Never Judge

Just as Emilio had predicted, his phone was buzzing non-stop as his office mates were probably sending him photos of himself and Alrdich.

He suppressed the urge to check his phone. He knew that if he brought it out he would be laughing at their messages.

He saved that part for when they were seated.

Emilio wasn't greedy, he was going to show his siblings and his cousins how the employees were reacting.

Cedric and his family had a table at the front of the venue, there was even a spotlight pointed at it and it was slightly elevated so that the employees could see them.

It had annoyed Cedric so much that he almost fired whoever was planning the event. Fortunately Ayanna was able to convince him that it's what their employees wanted.

If Cedric would have his way they would be anonymous all their lives, which would make the employees sad.

Many of them were fans of the different members of the Reyes family and their friends.

"Have you checked your phone?" Aldrich whispered to Emilio as they sat down.

"Of course not. Calm down, we have more than enough time to sneak away." Emilio rolled his eyes at his cousin as he took out his phone to check the messages.

Emilio closed his eyes and sighed as he tried to keep his calm demeanor.

He badly wanted to laugh at the messages being sent in the group chat.

'Emilio, you're missing out, the young master of the Reyes family is here. Imagine both the Reyes and Laurence family heirs decided to attend the event!' His best friend Hendrick messaged him.

'I'm feeling a little bit better, I might be able to join.' Emilio replied as he sensed Alrdich looking over his shoulder, trying to read his messages.

'Hehe. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist. See you in a bit.' Hendrick replied as Emilio switched to their group chat.

"Aldrich Laurence, how dare you eavesdrop on your cousin's conversations!" Ayana hissed at her son, making Alrdich look down while the other children grinned.

The only one that seemed unaffected was Emilio as he placed his phone back down.

"It's fine auntie Ayanna, Aldrich knows these people too." Emilio calmly responded.

Aldrich nodded as he whispered his thanks to his cousin, making Emilio smile for a bit.

He may have smiled only for a few seconds, but many of the employees already had their cameras trained on him. So some managed to catch a photo of Emilio's smile.

Within seconds his phone was buzzing again.

'OMG the Reyes Heir just smiled! He is even more handsome when he smiles!' One girl who was part of Emilio's team at work sent to their group chat along with a photo of him smiling.

Aldrich, who was still looking over Emilio's shoulder, suddenly spit out his wine as soon as he read the message.

"Your smile?" Aldrich asked as he laughed at his cousin. "They see that smile everyday at work. They are crazy."

Christina and Christopher who had both been listening to the conversation suddenly laughed as well, making Emilio shake his head.

"Children." Adrianna scolded the pair, making Christina look down and Christopher frown.

They were older than Aldrich yet they were also being scolded like little children by their mother.

"You should all be like Emilio, behave in public." Adrianna scolded the pair.

"You mean be cold and aloof?" Christopher commented.

"Mom, we all know this is just an act." Emilio whispered. Making his mother smile and nod, of course she knew that her son wasn't some cold heartless man.

"I know, Emilio, but it wouldn't hurt your siblings to behave in public." Adrianna complained to her eldest child.

"Father, I'll leave in an hour." Emilio informed Cedric.

Cedric simply nodded.

He understood his son's situation, as a matter of fact he believed that his son had it harder than he did.

"I think the Finance department performed the best." Christina praised as they watched the different performances of the night.

Each department had to have a performance and the winner would win three hundred thousand from the Reyes family.

"You're just biased because that's where you're working now." Christopher teased his sister.

Aside from Emilio working from the bottom to the top, all of the Reyes family children worked each summer with a particular department and subsidiary.

After graduation, they would then be handed a subsidiary their father felt most matched them, if they were qualified.

"You'll be giving them all a bonus, won't you dad?" Emilio knew exactly what his father's plan was as he smiled and nodded.

"What kind of a boss would I be if I didn't keep my employees happy?" Cedric grinned at his son as he glanced at the time on his phone. "Shouldn't you and Aldrich get going?"'

Emilio looked at the time and noticed that an hour had already passed.

"Aldrich, let's go." Emilio told his cousin as the pair stood up and left.

At the same time, several female employees followed them with their cameras, recording the two young heirs leaving.

'Noooo, my future hubby is leaving.' A female teammate of Emilio's posted in their group chat.

Emilio shook his head as soon as he read the message.

'Wait, I won't get to see our future bosses?' Emilio quickly replied as one of his bodyguards handed him a set of contacts to put on.

His disguise was much more complicated compared to his father's.

In the past, Cedric Reyes could get around by simply changing the way he dressed and acted as well as by covering half his face.

Now the Reyes family avoided mentioning Emilio's name, he also had to wear colored contacts in order to hide the signature deep black eyes of the Reyes family.

Unlike him, Aldrich's was less complicated since his features were a mixture of his mother's and father's, unlike Emilio who looked exactly like a younger version of the famous CEO.

'Stop grumbling, where are you?' Cassandra, one of Emilio's closest friends asked. 'Did you bring that little cousin of yours too?'

'Yeah. I'm heading in.' Emilio quickly replied as he gave himself one last look in the mirror.

'Oooh, is this the cute cousin?' One of their female teammates asked.

'He's fifteen.' Cassandra replied.

"You have fans." Emilio teased as he checked to see if Aldrich was ready. "Let's go, the car is waiting out back. I need to drive it to have it parked."

"Who's bringing back your car?" Aldrich asked Emilio.

"Damien." Emilio told him as they walked out of the hotel and climbed into the simpler car that was parked out back.

"Mr. Reyes said that you needed to be home by two in the morning." Leon, the head of security, informed Emilio. "Mr. Laurence also asked me to remind young master Lawrence that there are many enemies in the shadows."

Aldrich's expression became serious as he nodded.

"Let's go." Emilio said with a grin as he rolled up his windows and drove off, exiting the hotel premises before entering once more.

"Hurry up!" Emilio heard someone say as they stopped at the entrance.

Just an hour ago it was filled with paparazzi and reporters eager to get a photo of him and Aldrich, now it was empty.

"If only they knew." Aldrich chuckled as they got out of the car and greeted Emilio's friend.

"Hurry up, the rest of the Reyes family is still there. Do you want to miss the rest of the night?" Hendrick asked as he dragged the pair in.