Never Judge

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As soon as the meeting was done the whole Island's Inc. was a buzz with gossip. Many of the employees had just found out that Adrianna had managed to get all of their difficult clients on the table, something that John Hernandez had been trying for years.

When news reached Matthew Hernandez's office he quickly called Adrianna to congratulate her.

"When were you going to tell me you had landed such big accounts!" Adrianna's uncle Matthew asked proudly.

"I was going to tell you when the deals were closed. They are mostly in the proposal process." Adrianna tried to calm his excitement.

"All of these companies have snubbed us in the past Adrianna. Especially the Reyes Group. They always ignored John and Fredrik for some reason." Matthew had always been puzzled on why the Reyes Group never even seemed to open their proposals when it came to Island's Inc. Many of their contemporaries have had less favorable deals, but deals nonetheless.

"I'm just hoping that we can close deals with them. And get an even better deal with Elisia Malls. They invited me to meet for a bigger deal." Adrianna said.

"Still, congratulations Adrianna. You seem to be Island's Inc.'s lucky charm. I'm sure you're busy today, with your Lobo family side arriving." Matthew said escorting Adrianna out of his office.

"Yes, mom's family is coming over for Amanda's graduation. Cedric and I are picking them up at the airport later, then having dinner at Bamboo Room. Grandpa was kind enough to lend a driver." Adrianna said.

"Will you fit in your car?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah. Cedric got a new car so we just need a driver for the second one." Adrianna explained.

"Wow, Cedric has a new car? Is it a toyota? Or a Mitsubishi?" Matthew asked.

"It's an Audi R8. It seems that Mor Co. is very generous to its employees." Adrianna was proud of the new nice things Cedric got due to his new job. No one could say that he didn't work for it.

"Wow. Good for Cedric. I hope our Assistants don't hear about that. They might come asking for cars." Matthew teased before finally letting Adrianna go.

After work Adrianna and Cedric picked the Lobo Family up. Cedric drove his Audi while his driver took Adrianna's Toyota Innova. The Hernandez family driver had to back out last minute because he had the stomach flu.

The Lobo family had flown in from the northern part of the country. Gracia's marriage to Charles was strategic to both families. Both the factories and raw materials used by Island's Inc. were located in the province where the Lobo family basically ruled. They held almost all the power in that province, from the high ranking officials to the police chief. The only part of their province that was out of their control was the industry, one of the largest contributors of which was Island's Inc.

Among those that were scheduled to arrive were Adrianna's maternal grandparents, her mother's older brother, Ivan Lobo, his wife, May Lobo, and their son Jam Lobo. Unlike the Hernandez's, her immediate relatives on the Lobo side were quite few. Aside from those arriving she just had a cousin, Amanda Lobo, who was quite different from the rest of the family.

When they arrived to pick up the Lobo's they were surprised to find an additional guest.

"Adrianna!" Adrianna's uncle Ivan waved at her.

"Uncle Ivan, I'm so happy to see you." Adrianna hugged her uncle as Cedric helped load their luggage into the two cars.

"Wow. The Hernandez's must be doing well. Did they give you this new Audi?" May Lobo asked her niece.

"Auntie, this isn't mine. It's Cedric's." Adrianna said proudly.

"Ah before I forget, Adri, this is Tony Tamano. We ran into him in the airport! He's from the same province as us. Tony and his family run the largest mining company there. They are so big that they supply gold to Lau Jewelry." Ivan said ignoring Adrianna's boast about Cedric's new car.

"Yes. Ray Laurence and I go way back. He's actually my junior in university." Tony Tamano boasted. Lau Jewelry was a chain of jewelry shops owned by the Laurence family.

"Wow. That's impressive. I went to the same university as Ray Laurence. I think we were classmates." Adrianna said, recalling the events during Asia's engagement party.

"I see you have an imitation of the North Star Set that Lau Jewelry had commissioned." Tony Tamano said looking at the ring on Adrianna's finger.

"The North Star Jewelry set?" Adrianna asked. She didn't think that her ring and Cedric's together with the matching jewelry that had come with it was fake. After all Raymund Laurence had given them that set.

"Yes. From the gold to the jewels on it, we mined all of them. The gold is the highest quality we ever mined and the diamonds and sapphires are also the highest quality ever found in the country. Ray said he was going to use it to make a gift for a special friend. We all assumed he would use it to propose someday." Tony explained. He took Adrianna's hand and examined the ring closely. "It's such a good replica that if I didn't know where the original one was, I would think that this was the original ring."

Adrianna just nodded, not wanting to offend the guest.

"Where are we having dinner Adrianna?" Jam Lobo asked. Jam was a recent university graduate, he had taken up a business course in university at the capital.

"Well we booked a table at the Bamboo Room. Amanda and my parents will meet us there." Adrianna said.

"Can we add one more? I want Tony to join us." Grandpa Lobo asked.

"Ced, do you think?" Adrianna asked Cedric tentatively, she knew how difficult it was to make changes to a reservation at the Bamboo Room.

"I'll make a call." Cedric said as he took out his phone and walked away.

"Hey Ced! What's up?" Ray asked as he picked up Cedric's call.

"I have a reservation at the Bamboo Room and we have an extra guest." Cedric explained.

"I'll fix it. And it's perfect the boys and I went straight here from the groundbreaking. I can see you be poor, sad, Cedric." Ray teased.

"I'm not sad." Cedric laughed.

"Fine you aren't sad." Ray also laughed.

"Oh before I forget, there is a Tony Tamano here that is claiming to be good friends with you. He said the rings you gave me and Adrianna are fake." Cedric teased.

"Tony, Tony, Tony, the name is familiar. Ah! He's the kind you and Eric tricked us to go to! Remember you said you and Eric were having a drink in a bar and Alexi and I ended up going into that kid's birthday party!" Ray recalled.

"He said the gold and jewels on the rings are from their mining sites." Cedric explained.

"It could be. I just asked for the best of the best to make those rings. I had missed your wedding, because you didn't invite us, and wanted to give you something special. I named the set the North Star. We were working on Constellation back then so I was inspired." Ray teased.

"Well I'll see and not know you that well later." Cedric said, dropping the call.