Never Judge

"What?" Mien asked as he stood up, wide eyed in shock as he looked at the man sitting across him.

"Mien." Mae said as she reached out and tried to get her friend to relax and sit back down.

Noticing her distress, Dave quickly went to help Mae calm Mien down, placing a hand on his shoulder and talking to him.

"Relax Mien, let's listen. He might just have the same name as your dad. But if it is true then this is the family you've been looking for." Dave told the distressed man.

Mien took deep breaths as Dave patted him on the back. 

After a while the young man slowly sunk back on his seat and closed his eyes, collecting himself. When he opened it again, Cedric could see how much calmer he was. 

Cedric glanced at Dave and nodded, he knew his assistant would understand that he needed Dave to keep an eye on Mien. He couldn't lose his temper or get impatient again.

"Do you have a photo of your parents, Mien?" Cedric asked the young man who simply responded with a nod.

"Can we show Max?" Cedric asked.

"Sure." Mien said as he took his wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open.

Cedric could see him pulling out two photos, one seemed to be newer with a crisp white back and it's corners still sharp. The second photo was clearly older, the back already had some yellowing on it and the edges were bent and slightly torn in some parts.

"This is a photo of me, my mom, and my dad during my graduation." Mien said as he handed the photo to Max.

Max examined it and nodded.

"I can't really tell if this is the same Terry Sanchez I knew, he is much older here, but they do look somewhat alike. Even his wife looks like Lara, but much older." Max said as he gave the photo back to Mien.

"You look like a really happy family in that photo, I'm sorry for your loss." Max added as Mien took the photo from him.

Mien simply nodded and passed the second photo.

"If my father or well uncle is the Terry Sachez that you knew, this photo might look closer to when you last saw him." Mien explained. "This photo was taken before I was born."

Max looked closely at the photo and frowned, his reaction worried Cedric.

"Max, is something wrong?" Katerina asked in a tender tone as she noticed the distress in Cedric's eyes.

"I don't know if the news I have for you is good or bad." Max said with a frown.

"We will take whatever it is." Cedric said as he looked to Mien who nodded in agreement.

"The man in this photo is definitely the Terry Sanchez I know, and the woman is his wife Lara." Max said with a nod as he handed the photo back to Mien. "You said Terry is your uncle and not your father?" Max asked Mien.

"Yes, Mr. Reyes and his people were the ones who managed to discover that." Mien said as he looked at Cedric to explain.

"Cedric, a word." Ian whispered. There was some information he neglected to tell Cedric that needed to be talked about now.

"Give us a moment." Cedric told the group as he and Ian walked into the next room.

As they stepped in Cedric glanced back at the people around the table, he couldn't help but worry that something bad would happen while he and Ian spoke.

"Relax, Dave, Mae, and Katerina are there. Leon will be standing right outside this door." Ian told Cedric as he pulled his friend to the next room. This news could not wait.

"What was so urgent that it couldn't wait till after the discussion?" Cedric asked in an annoyed tone as the door closed behind them.

"Trust me, when you hear this you will be glad we spoke." Ian said as he took a deep breath. "Also, don't be too mad. I didn't think this was relevant information at the time."

"Since when have you withheld relevant information from me Ian?" Cedric asked. "I know you would never do it on purpose."

"Alright, but I think Mien is Fernando's son." Ian suddenly said, shocking Cedric.

"W- w- what?" Cedric asked as he managed to say the words.

"Mien was adopted by ummm. . . Terry and Lara Sanchez from his older sister." Ian revealed. 

"Didn't you have the name of Fernando's wife all this time?" Cedric asked. 

"Yes, but we only found out Chen slash Terry's real name a few minutes ago. And even then I chose to ignore it. Sanchez is a very common name." Ian pointed out.

"Not as common as Reyes, if the first and last name match then you would question it." Cedric argued. 

"Look, it didn't seem relevant to tell you that Mien was adopted from Terry, I mean Cheng, no, Terry's sister." Ian explained.

"I know, I know, this is just big news. I feel bad for Mien." Cedric said with a frown. "Wait, does this mean that Mien isn't his real name?" Cedric asked.

"No, Mien isn't his real name. He was born Mattias, quite a distant name from Mien." Ian said with a laugh.

"Well, they both start with an M." Cedric grinned.

"Another thing bothers me." Ian said as he paced across the room. 

"Did you find more information on Fernando's family?" Cedric asked his assistant. 

"I did, actually. Mien isn't an only child, he has a sister." Ian revealed.

"Well now we just need to find the mom and the sister. How hard can that be? Mien was probably sent with his uncle so that there would be a smaller chance of them being found out." Cedric concluded.

"So find the sister, find the mom?" Ian asked.

"That's our next step, yes." Cedric said with a nod as they walked back into the room.

But what they walked into was not the sight they were expecting.