Never Judge

"Oh, you boys came over!" Priscilla Reyes excitedly greeted as she approached their table. 

"Mother." Cedric said with a nod. 

"It's been a while since you guys went here to have lunch with us." Amy Laurence said.

"Yes, I can't even remember the last time you were all here!" Victoria Abad exclaimed. "Quick, call your sisters and your wives to come over, let's make a lunch party of it." 

"Mom, Adrianna can't just stroll in here and eat with us. It'll make rumors worse. Plus it will be hard for Cedric to eat with a disguise if he could be easily seen." Ram explained to his mother.

Priscilla Reyes took a look around. There were very few patrons who were already there, most came at about 2pm when the mothers were done having lunch and were casually chatting.

"Waiter, call over Mr. Thompson." Priscilla told the staff. 

Mr. Thompson was the manager of Nationalia, and when he heard that the head lady of the Reyes clan called for him he quickly went. He was a tall, well built american who used to serve in the air force. 

"Madam, you called for me?" Mr. Thompson asked respectfully.

"I want the whole dining area closed to our group." Priscilla Reyes ordered.

"Of course Madam." The manager said respectfully. At Nationalia no one would dare go against the Reyes family's requests. They were like royalty here. A big chunk of the golf and country club's earnings came from them, the people they brought to the club, and people who wanted to be like them who were willing to pay the steep fees just to be a member of the club. The esteem of Nationalia depended greatly on the five families and a handful of others, so Mr. Thompson always made it his priority to ensure that they were happy.

"Did I tell you boys about that embarrassing incident with Mrs. Villanueva!" Priscilla Reyes exclaimed as the boys got up from their seats to let the staff rearrange the tables.

"No auntie. What happened?" Alexi asked, clearly curious about the incident.

"Well we were here a month ago with Gracia, as we are every week. For some reason she was invited by her husband's business partner. Anyway, as a new rich woman she kept bragging to us about some cheap limited edition mainstream brand. One of those tacky bags that has the brand all over." Priscilla Reyes sounded absolutely disgusted by Mrs. Villaueva's taste. "I mean I don't mind, her taste is her taste, what really set me off was when she saw Gracia in the bathroom. She looked at her and asked her if she was a member of the staff, of course Gracia is now a far cry from how she was before and was staring at Mrs. Villanueva in shock. The lady then had the gall to throw a piece of used tissue at Gracia and tell her to pick it up!" 

"How did you know about this mom?" Cedric asked.

"The washroom assistant told us. She tried to warn Mrs. Villanueva, but the lady didn't listen. She even said Gracia's clothes were cheap and disgusting, my gosh calling a Maureen original cheap?" Priscilla Reyes was clearly appalled with this Mrs. Villanueva person. "So I had her thrown out and banned for life, not just here but in all of our companies as well. The woman who invited her was so embarrassed that she immediately called her husband to cancel all deals with them."

"Mom, that's petty." Ayanna scolded.

"You haven't even heard the other part of the story." Lucy Chan told the younger woman.

"Gracia, why don't you tell them?" Priscilla Reyes said as she nudged Gracia.

"Well, she was my childhood best friend until became the mistress of my first boyfriend and she tried to steal Charles from me after we were married." Gracia Hernandez said shyly.

"Cedric she thought your mother-in-law and father-in-law had fallen along with the other Hernandezes and assumed that Gracia worked as a washroom attendant." Priscilla Reyes complained. "One, I love the staff here, they take such good care of us and do their work so well, so the gall of that woman to treat a member of the staff like trash! Second, how dare she do those things, she needed to learn her lesson." 

"Thank you mom." Cedric said with a nod.

Cedric's phone buzzed as Adrianna told him that she was already near.

"It's Adri, I'll go meet her at the front." Cedric said as he excused himself.

"I'll come with you." Alexi offered as he chased after Cedric.

As they approached the lobby they began to hear shouting from the entrance, it seemed like a female guest was getting mad at the staff.

"Miss, we really can't let you in. An important client reserved the whole dining area." Cedric heard the staff explain.

"I thought Nationalia bowed to no one?" The woman asked, furious at what the staff had just told her.

"Miss, you aren't even a member." The staff member explained. 

"But I am." Her female companion said in a stern tone. 

"Madam, we are sorry, but you really can't come into the dining area, why not try the cafe?" The staff member suggested.

"And stay with the spotters?" The first woman spat in disgust. Spotters were people who sat near places famous and important people frequented in the hopes of talking to them. The cafe of Nationalia had a separate entrance and although you needed a reservation or a membership to stay there many people still gambled at a long term reservation just for a chance to possibly strike up a conversation with someone important. 

At a distance Cedric saw three cars approaching, he recognized each of them. The first was Katerina's white BMW, followed by Eric's red Maseratti, and the last car in the convoy was Adrianna's Audi.

Katerina was the first to get off and when she saw the commotion she looked suspiciously at the woman. Something suddenly caught Katerina's attention making her smile and wave.

"Adri! Adri!" Katerina said as she rushed over to Adrianna who had just gotten out of her car.

"Katernia." Adrianna greeted with a gentle smile.

"You! What the hell are you doing here?" The woman that was shouting at the staff earlier said as she approached Adrianna. It was Lorisa's best friend Mary.

"This is a free country, Mary. Do I need to report to you where I go?" Adrianna asked in a cold tone. Being with the Reyes family and the sisters had taught her how to deal with people like Lorisa and Mary. 

"Who is this Adri? A friend?" Katerina asked. Adrianna knew Katerina was baiting Mary. She had seen the sisters do this many times. 

Before Mary could respond to the fact that Katerina addressed Adrianna so casually, an extremely well dressed Eric came up and placed an arm around Katerina and Adrianna's shoulders. As he did this both girls pushed his arms off them, shocking Mary and her companion even more.

"Aren't you girls going in?" Eric asked as he walked past Mary and her friend.

"We will." Katerina nodded as she pulled Adrianna along.

"How dare you let that dirty woman in!" Mary shouted at the staff member.

"She's part of the list." The staff member simply said. "Miss, Madam, if you do not leave I will have security escort you out, and I will make sure that they pass in front of the cafe." The staff member threatened. Seeing that the group that had entered didn't like the shouting woman, the staff member was no longer afraid of the two women.

Mary and her friend had no choice but to stomp away.