James felt his heart racing. His brow twitching, almost knitting into a frown. However, he quickly composed himself, successfully masking any signs of nervousness or surprise. He perfectly schooled his face into a neutral expression.
But, deep down, he kept reassuring himself that his grandfather's question wasn't pointing to anything ambiguous. His brain began producing one explanation after another trying to support this argument. It was as if his defense mechanism had been suddenly triggered.
The first explanation was that his grandfather, Creighton, was somewhat technologically challenged. After all, in his time, technology wasn't as advanced, and the internet was still limited.
Secondly, Creighton paid no mind to gossip, considering it a waste of time and aimed at nothing but to harm others. The accuracy of such rumors was always questionable. And if they turned out to be false yet he had already believed them and spread them around, wouldn't that be deeply embarrassing?
