lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

12.

April 2013

It was the end of April, and Pia experienced disappointment from her father once again. There was a three weeks long break between the race in Bahrain and the race in Spain. So, she hoped her father would come home. He told her that he wanted to gain his family back, so why wasn't he here?

It was late in the night when she heard a car parking next to their house. Pia thought it was her father that arrived. He's keeping promises, after all, she thought. So, she jumped out of her bed and ran downstairs. While running down the stairs, she saw a scene that she never expected to see. Pia saw her mother kissing a man. It'd be alright if that man was Anthonie, but Gianna was kissing double world champion. Pia noticed Gianna's hand tangled in the blond hair of German. There was no way that this was a coincidence.    

Pia's eyes went wide, and her heart started beating fast and loud against her chest. She suddenly felt so sick. At that moment, they finally noticed her, yet they weren't saying anything to her. Nothing. Nothing to convince her that her assumptions were wrong. Nothing to convince her that this whole wasn't a lie. 

"How long has been this going on?" Pia asked. Her chest felt tight, so she tried to take a couple of deep breaths, but it didn't seem to help. Her heart was still beating fast. 

"Pia, let's just take it easy, ok?" her mother asked her when she saw how unwell her little petite girl was feeling. She could see how Pia was shaking. The last thing Gianna wanted now was for Pia to pass out.

"No. No. I don't need to take it easy," she quickly reacted. She didn't want to take it easy. "I'm asking you. How long has been this going on? How long have you been cheating on dad? With him," Pia looked disgusted at Sebastian. She didn't even want to say his name. She had that feeling that he hurt her the most. He was always the one she could run to when something happened. He was the one Pia admired. He was perfect in her eyes, and now he was just like others. He was a liar, cheater and manipulator. 

"Almost three years," Gianna whispered slightly embarrassedly. Pia tried to stay calm, but the fact that this was going on for fucking three years made her mad. When she asked her about it, she thought she'd tell her that it lasted just a couple of months, but three fucking years? That was a little too much. 

"So, you're telling me that you've been fucking him for almost three years?" Pia laughed. She didn't know how else she should react. 

"Language, young lady," Sebastian warned her sternly. He didn't like Pia speaking vulgarly, but Pia couldn't care less about it right now. 

"Oh, don't play that you're my father. You always tried that, but surprise! I have a father." Sebastian tried to pretend that these words didn't hurt him, but the truth was the opposite. He loved Pia as his own daughter. He basically raised her because Anthonie didn't give a fuck about her.

"How could you ruin it all?" Pia was sobbing. Her vision was blurry because of her tears. She finally had a good relationship with her father for the first time in her life, and now her mother ruined it. Now, she understood why her dad didn't want to spend time here with them. Who would like to be under one roof with a wife who is cheating on him? Gianna was the only villain of their family, not her dad. How could Pia be so blind?

"I'm sorry, P." Gianna tried to approach her daughter and gently caress her golden hair, but Pia recoiled from her. Gianna didn't want to Pia find out about her and Sebastian this way. She planned to tell her about it eventually, explain to her everything. She was well aware that Pia would be hurt, but she hoped it wouldn't be too much. 

"Don't you dare to touch me. It was all just a lie," Pia was quick at rejecting her mother. Perhaps, she wanted to hurt her mother just like she hurt her right now. There were so many things Gianna should've done differently, but in the end, she didn't. Pia would respect that her mother found some other man if she wouldn't live with Anthonie. Pia would also get over the fact that it had been Sebastian. The only thing she wanted from Gianna was honesty. She was so tired of all those lies in her life from her dad. She thought that she could trust her mother, but now her trust was broken. 

"It wasn't P. I love you, and Sebastian does as well." She hopelessly wanted to believe these words, but she just couldn't. She didn't know who to trust. Pia always assumed it was her father who had destroyed their family, but over the last few months, Anthonie had shown Pia that it was most likely Gianna all the time. Pia tried to deny that thought because Gianna was always the best mother in her eyes. She was her mum, best friend and mentor, but now all the illusions about her were gone. 

"Oh, stop it. He wouldn't have cared about me without you. It was just a way how to be closer to you. Taking care of me was just convenient for him." There were times when she wished for a different dad, but deep down, she wasn't ready to accept someone as her step-dad.

"It's not true, Twinkle, and you know it. Your dad was always too busy to take care of you. I did it because I want to and because I really do care about you." Seb admitted. This way, it was even harder for Pia. She wanted to be mad at them because she had every right to be. She was disappointed and felt betrayed by them. So talking about how Seb likes her didn't seem fair to her. She just wanted to be left broken and bitter because that would make moving on a little quicker. 

"Don't call me Twinkle. I'll just call dad. To my real dad who cares about me if he can take me away from here," she said while running back to her room, leaving behind her mother in tears. Sebastian was hugging Gianna tightly in order to calm her down, but he hurt himself. Pia's words had a significant impact on him. 

"Hey, dad. Do you think you could pick me up from our house tomorrow morning? I don't want to talk about it right now, but I just need to get out of here, please," Pia tried to sound calm. She couldn't imagine herself telling Anthonie that Gianna had been cheating on him with Sebastian. 

"Of course, darling. I'm in Monaco anyway, so yeah, I'll come for you." Pia was surprised when her dad just agreed without any questions. She told herself that he was probably just busy, but in reality, Anthonie assumed that Pia finally found out about her mother and Sebastian. He knew about it for some time but, he wanted Pia to find out about this on her own.

Anthonie was ready for this situation. He knew that it was inevitable, so he already bought an apartment in Monaco a few months ago. He didn't exactly do that because of Pia, but now it was convenient for him. 

"Thank you, dad. Things here just got... complicated." Pia said before she hung up. 

She just needed to survive one more night here. She knew she wouldn't sleep. Her head was filled with scenarios of what would happen next. Would her parents get a divorce? Whom would she stay with? Would she stay in Italy or move somewhere else with her father? Those were the questions that kept Pia awake throughout the night. Her brain just couldn't stop working. 

"And one more thing. If dad decides to go with this to the press, I'll make sure it will hurt you both. You and your little lover boy," Pia said spitefully before leaving the house. She was so mad at both of them. She only had two options be mad or break down in tears. Dreams about the perfect family were now entirely gone. Perhaps, she didn't deserve the perfect family.