Lock Up ⏐Charles Leclerc

Chapter 64

I'm so tired from school. I feel like I only have one brain cell left.

Enjoy!

*****

The time difference between Singapore and L.A. is fifteen hours.

With my current schedule, I knew I wouldn't be able to watch qualifying so I made sure to send Charles a good luck message before I went to bed that night with his day already starting on the other side of the world. I woke up to news of him getting pole position once again, videos and photos of him circulating the net as he signed the Pirelli wheel given to drivers who achieve pole in every race. He has a ton of them in his house but I doubt that was everything since he must've given the others away or they might've been in Maranello.

Today, I had a last minute briefing about my upcoming film since they were announcing the news this weekend. We talked about what to say and what not to say to the press when we find ourselves in a position where we're caught off guard. The cast wouldn't have much to say yet since they were just given the entire script but surely after going through it, they would need to be more careful on the details they let go.

After that meeting, I had another one with Olivia concerning another personal project I've been running through my head for the past few weeks. She was the only one who knew about it and I plan to keep it that way until the end of the year. This was the last one for the day since I had to get some sleep before waking up at five am for the race.

I walked into the lobby of the two-storey building, seeing Olivia waiting for me by the sofas. "Everything good with the briefing?" She asked, standing up and leading me down the hallway.

"Yep. Be prepared for a lot of media messages this week." I told her, already expecting a ton of interviews to be asked for. I don't even know how people are going to react when news about me and Charles reach them. That's definitely going to be a rollercoaster ride.

"Already have your statements and social media posts lined up." Olivia said, smiling as she waved her phone in the air.

"What would I do without you?"

"Scramble for dear life?" She teased and I lightly pushed her with my hip. Olivia entered a small conference room where a woman about three to five years older than me was sat behind a mahogany desk. "This is Ms. Evron."

"You can call me Zola." She said, smiling and offering her hand to shake which I gladly took. "I've told Olivia countless of times to call me Zola but she doesn't want to."

I nodded my head as I stifled my laughter by biting my lower lip. "It took a while for her to stop calling me Ms. Bellerose as well."

Olivia rolled her eyes at me and gestured for me to sit on the chair opposite where Zola was previously situated. Olivia took the one beside me as Zola returned to hers. "Olivia told me you have a passion project of some sorts?"

"A passion project is temporary and what I have in mind is something I'd like to do for a very long time." I've been thinking of ways to make use of the money I have aside from the ones that I have already set aside for my savings and investments. It was during one phone call when my mom was talking to me about a foundation that she's partnered up with that I decided to do the same.

The question was for which advocacy or issue the foundation was for. Should I partner with one or establish my own? Who is it for? What am I going to do? At this exact time, I was designing a helmet for Charles and remembered a small detail he had shared with me when he talked about his father.

There was no disclosure on the reason as to why Hervé Leclerc died since the family wanted to keep it as private as possible. When Charles told me that his father was ill to the point where it was difficult for him to even swallow on his own, I felt like a hole had been carved out of my heart because no one can prepare themselves for that.