Never Judge

As soon as they were done discussing the issue, Cedric had Yoyo return to his office from the lounge.

He could see that his son was not happy being excluded from all the adult talk, but the little boy didn't say anything.

Sometimes, Cedric didn't know if he should be happy or sad about having such a matured child. It made him happy because it showed how much potential his son had for the future, but at the same time he simply wanted Yoyo to be a child.

"Dominic is coming over." Cedric told Yoyo as he watched his son draw on his desk.

"Really daddy?" Yoyo asked his father.

"Yes, then after we will be having lunch with some people, would you like that Yoyo?" Cedric asked his son.

"Yes daddy!" Yoyo said with a big smile.

Cedric knew that it had been a while since his son had gone out with them. He was constantly worried that someone would recognize Yoyo if he was with them, so he decided to avoid being in public with the little boy.

Since the Tius were family friends and they had seen Yoyo so many times in the past, it was alright for the boy to join them.

Cedric had arranged for a private room at Maharlika Hotel to be prepared, his family and Miguel's would then be joined by the Tius for lunch.

"Will you be bringing Dominic to lunch?" Cedric asked Miguel as he realized that he hadn't asked his friend.

"Probably, he is already out of school so why not." Miguel said with a shrug.

"Aren't you worried that the Tius will overreact and hurt Dominic's feelings?" Adrianna asked as she listened in on the conversation.

"It doesn't matter." Miguel said with a cocky grin. "As long as our son knows that we love him, that's all that matters to me."

"Yeah, plus the Tius will be too scared to react with the Reyes, Chan, Abad, and Lim families all represented." Ray said with a laugh as he pointed out how much influence they were carrying around for that lunch meeting.

"Katerina, could you be on standby?" Cedric asked the lawyer.

"Of course, Eric and I could make a date out of it." She said with a wink.

"Won't people see the two of you together?" Ram asked.

"We have our ways." Eric said with a laugh as a knock came from outside.

"Come in." Cedric called out as the door pushed open to reveal Dominic, walking in shyly.

"Dominic!" Yoyo shouted as he jumped off of his father's lap and ran over to his friend. "You're here!" Yoyo told the older kid as he hugged him.

"Hey Yoyo." Dominic said with a smile as he patted Yoyo on the head.

"How was school?" Yoyo asked in his cute little voice.

"The bullies were looking for you again, I tried to tell them to stop but they told me you were a bad influence on all of us." Dominic told Yoyo. "If only they knew." He said with a sigh.

"Dominic, won't you say hi to everyone first?" Cedric asked Dominic as he waved for Yoyo to come back to him. "Sorry about Yoyo, he was just too excited today."

"It's okay uncle Cedric, I like Yoyo. He is like a little brother to me." Dominic said with a smile before finally turning his attention to the people in the room.

He quickly ran up to his mother, Veronica, and gave her a tight hug.

Dominic then proceeded to greet every single person in the room.

Cedric couldn't help but smile. The Dominic in front of him today was a far cry from the scared and shy child he first met.

When they had found Dominic, he refused to speak, and now he was quite chatty.

From the way he carried himself, to how easily he struck a conversation with his uncles and aunts, any passerby would think that he was born into this world.

"The team is here." Mae announced as she pushed open Cedric's office door to inform him of the additional guests.

"Let them in." Cedric said with a nod.

According to Nicole, his team was one of the best and was extremely professional. And true to her words it took less than five minutes for the team to collect all the samples they needed from Miguel, Eric, and Nicole.

"We need to be sure." One of the doctors said as he sealed the bottle with the DNA sample.

"It's alright." Nicole told her employee with a nod as she let him be.

As soon as the team was done gathering samples they left.

Cedric quickly glanced at his watch and realized that they only had ten minutes to get to Maharlika Hotel.

"Let's go, the rest of you should go home." Cedric said as he led his group out of his office.

"You seem to be in a hurry." Miguel pointed out as he casually strolled behind the two boys that were happily chatting about school.

"I don't like being late." Cedric explained as she pressed the elevator door button.

"They should wait for you, not the other way around." Miguel pointed out.

"I know, but it's an old habit I can't break." Cedric said with a shrug as they boarded the elevator.

When they finally got to their cars, Cedric asked his driver John to get them as quickly as possible to Maharlika Hotel.

At first John grumbled about it being physically impossible as he pulled out of the parking.

"You should learn to let them wait." John mumbled as he drove across the city.

With John's driving skills, Cedric and his group made it in record time to Maharlika Hotel. They were only later for ten minutes.

"Thanks John." Cedric told his driver with a smile as he got out of the car, followed by Adrianna and Yoyo.

Yoyo's face was somewhat covered as they made their way to the restaurant.

As soon as the noticed Cedric in the group, the manager quickly went up to him.

"Sir, your guests are not here yet, should I get you some tea or coffee?" The manager asked.

"I told you, they are late." Adrianna said with a laugh as Cedric waited impatiently...