𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Chapter -40

"How's Melbourne?" I asked Charles.

"It's cloudy and cold, it would have been so much nicer if you were here." He said.

Now that we were on the same side of the earth, one thing did get easier, getting to call each other whenever. I looked at the sky outside my kitchen window, it wasn't cloudy but it sure was cold.

"That's what I wanted to talk about."

"Are you coming to Melbourne?"

"Your race is in a few hours, I'm definitely not going to make it." I laughed, "I'll tell you later then, you're too excited right now to be talked to about anything else."

"I mean it's a great place! Plus it's Daniel's home race it makes it extra special."

"You're such a fanboy!" I teased him.

"Yeah yeah I am." He rolled his eyes, "So, what's the next race I can expect your attendance at?" He asked expectantly.

"Well." I squint my eyes, "I don't think I'll be able to attend all that many races..." my voice trailed off.

"Why? What happened?" Charles asked, with genuine concern.

"Well, things have been finalised for my movie. I'll be travelling with the team to finalise locations." I said.

"That's big! Congratulations ma Chérie!" He smiled, "I'm so happy for you, how are you feeling right now?"

"Honestly relived. I didn't know how you'd react to this news."

"You're living your dreams, so I don't think you should expect a reaction other than happiness for you from me." He laughed. "So... lots of travelling on both our agendas."

"Will we survive this?" I blurted. To be honest, it was something that had been in the back of my mind ever since I had gone back to Osaka.

"We've been apart for years Emiko, what's a while when we've got eternity together?"

"You're so cheesy!" I laughed, trying to hide how fast my heart fluttered when he said that.

"I've gotta go now, I'll talk to you in a bit. Bye bye! Root for me, I love you." He ended the call.

Did he just? Oh my gosh. Oh my god. He said what? At this moment I could definitely say my heart was beating faster than it had ever, he didn't even wait for me to say it back!

I called him up again, "Well I love you too! Give it your best!" I ended the call before he could say anything more.

Now I was going to squeal like a little girl, grin like an idiot and everything. Katsumi sent me a message, the location scout was coming down to her office, she had a lot of ideas to discuss.

I let her know I would be there soon and rushed out of my house, breakfast still untouched on the table. I figured I could invite those two to lunch if things went well.

I walked into the building, Katsumi and the scout, I learnt her name was Helen were waiting for me. I thanked them for waiting and started with the meeting right away.

"Okay, so I talked to Vanessa, drew an estimate and this is what we have decided on." Helen started, she had quite a thick accent, I was still trying to figure out which French speaking region it was from.

"I just want to put this out, you won't be shooting the entire movie in Monaco." Katsumi added.

"But! The good news is, I've found a lot of places around the Riviera and France and that will give you the look you want." Helen beamed.

"Okay so what are we going to shoot in Monaco? There's a lot of places are like inseparable from the storyline." I said.

"Yes, I had some of the writers list the places that were recurring- it was an antique shop, a high school's library, Theo's house, the harbour and not recurring but a place that holds a lot of importance, the train station."

"That's all the locations that are in the story." I laughed.

"Yes, but Vanessa said you have to pick two that'll be actually in Monaco, the others will be the locations my team found and you approve of."

The train station had to be part of the story, that wasn't something I was going to compromise on. The most logical thing to do next was shoot at Baba's shop, it was the only place we wouldn't need to apply a permit for, she would be more than glad to let us shoot in there.

The two of them agreed with me, with that plan put forward, Katsumi said that it was time to get to work. I offered going out for lunch to mark the start of this project, they happily agreed, the three of us made our way downtown to a restaurant I had wanted to eat at.

The place was elegant, sleek lines and a modern exterior with lots of greenery, and the menu made me even happier, they served everything I could crave on a day this good. A great meal later, Helen discussed the timeline with me, we'd be leaving for France in three days, see all the places- which could take a while and then the crew would get to work on the scenes.

***

We landed in Nice, it was a windy day, the sky was cloudy but it didn't look like it was going to rain. The driver dropped us to our hotel, I thanked him and Helen told me to call her up once I was refreshed, we'd be able to beat the jet lag if we got moving.

It had been a few days since I talked to Charles, we last spoke on Sunday after he won the race, I could hear the joy in his voice, I craved being able to give him a hug and hold him while he grinned from ear to ear. I sent him a text, letting him know I had a good flight. A part of me didn't want to tell him and just surprise him, like he did for me.

But then I remembered he could probably be in Maranello, it would be so embarrassing if I went all the way to Monaco, just to stand outside his apartment, stranded.

You: I'm not liking Nice its so cloudy all the time ☹️

Charles: it's because we're apart ☹️

You: Are you in town? Like in Monaco, I want to see you

Charles: I'm on my way back from Maranello, tell me when you're free I'll come get you :)

You: I'm very capable of driving myself to the city 🙄

Charles: I never doubted your capabilities! Ma Chérie it's just an offer, see you really soon

You: see you!

Charles: so that it doesn't scare you, do you want to meet my family tomorrow?

You: what

Charles: I met yours, it's time for you to meet mine

You: Yes! Yes yes!