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When I got to the car, Lucy, Kiwi, and Judy were in a state close to passing out... they were clearly not doing well, and I noticed it without even having to look closely.
"What do you need from me?"
"Silence... and food..."
I nodded in understanding and immediately took a few containers out of the trunk and gave them to the girls, who started to devour the food very quickly, not even noticing what they were eating. But that didn't bother me. I went back to the trunk and took out three bottles with drinks in which vitamins had been dissolved.
After giving the girls the drinks, I finally took my rightful place in the car and nodded at Panam.
"Let's go home..."
"To the clan's camp?"
"Yeah..."
I grinned. In that time, we had kind of stopped seeing the apartment in the city as home. A temporary base? Yes... But not a home that you wanted to stay in. And all the girls, even Judy, who was partly attached to the apartment because her grandparents had left it to her, knew this.
"Alright..."
Panam stepped on the gas, and the car smoothly started to move...
"Huh?"
Judy blinked in surprise.
"Everyone be quiet!"
She was clearly panicking, and it was very obvious. When her eyes lit up, signaling that she was talking to someone, I knew that something had gone wrong...
A silence fell over the car for a while, after which I got a call from Judy, and I, looking at her in surprise, answered it.
"So you're the young man who turned my girl's head?"
Two avatars appeared before me. The first belonged to Judy, who was looking away with a guilty expression. The second... was a young-looking girl with gray hair, but she was wearing a mob cap on her head and some kind of dark blue shirt.
"Uh... I apologize..."
I was a little taken aback by the energy of this girl—or rather, a woman, since her hair was most likely gray.
"...and who exactly are you?"
"What?!"
On the girl's face... damn, this is hard. Modern care allows you to turn women who are not so young anymore into young beauties, and even though I understand that the person in front of me is... not a young lady, I can't wrap my head around it.
"You're dating a girl, and you can't even recognize her beloved and only grandmother?!"
"Cough..."
I coughed and looked at the avatar in surprise... a grandmother? After that, I looked at Judy. And she nodded sheepishly.
So, it really was her grandmother...
"Hello, Mrs. Ainara Alvarez."
"So you've at least heard of me..."
"How could I not?!"
I shook my head.
"How could I not know about my girlfriend's beloved grandmother?! It would be a crime on my part! Yes, I just wasn't expecting you to look so young..."
"Am I supposed to be old?"
There was a threat in the woman's voice.
"No, no! I was just saying that I was expecting a more mature beauty from my girlfriend's beloved grandmother..."
I was given a suspicious look.
"You managed to talk your way out of that one. Do you love my girl?"
The question was asked without any hesitation, and the answer was just as quick and without a hint of doubt.
"Yes. I love her. I'm willing to give my life for her... but I'd rather give someone else's so I don't make her unhappy with my death."
"A good answer..."
The girl... woman... Ainara nodded at my response.
"I hear that in addition to my girl, you have other girls..."
This wasn't a question, but I felt the need to answer.
"Yes... I have five girls in total who will become my wives in time."
"And again, without a shred of doubt."
Ainara nodded and looked at me with a hint of respect.
"You know, ever since this little wild thing was a child, I knew that her personal life wouldn't be simple... and it's not even because she liked girls..."
She shook her head.
"Grandma!"
"Don't you 'grandma' me! I need to talk to your suitor, and since you wouldn't have introduced me to him yourself, I decided to take this matter into my own delicate, old hands..."
To demonstrate her not-so-old hands, Ainara lifted them, showing her delicate hands with a neat manicure. Judy's eye twitched, and I smiled at the sight.
"You two get along well..."
"No!"
"Of course..."
I grinned, since Judy was denying that she got along with her grandmother, even though she had spoken of her very warmly, and Ainara, on the other hand, confirmed everything. It was so funny...
"You know, I think I want to see this live... Ainara, would you like to come and visit us?"
"Huh?!"
Both representatives of the Alvarez family said this at the same time.
"I would be happy to see Judy in person, and her family, too..."
I was looked at with suspicion.
"...but I'm not very eager to go back to Night City. It's a rotten city."
"I won't argue with that... the city isn't very good. But we're living in the Aldecaldo clan right now. We have our own Behemoth, which we've converted for our own needs, and there's a place there for you and your husband."
"Hmm..."
I was looked over again.
"In general... I might even agree to an offer like that... but getting to you..."
"Don't say another word! If you agree, I'll send a car for you."
"You're one of those rich people, huh? A corpo, I bet?"
"No..."
I shook my head.
"Although my mother wanted to turn me into an exemplary corpo and even got me into the academy. But... it didn't work out. So I became a solo, and now I work for fixers."
"And you earn a lot?"
"Enough to provide for my family."
"Oh, really?"
I was looked at skeptically again.
"Grandma, it's because of David that I started earning so much more and was able to send you the money that surprised you so much."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah..."
"Interesting..."
Ainara nodded her head thoughtfully.
"You know, Judy, I like your new boyfriend... not like your previous lovers... I didn't like them at all, but I was willing to overlook it for your happiness. But now... I'm even willing to come and visit you."
She nodded again, confirming her words.
"Perfect. Send me the address, and I'll send a car for you."
"Alright..."
We talked for another ten minutes until Ainara decided to end the conversation and hang up. And after that, Judy and I were alone.
"David... thank you."
I looked at her in surprise.
"What for?"
"For talking to my Gran..."
"But that's completely normal, isn't it... to talk to your beloved girlfriend's only female relative..."
Judy shook her head sadly.
"...what, no?"
"Well... Maiko was pretty sarcastic with my Gran back then. She didn't like her, and the feeling was mutual. So nothing happened between them. And Parker..."
Judy's avatar grimaced.
"...she tried to be likable... she tried so hard. She was so ingratiating... in short, she annoyed Gran a lot and refused to understand why. But you talked to her normally... in your usual style, and she felt it. So thank you."
"No problem..."
The conversation ended there, and we hung up.
"What was that?"
Becca, being the most active, was the first to not be able to hold back and asked the question.
"That was Grand... Ainara, Judy's relative."
"Wait, relative? I thought she only had a grandmother..."
Panam, who was still driving the car, said this.
"Uh-huh..."
I nodded.
"...she was."
"Then why didn't you just say it?"
Kiwi looked at me with interest, asking the question.
"You just haven't seen her."
"Huh?"
All the girls looked at me in surprise, and even Panam looked away from the road to give me a slightly surprised look, but she quickly put it back on the road, sharply yanking the wheel to the right and passing some subcompact car.
"She looks younger than me!"
"You're bullshitting!"
Becca couldn't hold back, but judging by the faces of the other girls, they were thinking the same thing their friend had just shouted out.
"No..."
I shook my head.
"...maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but honestly, if you lined all of you up, she would pass for your age. I didn't even believe it at first that the person in front of me was a grandmother; she just looks so young."
"It's just that Gran has always taken good care of herself, and since I started sending her more money, she's been spending even more on her looks..."
"Plastic surgery?"
All the girls looked at Judy with interest.
"Not just that..."
She shook her head at Lucy's question.
"...she also has synthetic organs, though she dreams of real ones, but no amount of money would be enough for that; you'd have to be a corpo, and not a low-level one. So she stopped at synthetic ones..."
"Wow..."
The girls exchanged shocked glances.
"Alright, I have some very interesting news for you all..."
"And what is it?"
"I invited Ainara to come and visit us, with her husband. So if she accepts the invitation and sends me..."
At that moment, I got a message. I opened it and saw that it was from Ainara, and it had an address and a convenient time for the car to arrive. Naturally, it took into account that the driver still had to get there.
"...she already sent it."
"Huh?"
Judy looked at me in shock.
"She sent you the address?!"
"Yeah, and also when it would be convenient for her to come and visit us."
"That's crazy..."
She shook her head.
"...I thought you were both kidding, but she... she took it all seriously!"
"I wasn't kidding, either..."
I shrugged.
"...and I would be happy to have your grandparents as guests. So get ready; in three months, they'll be coming to visit us. And yeah, all of you, get ready."
I looked at the girls.
"Is there something specific we need to do?"
"Nah..."
I shrugged.
"...just be ready to have guests. That's all I need from you... oh, no, I'm lying. I need you to not pretend to be anyone else and to be yourselves when you're around Ainara."
"Uh... me, too?"
Becca looked at me in surprise.
"You, too. All of us have to be ourselves, although I can tell you from my short conversation with her that it won't be easy, as Ainara is quite the smartass... but..."
I gave a mischievous grin and paused for a bit.
"What?!"
The girls couldn't take it anymore, and Panam was the one who asked the question.
"Judy will get the worst of it, as she's Ainara's favorite target for teasing right now."
"Tch... it's nothing... I'll get over it..."
But despite her words, I could see that Judy was genuinely happy that she would be able to see her grandmother soon.
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