Never Judge

"Auntie Priscilla! Uncle Emilio!" A loud voice that made Cedric jump a bit, suddenly said.

A tall tanned girl wearing five inch jewel studded heels greeted as she entered the dining room behind Ayanna.

"Calathea, you're here." Priscilla greeted warmly. "Set an additional spot for Calathea please." Priscilla said to the help who did as she asked and placed an extra table setting next to Eric.

"Oh, Miguel, Veronica, and Eric are here too." Calathea said happily, she had clearly ignored Katerina's presence on purpose as she greeted everyone else.

"Calathea, you might not remember how he looks, but this is my older brother, Cedric and his wife Adrianna." Ayanna said as she brought Calathea over to Cedric and Adrianna.

"Of course, of course, Cedric. My, my, puberty hit you well. I would never have recognized you. You look amazing." Calathea commented as she looked at Cedric hungrily. Cedric cringed at the look on her eyes. Not only was he in love with only one person, but Calathea Carpio did not look appealing to Cedric. She always wore flashy outfits and thick make up, something most girls from old rich families usually did not do.

Cedric paused for a bit before simply nodding his head and holding his wife's hand as if to show Calathea that he was off limits.

"Such a quiet couple, the total opposite of you and Ray, am I right Ayanna?" Calathea said.

"Cedric doesn't like wasting his time on irrelevant people." Adrianna suddenly said. Adrianna's comment drew out a grin on Cedric's face. Adrianna rarely spoke up that way she did, which meant something about Calathea was getting on her nerves.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Hernandez, are you saying I'm irrelevant?" Calathea said, clearly offended. Cedric did no miss out that Calathea chose to call Adrianna, Miss Hernandez rather than Adrianna or Mrs. Reyes. It was clearly to let Adrianna feel that she didn't belong with the Reyes family.

"Nope. Just an observation." Adrianna said with a smile. Across her Katerina was smiling as well.

Since there was no other space, Calathea sat next to Eric. As she sat she moved her chair a little bit closer to the eldest Chan, who in response moved closer to Katerina instead.

"So Veronica, Miguel I heard you're getting married soon. That's amazing, we would have been sisters in law if my marriage with Eric had pushed through." Calathea casually said.

"You weren't even engaged to Eric." Katerina suddenly said.

"At least for me there were plans." Calathea answered back.

"Eric wouldn't have followed." Miguel coldly replied. He never liked Calathea Carpio, a lot of things about her felt off to Miguel and he was glad that the plans for her and Eric to marry never pushed through.

"Oh, I'm sure Eric would have. You followed your parents. You're marrying her." Calathea replied.

"Hmph, Miguel actually loves me. Unlike your desires to enter in a loveless marriage." Veronica told Calathea as she held Miguel's hand and looked at him sweetly. Miguel who was probably surprised by this, chose to enjoy the moment.

"Please, Eric was supposed to join me in Maharlika Hotel, but someone came in between." Calathea said as she glared at Katerina.

"Enough." Cedric suddenly said in an imposing manner. "Serve the food. I do not like your topic, change it or leave my house."

Calathea was shocked. Everyone always tolerated her, no one ever told her to keep quiet or leave like that. She was getting more and more interested in Cedric Reyes.

"How is your father, Calathea?" Emilio asked.

"Oh, papa is well. He arrived with me but he had a business dinner. So I looked for Ayanna, I went to the Reyes Mansion but no one was home. It was quite difficult for me to find this place uncle." Calathea said with a sweet smile.

"Ah yes. We've decided to stay at Cedric's for the meantime. You see Adrianna is pregnant with our first grandchild!" Emilio said proudly.

"Wow. Congratulations Adrianna! My friend in Spain, she's a princess, did yoga to keep her in shape. They say after you give birth and lose your form, men stop finding you as appealing." Calathea said full of malice.

"No matter what, Adrianna will be the only one for me." Cedric cut in.

"You must truly love her, Cedric." Calathea simply said. She didn't expect Cedric to answer that way.

"How about you Eric, have you met someone since I left?" Calathea said, suggesting that there had been something between them since she moved to Spain.

"I've been acting. You can google everything about me." Eric replied coldly.

"You're so boring." Calathea said, rolling her eyes.

"So Katerina, how many cases have you won cause the judge was sucking up to daddy?" Calathea suddenly asked, turning her attention to Katerina.

Before Katerina could even answer back Calathea's phone began to ring and she excused herself from the table.

"I hate her." Katerina said when Calathea was out of earshot.

"Then why put up with her?" Adrianna asked.

"Because we shouldn't directly offend each other." Ayanna said with a sigh.

"Don't let her push you around." Emilio Reyes said.

"But dad, we still have partnerships with them. We could end up losing all of those." Ayanna said.

"They can't afford to lose us either Ayanna." Cedric told his sister.

Before Ayanna could respond Calathea came back in and announced that she had to leave. Everyone was more than happy to see her go.

"Please get rid of the things she used." Eric told the maid.

"Why?" Katerina asked Eric. "It's not your home, why would you say that. What if Cedric was fond of these plates. It's a waste."

"Because Calathea Carpio is disgusting, and so is everything she touches." Eric said.

"Wow, when did you grow a pair? Why didn't you say that when she was here?" Katerina asked Eric.

"Katerina, I don't like her. I've never liked her." Eric explained.

"Eric, I don't want to talk about this in front of Uncle Emilio and Auntie Priscilla." Katerina said.

"Fine. Later." Eric said as he stood up to take a smoke.

"I'll talk to him." Cedric said following Eric out.