Redemption {Charles Leclerc}

22

TRIGGER WARNING: signs of sexual harrasment; stabbing; nightmares. 

Charles' POV. 

You're lying on your back in the hotel bed with your eyes wide open. You think two hours have passed since Sophia drifted off to sleep. You can hear her breathing steadily beside you and you're glad that she was able to fall asleep so quickly. 

You, on the other hand, seem to be unable to do the same. Your thoughts are all over the place.

You have so many questions but one seems to be the most dominant. 

What happened to her? 

There are over a thousand scenarios going through your head but all of them seem too bad to be true. You don't want to think about all the possibilities but at the same time you really want to know what happened as you really want to be there for her. 

Besides all the questions, there's also one feeling that's slowly eating you up inside. 

Guilt. 

You know that if you hadn't raised your voice at her, the two of you would've probably had a fun night and you would've brought her back to her hotel room safely. You were the one who left her alone and you're the reason why she left the party by herself. 

If it wasn't for you, none if this would've happened. It's literally that easy to connect the dots.

Whatever happened to her, it's all your fault. And she can deny it all she wants but deep down you know it's true and she knows it too. 

Another tear escapes your eye. You've been silently letting them fall ever since Sophia fell asleep. You really don't want to wake her up with your crying. 

You feel so pathetic. You're acting like you're the victim here while there's really only one victim in this room. And it's not you. 

It's her.  

You turn your head towards Sophia. Your eyes have adjusted to the dark long enough for you to be able to see her. You observe the bump on her forehead that has become slightly bigger. Shit. 

You still wonder whether not taking her to the hospital was the right thing to do. 

Why did she not let you? You swear she almost went into a panic attack when you even mentioned it.

Ofcourse people in general don't exactly like hospitals but the fear in her eyes was so fierce. It makes you wonder what the cause of that is. 

But no matter how bad you want to know, you're not going to ask her about it anytime soon. She'll tell you when she wants to tell you. 

You're still a bit stunned by how sweet she was to you anyways. You've been quite a big asshole to her before you left the party and she's already forgiven you for your stupid outburst. You wonder whether that is because you helped her or whether she genuinely meant it. 

All you know is that you're not forgiving yourself so quickly. You really need to learn to control your emotions. 

You sigh. 

What an absolute awful day it's been. First you lost your first win in F1 in the final three laps of the race and then this happened with Sophia. The latter is way worse ofcourse and it has actually made you realize that losing a race means nothing in life. Surely it hurts and it will hurt for a while but more chances will arise for you to win races. The things that happened to Sophia can never be turned around. She'll have to live with that experience forever, whatever it is. You'd rather lose all the races in the world than have something bad happen to her again.