Never Judge

"What?!" Cedric asked in surprise.

"Shhh. This is still a church." Alexi scolded. "Plus she might hear you. She hasn't gone out yet. She's waiting for me."

"I thought I told you not to make her suspect?" Cedric asked Alexi in a hushed tone.

"I did. I tried." Alexi said with a sigh. "She was suspicious the moment I said we should postpone the wedding."

"You could have set a date." Cedric said, shaking his head.

"I have no intention of committing to her, but yes I could have set a later date." Alexi admitted. "But we never know how long these investigations last. You still haven't found out who is behind Jam's killing and MT Summit. We think they could be the same person but what if they are not? It's like we are back to square one."

"They could also be related to Jen." Cedric said with a shrug.

"You should know how many enemies my family has Cedric. On top of that just the sheer number of people who would want to get their hands on Natalia's serums are a lot." Alexi explained to Cedric. 

"Okay, fine, but we need to focus on the matter at hand. You need to stop acting cold towards Jen." Cedric told his friend. "You won't even hold her hand."

"How can I Cedric? Just the thought of her disgusts me. The fact that I have to take her to your sister's wedding makes it even worse." Alexi complained.

"Is that really the only reason or are you afraid that someone else will misinterpret?" Cedric asked as he eyed his friend suspiciously.

"No, no, not that. I know what you are thinking. Selina and I are just friends and she knows." Alexi said, vigorously shaking his head. 

"You told her about Jen? Did she believe you?" Cedric asked. He knew that Selina still saw the best in Jen and wouldn't probably take Alexi's word for it.

"At first she didn't." Alexi said with a sigh. "She's known Jen her whole life and she still blames herself for Jen being a little bit broken."

"I think Jen is a little bit more, no, a lot more than a little bit broken." Cedric said in a serious tone.

"Selina's words not mine." Alexi said, raising his hands in a show of innocence. "She told me the true story behind Jen's confession. Cedric, if you heard the whole story you would feel bad. Selina told Jen from the start, Jen forced Selina, and Selina was the one standing by Jen not the other way around."

"Alexi, relax. We know." Cedric said with a grin. "We've been waiting for you to realize the truth. Something was off with Jen's story. Things didn't add up."

"How was I so blind and stupid Cedric?" Alexi asked in frustration. "I have only myself to blame for the situation I'm in."

"Well, you were in love." Cedric said with a laugh. "We do a lot of stupid things when we are in love. All you can do now is to pick yourself up and make up for those mistakes. Things will get better and that's the first step."

"You're right. I'll do better. Not just for me, but for Selina as well, she's the victim in all of these." Alexi said with a sigh. "I'm just glad I didn't seek out revenge for Jen. I'm glad I listened to you guys on that. I would have regretted it."

"I'm glad." Cedric said as he placed a hand on Alexi's shoulder. "Let's go. The reception won't wait for us."

The two men went back and joined the others and headed to Constellations where the reception was going to be held.

The public was quite surprised that it would be held there. Most socialite wedding receptions were done at Maharlika or on the grounds of an ancestral home. Prior to that day people weren't quite aware that Constellations was actually owned by the five princes. So it came as a shock to them that the boys had set up their own businesses outside of their family's.

When Cedric entered he found his way to their table, he was glad that his seat was somewhat obscured from the rest of the guests, the only people that could see him if he took off his mask were the bride and groom and their families. He was sure that when people saw this they would be frustrated, many had hoped he would forget himself and take off his disguise while eating, but it seemed they had thought of everything. 

When he finally sat down he held his wife's hand under the table. Emilio was seated on a high chair next to his wife and was completely ignoring his father. Cedric was quite proud of his son's maturity today.

"Did you arrange for this?" Cedric asked without turning his head to face Adrianna.

"I helped out." Adrianna said with a smile.

Despite being blocked from view they both thought it best not to give the paparazzi and gossips any opportunity to create rumors or look at them any more than they already were.

The more the guests looked towards them the higher the chance was of someone spotting a slip up.

"It's times like these that I hate hiding my identity." Cedric said with a sigh.

"You were doing it for me, and now you are doing it for all of our protection. The less people know the better." Adrianna said in an attempt to calm her husband's worries. 

"I know. I hope we find the people behind MT Summit soon." Cedric said as he squeezed her hand.

"Looks like Nicole and Ian have come clean about their relationship." Katerina said as she showed Cedric her phone. Katerina was seated on Cedric's otherside but she was not completely obscured from view. "They came out of the church together and the news exploded. I'm happy for them." Katerina said with a weak smile.

"He has offered multiple times to just come clean about your relationship." Cedric reminded Katerina. "It's different. His career will actually get hurt. You know how it is with his fans. They want him single and available." 

"Have the two of you even spoken about the future yet?" Cedric asked.

"Yes. I'm not ready to settle down, he is, but he said he will wait." Katerina said with a sullen look.

"Now, don't be so sad Katerina. He is going to wait and he is doing this because he loves you. You guys have waited years to be together. It's not like a few more will ruin your relationship." Cedric said with an encouraging nod.

"You're right." Katerina said as she pushed her worries to the back of her mind.