"How about roses? What if I send them to her?" Alexi asked as he paced across Cedric's office at Mor Co.
"Does she even like roses?" Cedric asked as he looked up from his laptop.
"All girls like roses!" Alexi said waving his hands in the air.
"Katerina hates roses." Eric told Alexi.
"Fine most girls like roses." Alexi adjusted his statement based on what Eric said.
"Why not fly her to Japan for a date?" Ram asked.
"That's too much." Cedric said. "Don't you guys have jobs?"
"Nothing to film at the moment. I'm on a break." Eric said as he raided Cedric's mini fridge.
"No meetings." Ram explained.
"Congress is at recess, so, yeah no work." Alexi laughed.
"Then why don't you help me pick on some bullies?" Cedric asked with a grin as he closed his laptop. He wasn't planning on doing anything to the bullies yet, but having some of the other boys around gave him an idea.
���But we're thinking of ways for me to get Nurse Jen." Alexi complained.
"That can wait, and do you really think it's such a good idea to ask these guys?" Cedric said as he pointed at his friends. "One had an on and off you can't even figure out their status issue with your sister, the other just keeps dating to no end and will probably end up in an arranged marriage. You should go and ask the girls."
"Hey!" Eric complained. "Our timing was just bad, but I won her over in the end."
"Yeah, you had to beg her and steal your brother's lines." Cedric teased.
"Miguel copies me! I've dated more women than him. He's just crazy in love and obsessed with this one's sister." Eric said pointing at Ram.
"You're right. I'll ask Natalia and Katerina when everything doesn't work." Alexi said with a smile. "So what's your plan?" He asked Cedric.
Cedric grinned at Alexi's question.
It was a hot afternoon at Nationalia, Cedric sat at a table in the corner as he watched his friends chat. This was all part of his plan to push his former bullies even further down.
The first to arrive was Kevin Garcia. He was rushing as an assistant carrying his things followed him. Earlier today his father had given him a challenge, get Ram Abad to cooperate with their company. If he managed that his father would give him a portion of his promised shares, to make things more interesting he had allowed Kevin to choose one employee to compete with, he chose Erik Garcia.
In Kevin's mind Erik would never do anything to oppose him. The man wouldn't dare to try to steal his inheritance from him so he felt Erik as a safe choice.
"Mr. Abad." Kevin Gacria called out happily.
"And you are?" Ram asked as Kevin approached.
"Mr. Abad we went to the same university, you were just a year below me." Kevin Garcia said excitedly.
"Are you trying to say that my friend should respect you as his senior?" Alexi asked in a cold and harsh tone.
"No sir, nothing like that." Kevin said in an attempt to salvage the situation.
"Such disrespect." Eric Chan said, shaking his head.
"Sir please, I didn't mean any disrespect." Kevin Garcia begged.
"What is it?" Ram asked.
"Sir, I would like to offer you a partnership with my family's company." Kevin said as he snapped his fingers for the assistant to hand him the documents.
The assistant panicked as he searched for an envelope and handed it to Kevin.
"Mr. Abad, please look through our proposal." Kevin said with a slight bow as he gave Ram the documents.
Ram took them out and reviewed them, or at least pretended to review them. Kevin waited anxiously as Ram flipped through the pages.
"Anything interesting?" Alexi asked as he leaned over.
"Mmmmm. Yeah, very interesting." Ram said as he placed the documents back into the envelope.
"You liked the proposal sir?�� Kevin Garcia asked.
"I do, it's unique and quite smart." Ram praised.
Kevin grinned. The idea was not his, he didn't make that proposal, he had asked Erik to make the proposal and then he had someone find out where Ram Abad would be in the afternoon. Before lunch he already had a copy of the proposal and an assistant informed him that Ram Abad would be at Nationalia with some friends. Proud of his accomplishments he dragged his friends to have lunch at Bamboo Room to celebrate his victory early.
"I loved it when it was first presented to me." Ram said with a grin as he ripped the envelope in half. "What kind of man tries to pass off the work of another. You are so shameless that you didn't even take out the watermark of the original creator." Ram said as he glared at Kevin.
"Sir, no, this is my idea. My hard work." Kevin begged.
"The other guy already gave us this document." Alexi said as he pointed at another table.
Kevin turned to see his father, Ernesto, looking at him with disappointment. Seated across him was Erik Gracia, the usually meek man was smiling as he drank his coffee.
Ernesto Garcia stood up and walked towards his elder son, Kevin. Erik stood after him and walked towards Kevin's direction.
"I am ashamed to call you my son." Ernesto Garcia said as he threw a slap across Kevin's face.
"Father, you can't give shares to an outsider, you just can't!" Kevin shouted hysterically.
"You disgust me." Ernesto Garcia spat. "Of course I can give my shares to whomever I want. It's my company. You've done nothing but leech off company funds to pay for your women and your gambling."
"Sir, don't be so harsh on him." Erik asked, but from his tone you could feel that the request was half hearted.
"I am transferring 10% of my shares to Erik." Ernesto Garcia announced as he turned and walked away.
Kevin was shocked. He had just lost part of his inheritance to a nobody employee, sure he knew that Erik was friends with Ayanna Reyes, but was that woman really that important? To Kevin women were just toys and tools to be used to further a family's interest. His view was clearly far from how the Reyeses saw their women.
Kevin tried to chase after his father and Erik who exited Nationalia, he was however, stopped by his father's bodyguard.
Kevin began shouting, people took out their phones and captured videos of the third generation heir throwing a public tantrum.
When Kevin was out of sight, Cedric walked up to his friends and joined them.
"You're right. That was fun." Alexi said with a laugh.
"I liked the envelope ripping part, it was a good touch." Cedric laughed as he complemented Ram.
"So who's next?" Ram asked, he was excited to knock those boys off their high horses.
That same day Carlo Juan, Jun David, Ben Sanchez, and Dennis Von also lost a part of their inheritances to their secret siblings. All five men were so depressed that they went to the nearest bar and took some prostitutes to a hotel.
Prostitution was illegal in their country and Cedric was glad that he had someone follow the bullies. He had just gotten confessions from the bar, the women, and the hotel staff. His people also managed to capture photo and video evidence. Cedric knew these would come in handy in the future.