Never Judge

Eric leaned against the headboard as he looked at a sleeping Katerina. He smiled as he pushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen on her beautiful face. Last night was a difficult one, he had heard her story by accident and he couldn't help but feel guilty, she had gone through something horrible while she was in America because of him, because he wasn't man enough to tell her how he truly felt.

"Mmmmm." Katerina said as she slowly woke up. "Eric, why are you up so early?" Katerina asked as Eric took her hand in his and kissed it.

"I have a job to do today." Eric told her.

"A new film? Commercial?" Katerina asked. She was too sleepy to think that it was so sudden, most would have to schedule things months and even years in advance with Eric, that's how in demand his talents were. 

"No, Katerina this is something different." Eric said in a serious tone forcing Katerina to open her eyes and sit up.

"What is it?" She asked her boyfriend.

"It's actually because of your idea." Eric said slowly, he knew Katerina would scold him for getting involved in Cedric's plot. "I'm going to be a distraction so that Ian can hack into Regis Inc.'s customer files."

"You volunteered to do this?" Katerina asked angrily. She suggested they send someone to investigate, not go themselves. All of the boys were too important to risk themselves on something so trivial.

"Katerina, we need something big to distract the whole Regis Inc." Eric said as he gently stroked the top of her head. "I just need to be there, they won't be able to connect me to a bigger plot. Cedric just needs enough time to get one of Leon's men inside and close enough to a security computer. Once Ian is in the system he can hack through it." Eric tried to comfort her as best he could, he didn't want her to worry, and it was true, all he had to do was be himself and go to Regis Inc.

"And what will be your reason for dropping by Regis Inc.?" Katerina asked as she glared at him, she had a bad feeling about their plan.

"Promise you won't get mad." Eric said as he cupped her face in his hand.

"You're using Calathea." Katerina said in a cold tone. Eric might have said nothing ever happened between them but Katerina still felt some pain when people talked about Calathea and him.

"I just need to say I'm visiting her, that's all." Eric told Katerina as he pulled her onto his lap. "You know that I've never loved her, I only love you." Eric said as he planted a trail of kisses on her neck and pulled her closer to him. 

He heard Katerina moan as he let his hand wander around her body, touching her smooth skin.

"Stop it." Katerina suddenly said as she placed some distance between them. "We won't get out of bed if you keep doing that." Katerina got off and marched into the bathroom.

Eric laughed as he followed her in.

"You're late." Cedric said with a grin as Eric entered Ram's office in Lights Entertainment.

"I had an angry girlfriend to coax." Eric said with a shrug as he sat on the couch. "Did you resurrect the news?" He asked Ram who was signing some documents. 

"Yeah. The story about you and Calathea should be resurrected, then you can head on over to Regis Inc. to look for her." Ram had arranged for several trolls to rediscover the scandal between Calathea, Eric, and Katerina. The timing would be perfect since there had been recent rumors that Eric Chan was in love, of course all these rumors would eventually be proven true when the public found out about Katerina, but Eric had no plans of bringing their relationship to light any time soon. 

"Won't Katerina gut you for this?" Cedric asked.

"Ah little brother, you have so much to learn in love." Eric said with a chuckle. The five princes had always looked to him as an older brother and he was often part of their group growing up.

"Really Eric?" Ram asked with a laugh. "Cedric is the one that's been happily married for years and you want to give him advice. You're older, but not wiser in this aspect."

"I'm not the one that lied to his wife during our whole relationship." Eric teased, he knew it was a sore spot for Cedric and he couldn't help but poke at it.

"So what's your plan to keep your girlfriend happy?" Cedric asked as he raised an eyebrow at the older man.

"I was late today, wasn't I?" Eric said with a wink. "Plus I'm taking her to Kashmere for a week. A romantic getaway should work like a charm."

"Ha, she's so busy, how can you clear her schedule?" Ram asked, he knew the between all her high profile clients and them Katerina was always jetting between cases. 

"Her assistant cleared everything, I told her to tell everyone that Katerina is busy." Eric proudly said. 

"She'll kill you for that." Cedric laughed at the thought of how angry Katerina was going to be when she found out about what Eric did. Katerina valued her work above all, and was even a worse work-a-holic than Cedric.

"My darling could never hurt me. Plus she needs to take a break, did you see what happened at the last hearing?" Eric asked with a hint of worry on his face.

"Yeah, the gunman." Ram said, shaking his head.

"Luckily, Alexi still keeps some of his own guards to watch over her. It was a blind spot they didn't anticipate." Eric explained. 

"Do you still keep secret bodyguards around her?" Cedric asked.

"Yes, but they are focused on image control, any unflattering image or scandal they can get rid of it. Plus they are skilled at detecting paparazzi. Haven't you noticed that she's been out of the gossip news lately?" Eric proudly said.

"I'm just glad that the gunman didn't get to Katerina. She really has a dangerous job." Ram said with a sigh.

"Sir." Leon said as he knocked on the door.

"Come in." Cedric called out.

"Miss Calathea is in the Regis Inc. building." Leon announced.

"Perfect, it's my time to shine." Eric said as he flashed a dangerous smile.