Never Judge

"Let me see if Adolfo is free for lunch." Cedric said as he took out his phone and called the younger man.

It took awhile for Adolfo to get to the phone, but Cedric understood that being under the research and development department was quite hectic. 

"Yo! Cedric. It's been a while." Adolfo happily asked over the phone. He and Adolfo spoke from time to time. Cedric enjoyed talking to him and maintained the friendship he had made.

"Wanna grab lunch? My treat?" Cedric asked over the phone.

"Yes! Who would say no to a free meal?" Adolfo asked excitedly.

"Ummm. . . if it were poisoned?" Cedric said with a laugh.

"Dammit you've outsmarted me." Adolfo said.

"There is always a first for everything." Cedric said proudly. It had become a game to them to counter any expression that was false or had loopholes. Cedric quite enjoyed the banter between them.

"So where is lunch?" Adolfo asked.

"Nouveau." Cedrick simply said, shocking the man on the other end of the call.

"You're joking right? How can I let you pay for my food at such an expensive place?" From what Adolfo knew, Cedric was still trying to prove to everyone that he wasn't some free loading husband. It was the story Cedric had sold to the whole company and it kind of stuck.

"Trust me, after we meet up you won't want to back out." Cedric said with a grin. He was planning on revealing his true identity to Adolfo. He trusted the young man and he had no doubts that Adolfo would keep his secret.

"Alright, alright." Adolfo said with a laugh. "I'll be there. I'm just packing up." Adolfo told Cedric over the phone.

"Wow, great, perfect. I'll see you in a bit then." Cedric said as he dropped the call.

"You're gonna show him who you are?" Miguel asked curiously.

"Yeah." Cedric said with a nod. "If he is as big an asset as you are telling me, then he must be kept as close as possible."

"How close are you guys?" Miguel asked Cedric.

"Well I guess you can say I'm one of his only friends in the Reyes Group." Cedric said with a sigh as he thought of the young awkward man who had turned out to be a genius. "He does have lunch with Mae and Dave when they are free. Sometimes I join them, but aside from us he rarely speaks to other people."

"I think Adolfo actually prefers it that way." Ian said. "He would probably get bored talking to the other employees. Plus he looks so young, they would always underestimate him or talk down at him."

"Poor kid." Miguel said, shaking his head.

"Let me finish up with these documents then we can head down for lunch." Cedric said with a smile as he pointed at the documents on his desk.

"I'll play with Emilio then." Miguel said walking over to the child playing with several toy cars on the ground.

"I'll hang out with Mae and Dave for a while." Ian said with a shrug. "It's odd going from seeing them every day to barely seeing them in a month."

"Go, knock yourself out." Cedric said with a laugh as he continued to read one of the files on his desk.

Ian nodded, he knew that once Cedric began to focus on the work in front of him he couldn't be bothered. 

There were quite a lot of documents on Cedric's desk, he had cancelled all of his meetings so everything that required his approval was sent up. It seemed there were so many things that were urgent in the Reyes Group. 

Cedric massaged his temples as he finished reviewing the last document. He checked the time, it was ten minutes past twelve. Adolfo was probably already waiting for them at the restaurant.

"Are you ready for lunch?" Cedric asked Miguel as he approached Miguel and Emilio who were playing on the floor.

"You're done working dad?" Emilio asked as he stood up. The little boy lost balance, but luckily Miguel was close enough to catch him.

"Yoyo, be careful!" Miguel scolded. Miguel was the person to give Emilio the nickname Yoyo since the kid wouldn't let go of the yoyo his uncle Ray had given him. 

"Sorry uncle Miguel." Emilio said as he regained his balance.

"Come on, let's eat." Cedric said as he held his son's hand.

"Miguel, if you like kids so much, why don't you and Veronica try having one?" Cedric asked as they walked out.

"Trust me Cedric, we're trying." Miguel said with a sigh.

"Lunch?" Cedric asked as they stood in front of the assistant's area. Since he didn't have any important meetings for the day Cedric simply wore slacks and a white long sleeved polo making him blend in quite nicely among his assistants. 

"Sure boss." Dave said excitedly as he stood up. He knew that as long as the boss invited them to lunch it would be his treat.

"Adolfo is joining us." Cedric told his two assistants, much to their delight.

"You're paying right?" Ian teased. "We can't afford to eat at the places you want too, we're too poor for that." 

"You are definitely not poor, I paid you a lot when you worked for me!" Cedric said as their group walked towards the elevator. 

"Yeah, and I don't work for you anymore." Ian said with a shrug, making everyone laugh at his joke. Because of Cedric's easy relationship with his assistants they often performed extremely well at work since they trusted him and were familiar with many personal aspects of his life.

Cedric had informed the manager of Nouveau earlier in the day to inform him that they would be having lunch there. He was sure that no one in his family would be using the private room since Ayanna was out with the girls dress shopping, his father was at the university with Charles Hernandez, and his mom together with the other moms went on a trip. 

The manager knew that if Cedric arrived undisguised he was to treat him like any other customer. So when their group arrived the manager simply asked one of the waiters to escort Cedric and his group to the private room.

"What are you doing here? Can you even afford to eat here?" A voice asked from behind Cedric and his group.

Cedric didn't recognize the voice, but nonetheless he sighed and turned around. Events like these had become quite common in his life.