Cedric gave the young lawyer some time to gather his thoughts before speaking again.
It was clear that there was an internal struggle going on inside Mien's mind.
"Mien, if you need people to talk to, we will be here." Mae said with a nod as she looked at the young lawyer.
Cedric raised an eyebrow as he noticed Dave frown as Mae reached out and held Mein's hand. He turned to look at Ian, who simply shrugged and ignored what was happening.
"The manager of Nouveau just informed me that Yoyo and Adrianna have arrived." Ian told Cedric as he looked up from his phone.
"How about Ayanna and Ray?" Cedric asked, inquiring after his sister and brother-in-law.
"They're already downstairs, they were waiting at Ayanna's office." Ian said as he placed his phone away.
Cedric nodded as he got up from his seat, making the others in the room stand as well.
Ian quickly walked over to the door and held it open for Cedric.
"Mien, I know we are strangers to you." Cedric said as he stopped in front of Mien on the way out of his office. "But, I have a gut feeling about you. Something in me is telling me to help you and trust you."
"Thank you, Cedric." Mien said with a sad smile. "I didn't expect such a welcome from you and your group. To be honest I thought you would be quite wary of me."
"We were, but we've checked your background and found out that you have been telling us the truth from the start." Cedric told Mien. "Add to that the fact that my assistant here seems quite fond of you." Cedric teased.
Mae's eyes widened for a moment as she was taken by surprise by Cedric's comment.
Cedric also didn't miss the scowl on Dave's face as Cedric mentioned Mae's closeness to Mien. Clearly there was something going on between his two assistants, something he had missed out on.
"Cedric, thank you." Mien simply said with a bow.
Cedric nodded and led their group out of his office and down to Nouveau.
The manager greeted Cedric and his group as he led them to Cedric's private room. The restaurant had been closed for the night since Cedric didn't want anyone catching a glimpse of Yoyo or Mien.
He felt that Mien didn't need the attention of the media in the capital.
Of course, Cedric was also trying to protect his own son's identity.
There were two reasons why he didn't want everyone to know how Yoyo looked as he grew up, and the tradition of the Reyes Poverty Training wasn't even his main concern.
He wanted Yoyo to have a chance to discover who he truly wanted to be and what kind of future he wanted to have. Cedric didn't want his son to grow up with all the pressure that society would put on him if they could follow his every move.
Cedric had seen how it had affected his friends, setting unrealistic expectations and having them live under a microscope their whole lives.
It was either you caved into those expectations, or you threw caution to the wind and didn't care at all about what the public had to say.
"Daddy!" Yoyo screamed as he ran up to his father.
Cedric quickly knelt down and hugged his son tightly.
He had been so busy recently that he didn't have the time to be with his son as much as he wanted.
It was clear that his son felt his absence as well, as he hugged Cedric tightly, afraid to let go.
"Yoyo, there is someone I want you to meet." Cedric said as he stood up, still hugging his four year old son.
(I adjusted his age. I noticed I was still referring to him as a three year old despite Yoyo having celebrated his birthday already.)