Chapter 61: Julia’s Demand

Julia’s eyes widened in realization. "It seems your ’friend’ is a woman—or perhaps your friend has an odd fondness for lip gloss. Or," her voice rose dramatically, "is he a man who swings the other way? Justin, you swing the other way too, and that’s why you keep rejecting all the blind dates I set up!" Her tone was full of mock horror. "Am I not going to have my own great-grandchildren?!"

Justin ran a hand through his hair, frustration building. The start of this day had already been a disasters, and now this?

Noah, standing off to the side, was visibly struggling to keep from laughing. It was rare to see his normally composed, commanding boss so utterly helpless and frazzled.

"Grandma, stop being so dramatic. You know that’s not the case," Justin sighed, walking into his room and unbuttoning his shirt to change into his usual attire.

But, of course, Julia followed him right in. "If it’s not, then what is it?" she pressed.

"Grandma, I’m not a kid anymore. You really shouldn’t be barging into my room when I’m changing," he remarked, tossing his shirt aside and grabbing a fresh one from the wardrobe.

"I’m your grandma, and you’ll always be a child to me," she shot back, but she did turn around, facing her back at him to give him some privacy. "Now, tell me what’s really going on."

"Nothing is going on, Grandma," Justin repeated, pulling on his clean shirt and hoping she’d drop the subject.

Julia, of course, wasn’t having it. "Fine, then tell me when you’re planning to introduce me to my granddaughter—your sister, Natalie."

Justin froze, his words slipping out before he could stop them. "She’s not my sister."

"Brat! How dare you say that?" Julia snapped, whirling back around, her eyes full of outrage.

Justin realized his mistake instantly, but more than that, he realized that deep down, his heart had already rejected the idea of Natalie being his sister. There was something in him that simply couldn’t accept it.

But for now, he had to soothe his grandmother.

"She’s not officially a Harper yet, Grandma," he said, trying to backtrack while tucking his shirt into his pants.

"That may be true, but she’s still your sister," Julia insisted stubbornly. "And I want to meet her soon."

Justin felt like his time was truly running bad.

If Julia met Natalie, and called Natalie her grand-daughter, that would be another blunder. He didn’t know how Natalie would react to know it and also, ask him why he didn’t tell her before. His mind was turning into the whirlwind of numerous questions.

To him, everything seemed to turn into a mess soon, a kind of mess which would be difficult for him to sort out.

Seeing him lost in thought, Julia raised her eyebrows. "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, I did," Justin replied, snapping out of his daze. He fixed his clothes and turned to face her. "I’ll take you to meet her, but you have to promise me you won’t tell her she’s your granddaughter. I’ve told you before—she’s already dealing with a lot."

Julia considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, but at least find a way for me to meet her."

Justin thought for a second. "She’s working on the interiors of my new home here in the city. During one of her visits, I’ll arrange for you to be there. You can meet her as the owner of the house, and we’ll pretend it’s just a coincidence that you showed up at the same time." Justin said, and went to her, his gaze carrying a tinge of warning, "Understood, Julia?"

A wide grin spread across her face. "I knew you’d come up with the perfect plan. You’re smart enough to make it happen."

Justin realised, not only Natalie but even his grandma had always been a drama queen. No wonder Natalie and Julia shared blood and thus same drama qualities.

The realisation made him sigh helplessly to think of his coming future, ’these two women in my life are going to be truly handful for me to handle, if they are to be together.’

’Wait, women in my life?’ Justin felt surprised at his own thought, but then he concluded, ’

"What are you thinking about?" Julia’s voice broke through his internal musings.

"Nothing," he replied smoothly. "Let’s figure out when I can arrange for you to meet her."

As they left the room together, Julia added, "I didn’t know she’s an interior designer. I thought she was just into creating perfumes?"

Justin guided her to sit on the sofa before settling down next to her. Opening his laptop, he continued, "She’s not just any interior designer—she’s incredibly talented." His tone carried an unexpected hint of pride as he spoke about Natalie.

He turned the laptop toward Julia, showing her the information he had pulled up.

"What? She’s ? The famous designer everyone’s talking about?" Julia exclaimed, her eyes widening as she read about the mysterious designer known only as Carlie.

"Yes, Grandma," Justin confirmed. "I didn’t know it either when I first hired her. I only found out recently."

"Good, Good, that means just as I said, she is capable just like her mother."

This time, Justin couldn’t deny Julia’s claim and simply hummed in agreement, a rare moment of surrender to his grandmother’s judgment.

He then turned to Noah. "Tell John to inform me immediately whenever Natalie is scheduled to visit my home."

"Yes, Mister Harper," Noah responded with a nod.

-----

Meanwhile, Natalie was going to face trouble and annoyance that lay in her way.

After taking her grandpa back to the hospital, she headed towards the office of her newly acquired company.

"I am sure that old woman must have instructed them to act against me. Let’s see who that old hag’s dog is and who I can turn into my own pet."