lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

28.

December 2014

Pia tried to do her best and forget about the crash. She didn't attend any other Grand Prix since then. She always said to Sebastian that she wanted to help her mum with the boys.

"Are you coming to Monaco this Christmas, or is Charles coming here?" Gianna asked while they were strolling down the park with two prams. It was just an idyllic Saturday afternoon.

"I think he's coming here." She smiled at her mother. She didn't want to let her know that she couldn't go to Monaco. There were too many places and memories that reminded her of Jules, and she just wasn't ready for that.

"Oh, brilliant," Gia said excitedly. "Sebastian should be home as well." Gianna tried to indicate to her daughter that they could have a wonderful Christmas atmosphere. Gianna lived in a world where they would all sing Christmas carols in front of their fireplace, and Charles would be taken as a part of a family. But for Pia, it was still kind of hard. She loved Sebastian, and she loved her two brothers, but in the end, they were what she called a glued family.

Then there was silence. Gianna had to gain a little bit more courage before she asked her daughter. "How is Charles doing? I wasn't sure he would come because of..." Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to say it even though she didn't know Jules that much.

"He's trying to keep himself busy, but I know he's always eavesdropping when his mother calls Bianchi's to ask about Jules's condition." It was always the same Pascale would call Bianchi's, Charles would learn about Jules's condition, and then he would call Pia. He cried on the phone while saying it didn't get better. There were times when Pia wanted to tell him the truth: it won't get better, Charles, but she just couldn't. She did the same as with Daniel. She let him hope.

"And what condition he's in?" Gianna asked hesitantly. Pia delayed her answer. She wasn't sure whether she should lie to her mother as well, or she should just tell the truth. Tell the truth for the first time since someone asked her to on this question.

"It doesn't look well, ma," she said calmly. She just tried to pretend that she was already ready for the possible outcome of this, even though she wasn't.

Her mother was about to answer when an annoying ringtone reached their ears. It was Max who was calling.

"Pia? They published the report, and it's not good." He said immediately after Pia picked up the phone call. He didn't greet her or anything else.

"What?" Pia asked in disbelieve.

"FIA has published the report about Jules's crash just a few minutes ago. Open the news," Pia put the phone down and quickly opened a browser, typing Jules's name there. The first thing she saw was the report. She didn't hesitate and tapped on the link.

"Bianchi did not slow sufficiently to avoid losing control at the same point on the track as Sutil." Pia read out loud with disbelief. Her eyes were jumping from line to line.

Bianchi over-controlled the oversteering car.

He applied both throttle and brake together, using both feet.

What on earth were you doing, Jules? Pia asked herself.

"What the fuck?" Pia let out when you put her phone back to her ear. There was nothing else to say. What could she say?

"Yeah, I know," Max supported Pia. He had his own opinion about the crash, but now it wasn't a good time to tell his opinion. "Will you talk about it to Charles?"

"I'm almost sure he will find out by himself. The only thing I can do right now is to call him and try to prepare him for it." She knew there wasn't anything else she could do. Charles would hear the news sooner or later, so there was no point in trying to hide it.

Pia wasn't paying attention to that, but Gianna looked worriedly at her. It was the first time she realised how much her daughter bore on her shoulders. It was for the first time her facade cracked after Jules's incident. It was the first time someone saw that she was dealing with a lot of things.

"I'll just call him now. Thank you so much for letting me know," Pia said before hanging up the phone. She didn't wait for Max's reaction. She hung up the phone before hearing the goodbye.

"I'm really sorry, mum, but I have to call Charles. Do you think you will manage to go home with the boys alone?" She asked Gianna with an apology in her eyes. She really wanted to spend this day with her mum without caring about others, but it seemed to be impossible.

"Of course, honey. Just make sure everything is alright," Gianna said. It sounded a bit ironic for Pia because she didn't do anything else than just make sure that everything was alright.

She dialled Charles's number and waited a few seconds before Charles picked up the phone. Pia knew that something was off since he didn't greet her. "Charles?" she asked as if she wanted to make sure he didn't pick up the call on accident, but then she heard a loud sob, and everything was clear. He had already read the news.

"Charlie, calm down." It was the last thing Gianna listened to before she left. She heard her daughter switch from her flawless Italian to French, which seemed to be more her native language than Italian. "What happened?" There was a slight chance that he didn't read the statement.

"Oh, Pia, don't play stupid. I'm sure you have already read it too." There it was - sadness that transformed into anger. She knew that this would hurt a lot.

"I'm sorry," she apologised even though she knew Charles wouldn't react to it. "Let's just calm down and talk about it," she suggested.

"How can I calm down after reading that?" An angry question left his lips. He was so mad at the person who had written the report. "I'm pretty sure they are lying, or they misinterpreted the data in order to blame Julio. Obviously, they don't want to take responsibility for what happened." He denied it could've been Jules's fault.

"Obviously, they screw up so many things. I wouldn't want to take responsibility for it too." Everyone's decisions that day were influenced by money. They wouldn't reschedule the start. They wouldn't red flag it because that would mean losing money.

"Do you think you can ask someone to go over that data?" He dared to ask this question to his lover. He knew that even though Pia was young, she had already held a little bit of power in the paddock. "Someone you trust," he added. Someone you trust. Pia had to laugh at it in her head. Nobody trusted anybody in the paddock. The only person who gained Pia's trust was Sebastian.

"It's not that easy, Charlie. It would have to be someone from Ferrari who has access and power. Seb is still not fully settled in the team," she explained to the Monégasque. Furthermore, Seb was honest. He wouldn't look at this data behind someone's back. His moral values were way too high for this.

"Maybe you could ask Joanna, no?" Pia knew Joanna had power over Ferrari. Pia knew that Jo would get access to the data easily without anyone questioning it, but the question was, did Pia really want to know?

"Charles," The young Italian sighted to the phone.

"Please. I just need to know if it's true," Charles was begging her like a small child, and Pia just couldn't say no. She couldn't refuse.

"Okay, I'll call her right away," she reassured him. She didn't really want to do that, but there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for Charles.