Never Judge

"Atty. Mien is arriving today." Mae informed Cedric as she brought in the documents he had to look through for his next meeting.

The past few days had been hectic, between working out on a plan to create a rift between Lucius and Loussie, Cedric's trip to Singapore felt like a lifetime ago. 

"That was today?" Cedric asked as he gave Mae a confused look.

"Yes, but I've arranged for everything." Mae informed him. "I thought it would be safer if he stayed at Solaire Towers so I had one of the vacant units prepared for him."

"Okay, good. Thank you." Cedric said with a nod. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to give this matter as much attention as I should have." He said with a frown as he apologized to Mae.

"Cedric, I know you have been busy." Mae said with a nod as she continued to organize the documents on Cedric's desk.

"To make up for it, Ian and I will go with you to visit Fernando's family." Cedric informed Mae. "We'll be there as your emotional support, and if Dave wants he can come too."

Cedric knew that his two other assistants had become quite close over the years. He wasn't sure to what extent, but he knew that Dave being there would be a huge comfort to Mae.

"Thank you, boss." Mae said with a smile as she wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes. 

"I won't lie to you though, we will also take the trip as an opportunity to see if Fernando was involved with Lucius or if he was a victim." Cedric told her in the most sincere tone he could. 

"I understand." Mae said with a nod. 

Cedric looked through the documents as Mae handed it to him. He spoke only to ask Mae about the document he was reading and she only spoke to answer.

Soon enough they had finished going through all of the documents Cedric needed to look through for his meeting with the Marketing and Product Development teams.

He got up and began walking towards the meeting room next to his office when he suddenly stopped.

"What time does Atty. Mien arrive?" Cedric asked.

"6 PM tonight." Mae told Cedric. 

"And what time do we leave to go visit Fernando's family tomorrow?" He asked.

"We leave the capital at 8am, it's a five hour drive to his hometown." Mae explained. "I'm assuming you want all your meetings tomorrow moved?"

"Yes, and my meetings past 5 PM." Cedric instructed Mae. "I want to go with you to pick Atty. Mien up at the airport. Have the staff of Nouveau prepare my private dining room, let's have a welcome dinner for him."

"Alright, sir." Mae said as she began to tap away on her phone informing everyone of Cedric's instructions. 

"I'll ask Adri if she wants to come along, but I'd rather have her rest at home." Cedric told his assistant as he walked into the meeting room.

Cedric's afternoon went by quite quickly as his meetings with the different teams and departments under the Reyes Group had been interesting and exciting.

They saw how much attention their CEO invested in each project and in each team, and that made them work harder and better. 

When his last meeting rolled by, Cedric knew it would be an easy one, especially since it was just an update on Elissia Malls. 

Elissia Malls was one of the companies that his sister, Ayanna, handled directly. Those that she managed usually performed the best, second only to Mor Co. and Krisanta Land, which Cedric kept a close eye on.

As usual Ayanna allowed her staff to shine, having them present their proposals and achievements to Cedric. 

He was happy with his sister's management style since it quite closely resembled his own. 

As the meeting ended, Cedric asked his sister to stay behind.

"I'm welcoming a guest from Singapore tonight and we will be gone tomorrow to handle some matters." Cedric informed his sister.

"By we do you mean you and Adrianna or you and your entire team?" Ayanna asked her brother with a raised eyebrow.

"Me and my assistants." Cedric said with a laugh. "I want my wife to stay in the capital where it is safe."

"So you want me to keep an eye on things?" Ayanna asked her brother.

"That and I want you to have dinner with us tonight, bring Ray along as well." Cedric said. "I want the two of you to give me your opinion on this guy. I'm not exactly sure how to assess him."

"Alright. Ray and I don't have any plans tonight." Ayanna said with a nod. "How long will you be gone?" She asked.

"Maybe a day or two. I want to explore our projects and offices in the area as well." Cedric said. "It's been a while since I went around."

"I think our people will appreciate that." Ayanna said, agreeing with her brother's idea. "In the past it wasn't practical or normal for the CEO to go around and visit smaller offices, but times have changed."

"I'm glad you support my idea." Cedric told her.

"I think that the changes you are making help support and build the Reyes Group you want." Ayanna reminded him. "Someday we will step down from our posts and look back at what we've done here. I don't want us to regret anything."

"So far so good then." Cedric said with a laugh. "I'm proud of how you've been handling things."

"I could do better, if dad let me work from the bottom up." Ayanna said with a frown.

Unlike Cedric she had been thrust to one of the highest positions at an early age. She had tried to negotiate with her father at first so that she could work elsewhere, but he refused.

"You know that he did it for your sake. Everyone knew who you were so they would have praised you and given you preferential treatment the whole time." He explained.

"Just give your children the chance to learn, alright?" Ayanna asked her brother.

"I will." He promised. "As their father I will support them no matter what field they choose to enter."

"What if they don't want to follow in our footsteps?" Ayanna asked. "Who will you give the company to?"

"Then you and Ray should start making babies!" Cedric teased.

"Brother!" Ayanna complained as she blushed. "You know I don't want to have kids yet. But we will."

"Don't wait too long, I don't want my son to be so much older than his cousins!" Cedric told his sister.

"We won't." She said with a laugh.

"So I'll see you at dinner?" Ian asked, confirming if she would come. 

"Yes, of course." Ayanna told him with a nod.