Never Judge

Despite all of Ian\'s pleading he gave into Nicole\'s request and left her room. He went down to ask the chef to prepare her breakfast, pancakes with chocolate chips. 

As he waited for the food to be prepared, Ayanna came charging in with Ray and Cedric behind her. Ian could see the fury painted on her face as she walked up to him and slapped him on the face.

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Ian was stunned. Not even Nicole had slapped him and yet here was Ayanna unafraid to hit him. Ian raised his hand and touched the sore spot where her hand had landed, he was sure that it had turned red from the impact.

"You f**king a**h*le!" Ayanna shouted at Ian.

"Ayanna what\'s going on?" Cedric asked as he pulled his sister off his assistant. Cedric was shocked at how his sister had reacted, she wasn\'t the type of person to do anything violently to someone else.

"Ask him. I\'m going up to Nicole." Ayanna said as she ran up the stairs to Nicole\'s room. 

"You\'re lucky Veronica and Miguel left for Dubai last night, I swear a tongue lashing from that one and you\'ll wish Ayanna would just slap you again." Ray said with a laugh. "What did you do?" Ray asked.

Before Ian could answer however Katerina came marching in with Eric and Alexi trailing behind her. She looked at Ian and glared at him.

"She went to a bar again?" Katerina asked in calm demeanour. 

Ian just nodded and sighed. 

"Whatever happened it\'s your fault." Katerina shook her head and went up to Nicole\'s room. The last to arrive was Natalia, she completely ignored the boys and went up.

"Woah, Natalia is that mad?" You could hear the shock in Alexi\'s tone. "Do you know what happened?" Alexi asked Eric who was clearly struggling with his temper at the moment.

"I do. Why do you think I haven\'t said anything? I\'m trying really hard not to punch Ian." Eric said with a shrug as he stayed as far away from Ian as possible. "I won\'t hurt you just because my little sister loves you. If she didn\'t I swear you wouldn\'t be able to set foot in the Capital for hurting her."

"Talk." Cedric said in a stern tone. He didn\'t want to pick sides, Nicole was like a little sister to him, he had the urge to protect her just as he would Ayanna, but Ian was his best friend when he was undergoing poverty training, so he knew Ian wasn\'t a bad person and he wouldn\'t hurt Nicole willingly.

"It\'s my fault." Ian said with a sigh as he collapsed on a chair. He recounted to the boys how they had gotten into a fight and Nicole stormed out and went to a bar. He told them about how he took his time in realizing his mistake before finally getting up and looking for her. When he realized she wasn\'t at home he used his contacts to find her, luckily she had brought the pink sports car. He told them about how he had found Lucas forcing himself on Nicole and how Miguel had the bodyguards deal with Lucas. 

Just as Ian finished telling his story the chef brought over the pancakes Ian had asked for in a tray. Without waiting for the boys to react to his story, Ian carried the tray up and entered Nicole\'s room.

"Nic, have some breakfast." Ian said with a smile as he placed the tray on the bedside table.

"Out!" Nicole shouted. "I don\'t want to see you!" 

"Nic, I\'m sorry. I really didn\'t mean to fight you." Ian begged. 

"She said out Ian." Katerina said in a cold tone.

"Yeah, and take your stuff with you." Natalia added.

"You need to learn that our Nicole needs to be treasured." Ayanna said as she threw a bag at his direction. It was his clothes that Nicole insisted he leave behind since he spent a lot of nights at her house. 

"Nicole, can\'t we talk about this?" Ian pleaded. "Nicole, I love you. And I\'m sorry about last night. Please Nicole."

"I need time away from you." Nicole said in a harsh very un-Nicole like tone. 

���Nicole, it\'s just a fight." Ian pleaded again.

"Just a fight? Just a fight? Nicole almost got raped Ian!" Katerina shouted for Nicole. "Rape is not a joke, Ian. I expected so much more from you, the way both Cedric and Nicole spoke about you, I thought you were better than other men. We thought you were someone that actually deserved Nicole!"

"Ian, leave." Nicole said, as she began to cry.

"Nicole, honey, please." Ian begged again. "Nicole." Ian walked up and grabbed her hand and kissed it.

Nicole simply shook her head and turned her back on him.

"Please we have to talk this out Nicole. I can\'t live without you." Ian begged.

Nicole continued to ignore him as she pulled her hand away from him.

"Ian, leave before I make you." Katerina threatened as she pointed towards the door.

Ian left the room and descended the stairs a broken man. When Cedric saw this he was suddenly concerned. 

"What happened?" Cedric asked as Ian.

"I don\'t think Nicole wants to be with me anymore." Ian said, keeping his head down as he continued to walk towards the door.

"Well if you can\'t protect my sister, you don\'t deserve her." Eric said in a cold and harsh tone.

"Stay with the girls. I\'ll talk to Ian." Cedric said as he went after his assistant and friend.

As Ian reached for the doorknob his phone began to ring. 

"Yes?" Ian asked in a formal tone.

"What!?" He shouted in shock, making the other boy jump in surprised.

"Yes, I\'m with the boss. Yes I\'ll inform him." Ian responded quickly before dropping the call. 

At the same time Camilla, who had been waiting in the car, ran in, looking as pale as Ian.

"Did you hear?" She asked Ian. 

"Yes. I was about to tell Cedric." Ian said nervously.

"Tell me what?" Cedric asked in a calm tone.

"There was a major problem at the Tech Hub. A man committed sucide on one of the buildings being built then the building across it had an explosion." Ian explained.