Never Judge

After meeting with the Reyes Heir, Ayanna's friends were now regarded differently by their fathers. Not even Ayanna expected what Cedric had done.

"Good. Wait for my order to announce it." Cedric said as soon as Artemio Juan promised to hand over the company to his illegitimate child over his useless heir.

The other fathers were quick to follow and promised to do the same. Cedric had already planned for them to make a public acknowledgement of Ayanna's friends, but everything was to be done on the Reyes Heir's desired timing. He was going to build up Ayanna's friends before finally using them for his revenge. 

The fathers were more than willing to do as the Reyes Heir asked. This was the excuse they needed to change tradition and name someone else as their heir. As the largest conglomerate in the country, missing out on a deal with them would reflect badly on the company and on the family, thus opening the opportunity for smaller companies to back out as well. If any company wanted to grow, it was almost impossible without the support of a giant such as the Reyes Group. If it weren't for this kind of pressure, they would be forced to keep the company in the legitimate line and put their useless sons in charge. 

On top of everything, Cedric asked Ian to set a meeting with him, Ayanna's friends, and Ayanna. Aside from his revenge Cedric had bigger plans, they were after all his sister's friends, so it wouldn't hurt to have a long term cooperation with them especially since they were going to inherit their family businesses. 

Cedric just needed to be sure that he could trust them. 

The meeting with Ayanna's friends was set for the next day. It would be in Cedric's office at R Tower. Ayanna didn't have much to do before the meeting so she decided to wait in her brother's office.

She made herself comfortable on the couch while she scrolled through social media and drank the coffee Camilla had just brought in, while Cedric was busy at his desk.

"Why do you need to test them, it's not like they approached me because I'm Ayanna Reyes of the Reyes family?" Ayanna asked her older brother.

"It's not impossible." Cedric answered, as he continued to do his work.

"Cedric, I didn't go around university announcing who I was!" Ayanna complained, she had chosen to maintain a low profile while growing up, very few would have known who she really was. "Reyes is such a common surname I had four other classmates with the same last name. I never arrived in a fancy car and I had my bodyguards keep their distance the whole time. You know that mom and dad didn't let me join any public events until I was done with university." 

"You might not have been seen but it wasn't exactly a secret. If anyone looked hard enough they would have figured out who you really were." Cedric told his sister as he kept a calm tone despite her complaints.

"I trust them. Isn't that enough?" Ayanna asked her older brother.

"Ayanna, it's just one test. Nothing too difficult." Cedric said in an attempt to calm Ayanna down. 

"I don't want to lose my friends because of this, brother." Ayanna said with a threatening tone. "How can you be so sweet and caring one moment then shift to your cold CEO persona once we talk about business? That isn't healthy." Ayanna commented.

Cedric ignored his sister's comment. "If they were only after the benefit of you being a Reyes, were they even your friends to begin with?" Cedric questioned his sister.

Before Ayanna could reply, Ian knocked on the door to announce that Ayanna's friends had arrived. Cedric told Ian to wait one minute before letting them in.

"This discussion is not over." Ayanna said as she stood from the couch and took her place beside her elder brother. As Cedric placed on this mask and glasses to hide his face from them.

Ayanna's friends entered with their heads downcast. They had heard about how cold and cruel the Reyes Heir could be, there were honestly so many rumors going around about how the Reyes Heir acted that one could no longer tell which were most likely to be true. He was just so mysterious that people kept talking and speculating about him.

Cedric looked at the five who seemed to have little confidence in themselves. He could feel Ayanna glare at him from behind.

"You don't need to be worried or scared." Cedric said to their guests. "Take a seat." As Cedric said this he stood to walk to a couch.

Ayanna mirrored her brother's movements and followed closely behind. She smiled at her friends and nodded at them to take a seat. They remained silent, not uttering a word, clearly afraid of offending the Reyes Heir. 

"Before anything I want to thank you for being friends with my sister." Cedric said in a slightly lighter and happy tone.

"Sir, it was Ayanna that took care of us. People weren't always nice." It was Tricia Sanchez that said this. Tricia was beautiful, she had looks to be a model and the brains to run a company. Among all of Ayanna's friends he had heard that she was the smartest, she graduated at the top of their class and was immediately asked to start working at her father's company. She quickly rose among the ranks prompting her father, Louie Sanchez, to give her a bigger role. On the other hand, her elder brother Benjamin or Ben Sanchez continued in his childish ways. Louie had given him the role of VP, but he would only go to the office once a week and arrive extremely late and leave early. He was also frequently seen with different women as he paraded around in his sports car.

"Don't be silly Tricia, I wouldn't have done half as well in school if it weren't for you!" Ayanna said with a laugh. "Guys, don't be so scared or so stiff. This is my older brother, you can treat him the way you treat me. I swear he isn't as scary as most people say, he's just guarded that's all." Ayanna said in an attempt to make her friends relax and be more comfortable. 

Her friends still remained rigid and guarded despite her words. 

Cedric sighed and leaned back. "Look, I'm not like what the rumors say." Cedric said in a kinder tone, the same he would use at home or when speaking to his friends. This change surprised Ayanna's friends and made them look up.