Never Judge

Cedric sat impatiently in his office as Ian looked through the information they managed to get from the Regis Inc. network. He was anxious, he didn't like not knowing anything about his opponent.

"Stop watching me like that." Ian said in an annoyed tone without lifting his head. "I'm not your wife. If you keep staring at me I will call her and tell her you're checking someone out!"

"Looking at you like what?" Cedric asked as he picked up his phone to see if any of the boys had sent him a message. He had told them over an hour ago to come over to R Tower but no one responded.

"I will tell you if I find something." Ian told Cedric.

"Is he being annoying again?" Alexi asked as he entered the office.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Cedric asked his friend.

"Why? Would you have had a woman in here? Your wife is busy working, so unless you have a mistress then I wouldn't be interrupting." Alexi said with a smile.

"Unlike you I am satisfied with being with just one woman." Cedric said, throwing a jab at Alexi's playboy ways.

"I'm a one woman man now." Alexi countered.

"Why has Nurse Jen decided to return your feelings?" Cedric teased, they all knew that Nurse Jen refused to take their relationship to a more serious point, as of the moment everything was just casual.

"Well she was very happy under me last night." Alexi said with a wink. "She's the only one for me and no one can change that. She's the only woman that matters."

"It's not what I heard. How did dinner with the Ramirezes go? I heard Uncle Jose insisted that you be present." Cedric said as he smiled like he had won, he knew Selina was a touchy topic to Alexi.

"I love Jen and only Jen. Other women are nothing but nuances." Alexi confidently declared.

"What? But Selina is such a nice girl, brother." Katerina asked as she entered the room, holding Eric's hand. "If I remember correctly she was the first woman to make your heart stop after Ilya Carpio." Katerina teased.

"Do you have to flaunt your love here?" Alexi asked as he glared at the couple who were being extremely romantic.

"Cedric used me so I'm using this meeting to explain things to Katerina. And on the Selina topic, I met her, she's nice. I like her more than Jen." Eric said with a shrug.

"Both of you stop it." Alexi said angrily. "This is my relationship, I love Jen and soon Jen will love me back. Selina is just some woman, I don't see her. How would you feel if people started to say Calathea was better for Eric?"

The couple suddenly burst out in laughter and Cedric couldn't resist but join them.

"Have you not seen social media lately?" Eric asked Alexi. "It's all they are saying. Also don't ever say that in front of your sister, she's my one and only." Eric threatened with a smile.

"Darling, calm down." Katerina said as she leaned her head on Eric's chest.

"Are they still at it?" Ram complained as he arrived, spotting Katerina and Eric being sweet.

"Yep. Ignore them." Cedric said, to which Ram simply shrugged and sat on the couch.

Soon Miguel and Ray arrived as well, completing the group.

"So how did you manage to get into the system?" Eric asked Cedric and Ian. "I saw the security team of Regis Inc. take your guy out for questioning."

"That wasn't our guy." Cedric said with a confident smile. "We used him as a decoy. The person that planted the receiver was a woman." Cedric said proudly.

"So that guy was just some random janitor that was picked up? You got lucky!" Eric said with a laugh.

"He was, somewhat planted." Cedric explained. "Leon did a background check on all the utility staff of Regis Inc. we found a man whose daughter was a big fan of yours and we used it to our advantage. One of the men he had planted as a spy quickly told the janitor that you were downstairs, as expected the janitor did not want to leave his post, so the spy offered to cover for him. This gave the man the confidence to go and try to take a photo of you. Now our real spy helped push him to the right direction, which was directly behind the receptionist's desk."

"I was actually quite suspicious that a middle aged man joined the crowd and tried to snap photos of me." Eric said as he wrapped an arm around Katerina's waist.

"That's what made him the perfect decoy." Cedric said with a nod. "Once he was taken away, the security team of Regis Inc. relaxed, they thought they had caught someone who had been planted by a rival company that noticed the opportunity. With that our woman was free to insert the bug into the computer while you were busy distracting everyone." Cedric said proudly.

"What happened to the man?" Katerina asked. "It seems unfair for him to suffer for your plan."

"Is that compassion I'm hearing from your voice Katerina?" Ram teased.

"Love can really change a person." Miguel said as he joined the jest.

"Oh shut up." Katerina told the boys as she rolled her eyes at them. Eric simply laughed and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm not cruel." Cedric said, responding to Katerina's question. "Leon made sure that his innocence was proven. After a few hours of intensive questioning he was eventually released, Regis Inc. paid him a good sum in order to keep him quiet about the interrogation. It ended up better for him actually, he even managed to snap a handsome photo of Eric for his daughter." Cedric teased as he looked at Eric.

"So the operation was an overall success?" Ram asked.

"Well…" Ian said with a hint of hesitation in his tone.

"Well what?" Eric asked. "Don't tell me that I risked my image and relationship for nothing?"