lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

~ nove ~

Spain, May 2019

Pia remembered how a few days ago she talked to Lando, saying to him that she wouldn't make it to Spain, but yet there she was - standing at the arrival gate in Josep Tarradellas airport in Barcelona. Maybe she should have told him. No, if he saw her, she would just go there and say 'surprise'. Wasn't that too cliché? That was something only people in romance movies did.

Maybe it was time to stop pretending that she was there to see Lando in the first place. Lando was buried somewhere deep down on her list of reasons to come to Barcelona.

At this time, she should have been running in the garden with Nicolas and Theo. Instead of that, she was in Barcelona. She was actually disappointed that she was there. She promised herself she wouldn't jump as Anthonie whistled, yet she was there. As much as she wanted to erase him from her life, she couldn't.

She thought how stupid it was coming here, on her way to the hotel. How would she explain her presence there to Sebastian? She couldn't possibly tell him that she was there to meet Anthonie. The Italian didn't even want to tell him. Anthonie was her skeleton in the closet, and she wanted to fight her own battles.

She checked into the hotel under her mother's last name - Pia Sabatini. As bad as it was, she enjoyed it a little bit. It was nice for once to be somewhere without anyone around her - no one from the team, no one from the press. She quickly opened the hotel suite thanks to the card they gave her at the reception. The first thing she did after she had locked the door was that she looked for a small bottle of pills in her handbag. She was staring at the white, rectangular pill in her palm - Xanax, her old friend. She knew it was wrong, but she had to calm down before meeting Anthonie.

"Could you go a bit faster, please?" Pia asked her taxi driver when she looked at her watch. It was 14:53. The qualifying was about to start. She was wearing a baseball cap on her head, sunglasses on her nose and the most casual and neutral clothes she could find. She tried to blend with the crowd. Perhaps no one had to know about this little trip.

"You're late," Anthonie was clearly unimpressed.

"Did you expect I would be on time?" Pia asked the Dutchman. They met behind the trailers like everyone who knew the rules. There was no wonder why Anthonie scheduled the meeting at 3 pm. They were there completely alone since everyone was too busy with the qualifying.

"No, of course not. I'm not foolish," Anthonie laughed out.

"So, what do you want?" Pia asked him because she felt like she was wasting time there.

"Can't I just want a pleasant conversation with my daughter?" His answer made Pia furrow her eyebrows. She would believe anyone else but Anthonie. He wouldn't meet her unless he gained something out of it.

"I think I made more than clear that you're not my father anymore, and I don't want to have anything to do with you." She couldn't be more disrespectful than this, and she knew it, but she didn't mind. He didn't give her a reason to respect him.

"Oho, let's not be hasty, Pia," he said warningly. So, there it was. His warning voice and hand that squeezed Pia's wrist as he wanted to keep her from leaving.

"Let go of me," Pia growled.

"Jeez, calm down. It's not like I will beat you up," the Dutchman winked at her with pure amusement in his eyes. He was enjoying seeing Pia so vulnerable.

"It wouldn't be the first time," she said quietly.

"Let's not be overdramatic. You just needed to be taught a lesson." Anthoine sighed. He was so annoyed by the behaviour of his daughter. She was crying there like a brat without a single reason.