Never Judge

"Well, I think a big part is because our business isn't as loud as everyone else's. Plus I was never born to inherit the role I am in." Nicole said.

"What do you mean?" Adrianna said as she picked up a new pair being handed to her.

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"No heels! Brother said no heels for you." Ayanna said, grabbing the pair. Adrianna frowned.

"Your brother doesn't know anything about fashion. Let me get it Ayanna. Please." Adrianna told her sister in law.

Ayanna smiled and let Adrianna buy the pair.

"My family wanted Eric to run and inherit the family business. They are very traditional in the sense that the eldest male should be the head. But Eric hates business, but he loves to act. He honestly doesn't care about having fans, he just wants to act. So that left them hoping that Miguel would become a doctor and run the hospital someday. The funny thing is that Miguel is too good. Did you know he was a doctor at twenty? Well he was. People call him the "Miracle Doctor" and he's in such a high demand worldwide. People fly to our country just to get an operation done by him." Nicole explained.

"He seems perfect for the medical field." Adrianna said.

"Yes, but he also has too much heart. For every high profile and high paying client he operates on he will do five or six free cases. I am proud of him for it, I think my parents are too, but there are other costs during an operation and Miguel is very specific about how things are done so he needs the best of everything during an operation. If he were in charge of Saints, he would drive us into bankruptcy. So dad decided to go the different route, he chose me. I'm actually a doctor too, you know. I'm an anesthesiologist, I'm always present in Miguel's operations, we're like a tandem. But I also join in on board meetings and I'm the Vice President at Saints Hospitals. It's hard being in a family that prefers boys over girls, even the board acts that way. So I need to be stronger and more persistent. The downside is that I don't have much of a life outside." Nicole said with a sigh.

"I didn't know you were a doctor too! I've barely seen anything about you online. Even Miguel is quite low profile compared to the other boys." Adrianna said, trying to recall the gossip page Natasha would share with her.

"People aren't interested in a medical family. Although, if they ever found out that Eric was actually my older brother then they would find us very interesting." Nicole laughed.

"Miguel and Eric actually look alike. People just don't expect Eric to come from a rich family so they never associated them with each other." Katerina said.

"It's like with Cedric. The clues are already laid out in front of them but people choose to ignore it." Veronica said flatly.

"Cedric tried to tell me." Adrianna said in a sad tone.

"It's ok. No one would have believed that he is the Reyes Heir. He changes when he's the powerful CEO. I don't know how my brother does it!" Ayanna said.

"Ayanna, you change too. Like during our meeting with my team. You were suddenly this girl boss." Adrianna said.

"Really?" Ayanna asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Ayanna can be quite clueless sometimes." Katerina teased laughing at her friend.

"We've all had to put on a tough facade in public. If we were too childish, we were called spoiled. If we were improper, it would look bad on the family. Nicole here suddenly becomes serious when she goes into work mode!" Katerina continued.

"The board would never respect me if they knew I was really like this. They would think I was just some silly girl that lucked out because my brothers reject the idea of running the business." Nicole explained. "Having a strong personality sometimes is our only way of surviving in the world of men."

"Did you know Nicole can't date freely as any of us?" Ayanna asked Adrianna.

"Your families don't seem the type to arrange marriages." Adrianna assumed that since the Reyes family had welcomed her with open arms that they were not picky on who their children married.

"Oh it's not my parents. It's everyone else. If I dated someone they didn't consider inappropriate the board members or even just our customers would react." Nicole explained.

"Nicole is currently eyeing a certain former assistant." Veronica said with a wink.

"Who?" Adrianna asked, genuinely curious about who Veronica was talking about.

"Who else! Tall, chinky eyed, and kind of a hunk. Your husband's former assistant, Ian Lim!" Ayanna teased.

"Won't he be inappropriate?" Adrianna asked.

"Right now, he is. In maybe five to seven years, when he gets his family name back on top he'll be appropriate. Nicole just has to convince everyone that Ian is headed that way." Katerina said.

"Hey! There isn't anything between us!" Nicole complained, almost spilling her drink on the clothes she was trying on.

"Nicole! You almost spilled! Why are you even trying on clothes? We're supposed to be shopping for Adrianna." Katerina scolded.

"We're already here, might as well shop, right?" Nicole said with a wink.

"Anyway, she really likes Ian. We even caught her flirting with him." Katerina teased.

"He's nice, and he really is hard working. He also comes from a good family, so people won't object too much." Nicole blushed.

"See. Told you." Veronica said with a wink.

"Fine. I like him, but he doesn't like me." Nicole said with a frown.

"Ian's a very focused guy Nicole. He's focused right now on fixing all the wrongs done to him, and brother is helping him out." Ayanna explained in an attempt to make Nicole feel better.

"I think we should look at jewelry now. That should cheer up Nicole." Veronica said getting up.

"I think you guys have bought me too much clothes." An embarrassed Adrianna said.

"First of all, we aren't the ones paying. It's Cedric. Second, you don't need to be embarrassed, we are family. Don't lie, I'm pretty sure you're enjoying this." Ayanna teased.

Adrianna just smiled back and stood up to follow Veronica.