Never Judge

Cedric watched as his assistant walked out to the balcony.

"Give her a few minutes." Cedric said as he nodded at Ian. "Ian and I will speak to her for a bit. Fernando was a friend to her in a foreign country, to be honest, she is hurting. She just hides it really well."

Capt. Lim and Atty. Mien nodded in understanding.

"Atty. Mien, you seem to have known Fernando quite well?" Adrianna asked. As she offered the young lawyer a cup of coffee.

"Yes." Atty. Mien said. "He was like a father to me after my father passed away."

"Our condolences." Adrianna said with a frown.

"It\'s alright. He left us a while back, I went through tough times for years and only managed to recover after meeting the kind nurse." Atty. Mien said.

"So Fernando was a nurse?" Eric asked, feigning ignorance. 

"Mae didn\'t tell you?" Capt. Lim asked.

"No, she left that bit out." Cedric said with a frown as they tried to get more information from the police captain and the lawyer. 

"But you do know that he originated from the same country as you?" Capt. Lim asked Cedric.

"Yes." Cedric nodded. "Mae mentioned that. It\'s what made her suspect that he could be a spy. My company isn\'t well known here, but we are quite popular back at home."

"Mr. Reyes, I think the term quite popular is an understatement." Capt. Lim said with a laugh. "Your family is ranked as the richest in your country. I would say you are the most popular company in your country." 

"I don\'t like to boast, Capt. Lim." Cedric said with a smile as he leaned back on his seat. "I know there will always be someone better and someone with more potential. I don\'t like sitting comfortably."

"Ced, we should follow Mae." Ian told Cedric as he got up. 

Cedric nodded and excused himself, leaving his wife to entertain the police officers and the young lawyer.

Cedric and Ian found Mae standing at the balcony of the hotel room, her hands pressed on the railing as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

"Mae, are you alright?" Ian asked as he and Cedric walked over to join her.

"No, not really." Mae said as she shook her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cedric asked in a kind brotherly tone as he placed a hand on Mae\'s back.

Mae took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Cedric and Ian thought she wouldn\'t open up, but she surprised them by suddenly speaking up.

"I know getting close to Fernando was a mission. It was a job." Mae said with a frown as she looked down at her hands on the railing. "But, we became friends, he was so kind and so caring." Mae confessed as she wiped a tear that rolled on her cheek. 

"Did you fall in love with him?" Ian asked in a non-judgemental tone, his concern was clear, but it was more of a concern for her broken heart.

"No, it was nothing like that." Mae said with a laugh as she shook her head. 

"Then, what was it?" Cedric asked, a part of him was afraid to ask. He feared that Mae had gotten too attached to the man who had just passed and had become compromised.

"You\'ve both read my files, right?" Mae asked Cedric and Ian.

"Yes, of course." Ian said with a nod. "Although, I\'m not sure if Cedric actually read it, you know how he gets lazy sometimes." Ian teased.

"I read it." Cedric scoffed. "But yes, with everything I need to read I do get lazy." Cedric said with a laugh.

"My father disappeared when I was very young, I think I was just three at the time." Mae explained as she sighed into the wind. "I have very vague memories of him, but I know that he couldn\'t be with us because he had a job somewhere else, somewhere far, but those memories have always been with me."

"I\'m sorry Mae." Ian said as he patted her on the back.

"It\'s not your fault, don\'t say sorry." Mae said with a laugh, annoying Ian. 

"So why tell us about your dad?" Cedric asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, did you suspect that Fernando was your dad?" Ian asked with a look of shock.

"Of course not!" Mae shouted in an annoyed tone. "I know how my dad looks, and Fernando and my father look nothing alike." 

"I was just teasing. Calm down." Ian told Mae as he rolled his eyes at her.

"Anyway." Mae said as she continued telling her story. "I grew up missing my father, looking for him, even after my mom died I still waited for him to show up, but he never did."

"You felt a fatherly connection with Fernando." Cedric said as he realized what Mae was trying to say.

Mae simply nodded in response to his words.

"Like Atty. Mien, you felt that Fernando reminded you of your father. That\'s what he said right, he remembered his father through the old nurse?" Ian asked.

"Yes." Cedric said. "It seems there was much more to Fernando than what we expected, we should look into his life a little bit more. Maybe there is someone there that could tell us more about him."

"Do you think it\'s possible that he lost a child?" Ian asked Cedric as he thought about how Fernando created a connection with young men and women who had lost their parents.

"It\'s possible." Cedric said with a nod. "If he has a wife and a son out there, I\'m sure that whoever is backing him will either silence them or take care of them."

"Two innocent lives could be in danger." Mae said with a gasp.

"If they are still alive." Ian said with a frown. "What if the reason he cares so much is because they died long ago?" 

"Honestly, we will never know the truth to that if we don\'t investigate it." Cedric said with a shrug. "Let\'s make it a priority when we get back." 

His assistants nodded as they took note of his orders.

"Cedric, I would like to visit Fernando\'s family back in our country when we return, to tell them the news." Mae said with a hope filled look in her eyes.

"Mae, it will endanger our plans, you should know this." Ian scolded.

"Please, I need to do this." Mae begged her boss as she continued to look at him directly in his emotionless eyes.

Ian and Mae both knew that this was the look Cedric had when he was seriously thinking of his next move, or plotting his next attack. Clearly he was thinking Mae\'s request through. 

"Cedric, they deserve to know that their relative was still alive, they should be the ones to bury his cremated remains." Mae reasoned out. "I also want to bring Atty. Mien with me, Fernando was an important person in his life too."

"Cedric, it\'s too dangerous." Ian warned. "We\'ve worked too hard to risk everything to bury a man in his family crypt. We can get him a better one near the capital where you can visit him, Mae."

"Please Cedric, something tells me that Fernando was just a victim in this mess. He deserves to truly be at peace." Mae begged as she and Ian waited patiently for Cedric\'s response.