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CHAPTER NINETEEN

❝DID YOU FEEL SPARKS? DID IT TURN YOU ON?❞

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"What do you think for the interior design? White and gold or black and gold?"

Winnie creased her eyebrows and watched Iris sit down next to her at the kitchen table as she tried her best to eat her pancakes in peace.

"Uh. . .I think you should decide."

"Winnie this is your birthday."

"And my decision, so there you go." Winnie spoke out before giving a closed mouth smile and patting Iris's arm as she hopped up from the kitchen table with her plate of pancakes.

Winnie went to head for the entrance of the kitchen and stopped at the entrance when Justin ran into her making her purse her lips.

"Morning."

"Good morning. . ."

Winnie cleared her throat and headed around Justin as he puffed out a breath and ran his hands through his hair as he walked up to the fridge and Iris tilted her head to watch.

"I was thinking of making her party gold everything, like The Great Gatsby."

"That should be. . .nice."

"Justin, I'm trying to do something nice. . .give me credit, baby."

Justin slammed the fridge shut. "Whatever you're planning on doing, cancel it. Winnie has nothing to do with us!"

"She has everything to do with it."

"I won't let you hurt her, Iris. . .," Justin murmured softly as he reached out to the fruit basket on the kitchen island and took an apple. "I'm serious."

Iris clenched her jaw slightly and watched Justin take a bite from his apple and make his way out of the kitchen and leaving her by herself.

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"I'm just saying, it's kind of weird that Cruella De Vil is planning your birthday party. . .she hates you."

Winnie snickered. "You're not the only one who's surprised."

Jade hummed in response as her and Winnie searched through the clothing rack for something to wear at Winnie's birthday party.

"Is there a theme?"

"The Great Gatsby — which is one of my favorite books. . .how does she know what I like?"

"Winnie, please, she probably just correlated the rich people of the book with the fact that it's your birthday."

"So. . .you're saying she's using my birthday as a decoy to play dress up?"

Jade shrugged. "The world may never know."

Winnie giggled and shook her head as she went back to searching the clothing rack, she cleared her throat and side eyed Jade. "I have something to tell you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, just don't freak out."

Jade rose an eyebrow. "You know who you're talking to, right?"

"Okay. . .Justin kissed me yesterday—"

Before Winnie could tell Jade to lower her voice, Jade had already let out a loud squeal and started to frantically slap Winnie's arms making her laugh and try to shush her.

"Jade, I said don't freak out!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Winnie rolled her eyes playfully. "Don't make a big deal out of it."

"How was it? Did you feel sparks? Did it turn you on?"

"Jade!"

"What?"

"You're unbelievable!" Winnie whisper yelled making Jade snicker as she watched Winnie continue to look through the clothing rack for a dress.

"Well tell me this, what does this mean for you two now?"

"I. . .I honestly don't know."

Winnie hadn't even thought about the kiss that much, there was no denying that her and Justin felt something in that kiss — it made Winnie want to kiss those plump lips every time she caught a slight glimpse of them.

But what did it mean for them?

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Justin adjusted his tie in the mirror and let out a huff as he heard the sound of knocking at his bedroom door, he walked away from the mirror and headed over to his door to open it and see his father.

"Dad."

"Have you thought about what I told you?"

"I. . .I'm still thinking."

Jeremy sighed. "Tell Winnie and she'll never forgive the Bieber name, son."

"But. . .Winnie's different, if I just explain—"

"Justin, think wisely. . .now we still have to talk."

Jeremy slid inside of Justin's bedroom and started to walk over to sit on the edge of Justin's bed when he went into a fit of coughing making him slouch over.

"Dad!"

Justin sped walked over to his father and held him by his arm and a hand rested on his back as his coughing started to lighten up. "I'm fine. . .I'm fine."

"When's the last time you went to the doctors?"

"That doesn't matter, I have more important matters to attend to—"

"Like hell you do, your health should always come first, dad."

Jeremy waved Justin off and sat down onto the edge of his bed making Justin slowly sigh and head back over to the mirror to finish adjusting his tie.

Once he finished, he licked his lips and walked into the bathroom and picked up his all black Rolex watch from the bathroom counter and slipped it onto his wrist as he walked back out.

"Ready?"

"You remind me of myself when I first started running my father's business. . .I'm proud of you, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, dad. . .are you ready to go?"

Jeremy nodded and slowly got up from the edge of Justin's bed and followed him out of the bedroom and all the way down the hall to the staircase.

Just when him and Justin got to the end of the staircase, Jeremy paused and let out a small breath. "Are you sure you can do this interview, son?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"This interview could make or break Bieber Enterprises. . .I just—"

"I got this, dad. . ." Justin murmured softly as he cut his father off and placed his hands on his shoulders and gave him a nod making him smile softly.

Justin then puffed out a breath and let go of his father and let him follow him out of the house and toward his Bentley to head to the interview with his mind racing.

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"Are you sure that the dress wasn't too much?"

"Winnie that dress shows off your curves and makes you look sexy, you should feel sexy in it too, girl!"

Winnie snickered. "Why aren't you a public influencer?"

"Because Jade wants to make big bank with her brains not her butt."

Winnie laughed softly as she took her keys out of her purse and unlocked the front door and opened the door and felt the door collide with a body making her gasp.

"What the hell—"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, are you Winnie Stone?"

"Yes. . ."

"Ah, I'm Chanel Williams. Your birthday co-planner."

Winnie creased her eyebrows as she heard Jade snicker from behind her. "Uh huh. . .where is Iris?"

"Oh, kitchen with the cake designer."

"Cake design — Iris!"

The sound of heels was heard and soon Iris's head was following behind as she came out of the kitchen with a plate of cake in her hold. "Winnie, good you're home—"

"Iris. . .what is all this?"

"It's your party, silly!"

"Right. . .," Winnie murmured softly as she looked to the left and saw two men carrying in a large golden table. "And Who the hell is that Chanel girl?"

"She's my partner, did you think I could this by myself?"

Winnie smacked her teeth. "I don't think you want my answer."

"Funny."

Winnie scoffed. "Iris. . .I specifically said nothing big."

"And that's what your getting!"

"Really?"

"Yes! The opposite!"

Winnie huffed and shook her head as she went to turn around to head upstairs with Jade — only to have Iris pull her arm and make her turn around.

"Here's the cake, taste it and tell me what you think."

"You know what, Iris? I'm tired, you decide what you want for the cake, okay?"

"But—"

"You decide, go nuts!" Winnie shouted sarcastically as she winked at Iris and headed upstairs with Jade following behind laughing.

Iris huffed and turned on her heel and headed back into the kitchen and went back to taste the other cake flavors for Winnie.

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"Nice to see you, Justin, it's been a while."

"Yeah it has, Andy."

"How have you been? Your father tells me your going to be taking over the business soon, are you ready for all that responsibility?"

Justin chuckled softly. "Of course, Andy."

"Do you think you could live up to your father's standards?"

"Why wouldn't I? I outrun the old man now." Justin spoke making him and Andy chuckle as Jeremy came back over to the table with drinks for them and himself.

"I see. . .and I gotta say, taking that bold leap this year with taking most of the stocks from RushLink over in Japan brought great revenue. . .and even starting the future project of combing companies with Baxter Incorporated? I must say, it's a great accomplishment for someone in their 20's."

"Thank you, Andy. . .yeah, partnering with the Baxter's actually means more business opportunities and more trust."

"Speaking of trust. . .I hear you and Mike Baxter's daughter are actually an item, as you've said on live television a week ago."

Justin smacked his teeth and nodded slowly. "Yes, she means a lot to me. . .I couldn't see myself with anyone else."

"Do I hear church bells ringing anytime soon?"

"Whoa, now, Andy. . .we just started dating not too long ago." Justin spoke making Andy chuckle and raise his hands up in defense as he stopped writing and then took his water from the table and took a quick sip.

"Now, Justin, I must say. . .with your successes in life, is there anyone that inspires you."

"My father of course. . .and even Iris, her. . .determination is extraordinary."

Andy nodded and wrote it down onto his notepad and let the silence of the room fall over the room, and before he knew it, Andy pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and smiled up at Justin.

"Thank you for letting me interview you, the newspaper is going to love this."

"Thank you for having me, Andy."

Andy nods and takes a few sips of the water before sitting it back onto the table and then standing up as Justin and Jeremy followed behind and shook hands with him before watching him leave out of Jeremy's penthouse.

"You did great, son."

Justin gave a small closed mouth smile and walked past his father and rubbed his jawline as he headed out of the penthouse making Jeremy crease his eyebrows. "Where are you headed?"

"Home. I'm tired."

Jeremy huffed and slipped his hands into the pockets of his slacks and watched Justin speed out of his penthouse and shut the door behind him making him shake his head over to his mini bar for some whiskey.

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By the time Justin pulled up to the house, it was almost 7 o'clock when he checked his phone for the time as he shut the door to his Bentley and headed up to the porch and taking his house keys out of his pocket.

Justin unlocked the door and opened the door to see there was gold decor around the entrance making him chuckle and slip his suit jacket off his body.

"Wow. . ."

"Do you like it?" Winnie asked as she walked out of the living room with one of the gold beach balls she found outside making Justin raise an eyebrow. "It's going to be the best birthday event of the year."

"Did Iris do all this in less than 3 hours?"

"Oh no, don't forget her co-planner, Chanel."

"Co-planner? That's an actual thing?"

Winnie laughed softly. "Apparently."

"Are you at least excited?"

"Turning 24, it's every girl's dream."

Justin chuckled and took the beach ball out of Winnie's hands and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and twirled them around so they could head into the living room.

"I'm tired."

Justin plopped down onto the couch with Winnie as she looked over to Justin and saw he was starting to get bags around his eyes making her rub them softly.

"Jay, you should get some sleep. . ."

"I'm fine. . ."

"Did you talk to your dad? Are you going to take over the company?"

Justin sighed softly. "Winnie. . .I don't know."

"You have to want something good to come from all this."

"Yeah, but no matter how I look at the situation. . .I end up losing something. . .someone."

Winnie shook her head and cupped Justin's cheeks. "I'm not going anywhere, Jay."

If only you knew, Justin thought.

Winnie smiled softly and looked at Justin seeing his eyes on his lap making Winnie tilt his head to make him look into her eyes again.

Justin then leaned his face forward slowly and pressed his lips onto Winnie's slowly making her enjoy it momentarily and then pull away slowly.

"I thought you said we should wai—"

"Shh. . .I know what I said, Winnie."

Winnie bit her bottom lip softly before releasing it as Justin let his lips mold with hers again and let all his stress from the day fade away — yet he still felt something in the back of his mind:

Guilt.

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