Never Judge

"Ian, is the father of my sister\'s child, they should be married by now if my sister weren\'t so stubborn." Miguel complained as he sat to the right of the head of the table.

"Are we waiting for someone?" Adolfo asked as he looked at the seat.

​​

"Umm, no." Cedric said slowly as he moved the high chair from the corner to Miguel\'s side. He knew that Miguel would be eager to help out in taking care of little Emilio. He lifted the little boy from the ground and placed him on the seat.

"Then shouldn\'t Dr. Chan sit at the head of the table?" Adolfo asked as he continued to look at the empty seat.

"Well things like that don\'t matter that much to us." Cedric said with a shrug as he sat at the seat Adolfo had been eyeing.

"Plus Miguel isn\'t the richest one here." Ian said with a laugh as he tried to get Adolfo to catch on to what he was trying to say.

Adolfo\'s jaw dropped, but before he could say anything a waiter came in with their food. Cedric had already ordered everything before coming down. He knew everyone\'s preferences including Adolfo\'s.

When the waiter finally left, Cedric could still see the shock on Adolfo\'s face. He was curious as to how Adolfo would interpret Ian\'s statement. He knew Adolfo was smart, but he wasn\'t the type to jump into crazy speculations, he calculated his every move.

"No, that\'s impossible!" Adolfo said as he stared at Cedric, who remained calmly seated. "How can the Reyes Group pay you more than what the Miracle Doctor makes from his operations and from his shares at Saints Hospital? It\'s just not possible!"

At that Miguel burst out laughing and almost fell out of his seat.

"Uncle Miguel looks stupid." Emilio said, making everyone on the table laugh, everyone except Cedric.

"Where did you learn that word Emilio?" Cedric asked. "Which uncle taught it to you?" Cedric was sure that one of the boys taught Emilio to call people stupid.

"Promise not to tell?" Emilio asked his father.

"Of course Yoyo." Cedric said as he used his son\'s nickname.

"Okay." Emilio said with a smile, he trusted his dad. And even if his dad told whoever it was he would protect Emilio. "It was auntie Veronica. She said call uncle Miguel stupid." Emilio said proudly.

"What?!" Miguel said in shock.

"It seems your wife is toying with you again." Ian said with a grin.

"I\'m still very very confused." Adolfo said as he looked at the group. 

"Adolfo, promise not to overreact." Cedric said with a sincere look on his face. 

"Okay, but I doubt you can say anything that can shock me. As Dr. Chan said, my dad is a general in the military, I was trained to remain calm all the time." Adolfo said with a nod as he continued to give Cedric a puzzled look. 

"The Reyes Group doesn\'t pay me, because I own the Reyes Group." Cedric said slowly, making sure that Adolfo understood every word he said.

Adolfo simply stared at him and blinked. For a few minutes Adolfo didn\'t say anything, while everyone else in the group waited for him to speak.

"Dad is uncle broken?" Emilio asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Is this a joke?" Adolfo said as he looked skeptically at Cedric. "It isn\'t is it? I mean why would Dr. Miguel Chan let you claim to be his friend. Unless he\'s in on the prank. Then again, I have been wanting to ask what the great doctor is doing having lunch with us." Adolfo said as he looked at Miguel.

"Ummm, I\'m the father of his nephew, isn\'t that enough reason?" Ian asked.

"No, of course not." Adolfo said, shaking his head. "The five princes aren\'t that easy to have lunch with." 

Cedric laughed at Adolfo\'s comment, he could clearly see the pain in Ian\'s eyes as Adolfo said he wasn\'t enough to pull Miguel to have lunch in public.

"Adolfo, people don\'t know this, but Ian is the sixth prince. The fallen prince." Cedric said with a grin.

"I thought he was the CEO - no- y- your assistant?" Adolfo asked as he struggled to figure out how to address the situation.

"He was." Cedric said with a nod.

"Was?" Adolfo asked with a puzzled look.

"You clearly don\'t read the company e-malis." Mae teased. "They released an announcement a year ago that Ian Lim resigned as Cedric\'s assistant." 

"I thought you simply lent him to Saints Hospital." Adolfo said, scratching his head.

"The Vice President is my future wife and the mother of my son. I was not lent, I transferred to help her out." Ian said as he crossed his arms. 

"You are too calm." Cedric said as he eyed Adolfo suspiciously.

"Too calm? I\'m panicking under this facade!" Adolfo said as Cedric finally saw the confusion in his eyes. "How can the CEO of the Reyes Group be my friend, someone I met on orientation day and even have lunch with on a regular basis? How did I not notice from your voice, your look, your stature? I\'m not some dimwit -" 

"Language." Cedric said sternly as he motioned towards his son.

"I\'m sorry little one, don\'t repeat what uncle said." Adolfo told Emilio with a smile.

"Okay uncle! As long as you teach me to make robots." Emilio said excitedly.

Adolfo laughed at his adorable words. "Alright little one, when you are old enough." Adolfo promised.

"You can actually teach him already." Dave, who was seated next to Adolfo said. "The kid\'s a genius. He might pick up the basics if you teach him already." Dave said with a shrug.

"Oh, then next time." Adolfo said as he was stunned at what Dave said. "Anyway, as I was saying, I\'m a smart guy, how have I never picked this up?"

"If it makes you feel better his wife didn\'t realize it until she was told." Ian said with a shrug.

"The two of you knew?" Adolfo asked Mae and Dave. 

"Not at the start." Mae admitted. "We even made fun of the boss in front of the boss. So we\'ve done worse things." Mae said with a laugh in an attempt to calm her friend.

"But how did we not notice." Adolfo said as he continued to ponder how he missed something that was staring him in the face.

"Simple, because you never expected it, and you never thought it was possible." Cedric said with a shrug as he smiled at the younger man.