Veronica said, mentioning her fashion designer cousin. 

"Mau is amazing on her own as a designer, but you have to admit she isn't much of a business woman." Ayanna replied. 

"You can still work with Selina Ramirez, Ayanna." Alexi said. "Jen isn't my wife, yet." Alexi made sure to put emphasis on saying the word yet. He clearly had every intention of making her Mrs. Sebastian in the future.

The rest of the night went on peacefully, eventually Jam was able to adjust to his new acquaintances, he was no longer awkward and became more and more comfortable talking to them.

"Don't worry Tony! I'll convince my parents to let you marry my sister. You're so much more successful and powerful than Aiden." Jam boasted.

"Jam, you don't need to do that for Tony." Amanda told her younger brother. "I will only marry the man I love." Amanda promised.

"Just be ready. That Aiden kid looked serious about courting you." Cedric said as he walked up to them.

By the time the group walked out the restaurant was already devoid of customers, so they could casually and comfortably walk out.

"I won't let Aiden steal my Amanda from me." Tony promised as he held Amanda's hand tightly.

"I'm rooting for you." Cedric said with a nod.

Since he already had the van take the rest of the Lobo family to Constellations, Cedric let Jam pick out one of his cars that they would take to drop him off. The kid ended up picking out the Rolls Royce Phantom.

"I've always wanted to ride one of those." Jam said with a grin.

Soon a driver brought the car over and the three people hopped on. Adrianna's parents had taken little Emilio with them and were fetched by another car so that they could go directly to Mountain View. 

"One of these days we'll invite you and Amanda over to Mountain View." Adrianna promised her cousin. "I think you will love it." She happily told her cousin.

"I can't wait." Jam said with a smile. 

As they arrived at Constellations Adrianna and Cedric bid Jam a good night as he alighted the car. Cedric could see the twinkle in the kid's eyes as he got off the fancy car after meeting his idols, he was glad that he let the kid stay rather than sending him home with the elders.

When they saw Jam about to enter the hotel doors Cedric told the driver that they could leave.

As the car began to move, they suddenly heard a gunshot. 

Cedric turned, and saw Jam on the ground, bleeding.