Never Judge

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Don't forget to vote with your PS for Never Judge

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"Miss, I'm here for the interview." Cedric said as he approached the female receptionist in the lobby.

"We have hundreds of interviews a day, which one?" The receptionist asked.

"The one for the assistant role for the Vice President for Operations." Cedric said as he handed a printed copy of his schedule for an interview.

"One moment." The receptionist said as she picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"I have a Cedric Reyes here, yep for an interview." The receptionist told the person on the other end of the line. "Alright, I'll send him up." With that she dropped the call and took out a visitors pass and quickly set it up.

"This pass." The receptionist said as she raised it and showed it to Cedric. "It will only grant you access to several floors, the 25th the executive floor, the 10th the Cafeteria, the 8th that's where HR is, and the 2nd where the smoking area is. I spoke to the current assistant, the VP for Operations is expecting you, go straight to the 25th floor. When you get there turn right on the 2nd corner, you won't miss the big sign that says VP for Operations. The current assistant is Daisy, she's a nice woman, just introduce yourself and she'll see to you."

Cedric remembered her instructions and nodded. She handed him the pass and his print out and pointed him to the direction of the elevator.

Cedric thanked the receptionist and went on his way.

The Carpio family owned and ran Regis Inc., it was established four generations ago by Calathea's great great grandfather and had always been handed down the family through the male line. Unfortunately for Calathea's generation there were no sons. Calathea's mother and father had a hard time conceiving, they had two daughters Ilya and Calathea.

As a result the Carpio family was forced to abandon it's tradition of only appointing sons as heirs and they began training Ilya Carpio at a young age, while Calathea was groomed to marry a son of an equally rich family. Their sights were first set on the Reyes Heir, Cedric, but the Reyes family quickly turned them down informing them that they didn't engage in such practices. That's why they were forced to turn to the Chan family.

Cerdic watched as the employees of Regis Inc. walked around, busy with their work, rushing in and out of the office. They had no idea that just a few years ago the Carpio family was in dire need of support. Ilya and Calathea's father was not the best businessman, he had made several bad deals along the way that resulted in huge losses for Regis Inc., they got lucky when Emilio Reyes III decided to help them out and stop them from sinking any further. He also suggested to his rivals that they hire a competent professional manager if they couldn't do it.

It seemed that two years ago they had managed to do just that and Regis Inc.'s decline stopped and they had begun to grow. They continued to be on good terms with the Reyes Group and there was a silent agreement between the two companies that the Carpio family will do as the Reyes Family's head asks, in the interest of mutual survival. They both knew that going after each other would not benefit either of them. It would just be a waste of resources.

"Hi, I'm here for the interview." Cedric said as he flashed the current assistant a smile.

"Ah, Cedric Reyes, I'm Daisy." The assistant said as she smiled back.

"Nice to meet you." Cedric said as he shook hands with her.

"You aren't related to those Reyeses are you?" Daisy teased. "Don't worry, we've got maybe fifteen employees with that surname. A Reyes would never need a job." Daisy said with a laugh.

As the assistant to the Vice President for Operations Daisy was aware of many things, including how the Carpios and Reyeses were once rivals who were now business partners.

"You can't see it but I'm three months pregnant. I have to leave because the baby's father and I are getting married, I can't stay due to errrr, a conflict of interest." Daisy said with a wink. Cedric looked at her blankly, clearly he didn't understand what she was saying.

"Anyway, you'll have an interview with HR then if you pass you'll have an interview with me. If I think you are good enough I'll let the boss interview you." Daisy continued to say. "Any questions?" She asked.

"None." Cedric said as he shook his head.

"Alright. Follow me." Daisy said as she led Cedric to an empty meeting room. "Wait here." She said with a smile as she left.

Cedric only had to wait a few minutes when a young man came in. "Hi, I'm from the HR department and I'll be interviewing you today." The man said as he shook hands with Cedric.

"Mmmmm, Reyes, please tell me you are in no way affiliated with the Reyes Group?" The man asked in a straight face.

"Errrr, no?" Cedric said.

"Is that a statement or a question?" The interviewer asked.

"No, no, no, I'm not related to them, it's a common surname." Cedric said in a panic. He was worried that he had given himself away.

The interviewer suddenly burst out laughing. "I love it when you guys panic. Don't worry, we're aware that Reyes is a common surname, I just like messing with applicants."

Cedric laughed nervously as he was fooled by the interviewer, he had kept such a straight face Cedric thought it was part of their protocol.

"Let's proceed." The interviewer said as he began asking Cedric more traditional interview questions, like his background and experience. The fact that Cedric had worked at the Reyes Group as an assistant did come up, and when asked why he left Cedric said he didn't like the rumors flying around about his wife and his former boss.

The interviewer believed him and simply jotted it down as he focused on Cedric's skills. In terms of assistants Cedric was just a little bit below Ian and Camilla, he hadn't done that kind of work in a while so he was a bit out of touch. The interviewer was none the less satisfied with him and said that he had passed.

"I'll call Daisy, she should come in to interview you shortly." The interviewer said as he stood up and left.

While Cedric was waiting someone suddenly entered.

"Cedric?" The man called out.

Cedric lifted his head to find Aiden Ortiz staring at him.