Never Judge

Adolfo stood in the hallway with Dave, shocked by the person holding Emilio. When he saw her he froze in his tracks and couldn't help but ask why she was there.

Likewise Natalia was surprised to see someone like Adolfo in Cedric's office. She knew he was of the government and his family would never let him mingle with dirty businessmen like the Reyes family.

"Cedric is my older brother." Natalia said as she turned her back on Adolfo.

"That's a lie." Adolfo said as he glared at her. 

"You guys look adorable, you should date." Dave teased as walked back to his desk, greeting Cedric and Emilio with a nod as he passed. "Give me a moment, Adolfo. I need to get something."

"This is the expert you were talking about?" Natalia asked Cedric in a disappointed tone.

"Yes." Cedric nodded. "How do you know each other?" He was genuinely curious as to how Natalia and Adolfo met.

"We went to genius camp together." Natalia grumbled. 

Genius camp wasn't the real name for the bi-annual gathering that Natalia and Miguel often joined as kids. It was actually called the Academy for Advanced and Gifted Children, but Cedric and the other boys preferred to call it genius camp. It was a government initiative designed to push children that showed high intellectual abilities to test their limits and to grow. Cedric had initially been qualified to attend the academy, but as the Reyes Heir his father decided that it would only complicate things.

  "Why are you here?" Natalia asked as she glared at Adolfo. "Doesn't your family think the Reyeses are too dirty?"

"Natalia!" Cedric scolded. 

"You know how those military families think, they assume that you guys get your money from dirty sources cause you are businessmen." Natalia said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Natalia, Adolfo is my friend." Cedric said as he tried to convince Natalia that he and Adolfo were on good terms.

"It's my life, Natalia." Adolfo said sternly. "My parents and my family have no say in how I choose to live it. I refuse to continue living in secret camps and secluded labs."

"Wait! Your family doesn't know you're here?" Cedric asked in surprise.

"They do. But they aren't happy about it." Adolfo said with a shrug. "Think of me as semi-disowned."

"How can you be semi-disowned?" Dave said as he came back with an envelope and a key.

"Well, I'm not allowed to ask for help until I'm ready to come back." Adolfo said with a shrug. "Cedric, you can't scold me for hiding this from you. You lied about who you were to me."

Cedric laughed at Adolfo's statement, the boy was not wrong.

"I have no intention of scolding you." Cedric said as he grinned at Adolfo. "You're right, I wasn't upfront with you on my identity, nor were you, and we clearly had our reasons. So I understand where you are coming from." Cedric said with a nod.

"Ugh. You should be on my side with this." Natalia complained.

"What's wrong with you Natalia? You usually act more mature?" Cedric said as he cocked his head at Natalia.

"It's him. He just, ughhhh, annoys me." Natalia complained.

Cedric laughed as he watched Natalia get more and more frustrated with Adolfo.

"Dave is right, the two of you do make a cute couple." Cedric teased, annoying both of them. "Why don't we go and take a look at your new office Adolfo?" Cedric said as he started to walk away.

"This way boss." Dave said with a laugh. His boss was really good at picking on his friends, Cedric seemed to hit the bullseye every time.

Dave led them to a medium sized office at the end of the hall. There were a few tables and some computers had already been set up.

"When did they fix this place?" Cedric asked in surprise. He had asked Dave to set all of this up just five hours ago, and yet now it looked almost complete.

"Mae helped me coordinate everything while Dave and I were procuring the things that weren't available in the office. It was while you were meeting with Camilla but before Mr. Alexi arrived." Dave explained.

"I hope this office is big enough for you." Cedric said with a grin as Adolfo explored the room. 

The young man was clearly impressed with the setup that Dave and Mae had pulled off for him. He didn't expect his own office or a room this big.

"I went ahead and asked Mae to set up a working desk, a computer chair, and a couch." Dave said as he pointed at the various items in the room. "I've also asked her to place a mini pantry here, there is a larger one outside. You can use ours, but honestly there aren't that many employees on this floor. Mostly just people who report directly to Mr. Cedric and Miss Ayanna. When Miss Marie and Miss Aurora are here then their staff also works here, but at the moment it's just us." Dave explained. 

"Adolfo, I don't think I need to tell you that what I am asking you to work on is confidential." Cedic said as he placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"I understand." Adolfo said with a nod. 

"You set him up quite nicely here Cedric." Natalia said as she looked around.

"So will you consider working for the Reyes Group now?" Cedric said with a laugh. "You also have a friend working here." He teased.

"Ugh, first of all, if you made me work with Adolfo we would just spend the whole day bickering. That's what happened at the academy." Natalia said, rolling her eyes. "Secondly, my skills are best used for the advancement of the human race, not for lining your pocket." Natalia teased.

"Alright, alright." Cedric said with a smile. He knew Natalia would never work for him, like Miguel she was a 'for the good of all mankind' kind of person. "By the way, what happened to the project you were paired at?"  Cedric couldn't resist asking.

"Oh, we won first place. The tech we developed was patented and used in the military." Adolfo laughed. "We actually make a good team." He said with a grin.

"You are insufferable." Natalia said, rolling her eyes. "Cedric, why don't you ask him to go over the tapes while I'm here?" Natalia asked.

"Won't that take long?" Cedric was puzzled as to why Natalia wanted Adolfo to analyze the tapes in front of her.

"No, not with his eyes, or his program." Natalia said with a shrug as she walked over and sat on the couch.

"Alright. Dave, please get the tapes." Cedric instructed.

_________________________________________________________________________________

As an added gift on Never Judge's 6th month, I will be posting a little teaser for all of you. The first 5 chapters into a novel about the SISTERS. Yes a book on Ayanna, Veronica, Nicole, Katerina, and Natalia!

It will be available on my discord server. for those that want to read it, here is the link: https://discord.gg/VgShhK8Duu

Thank you for supporting Never Judge, don't forget to vote with your PS, comment, and give gifts!

___________________________________________________________________________________