«Sweetheart, your feelings are more important, of course.»
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Charles looked at Silvia and Silvia looked at him, it was a weird exchange but years of working with her were enough for Charles to know he was about to get told for something he either did or said while talking to the media. She continued typing on her computer for a few more seconds while Charles looked around to distract himself while Silvia finished doing whatever she was doing.
"Alright." Silvia strongly clicked one last time and turned to him. "How are you, Charles?" She looked at him attentively.
He almost furrowed his brow but stopped himself just in time to not look impolite. It wasn't weird for Silvia to ask that, she did it all the time during meetings, it was the way she was asking it. Like he was about to get asked a bunch of questions during a therapy session or something like that.
"I'm fine," He dragged the words for a bit. "How are you, Silvia?"
"A bit baffled, to be honest, Charles." He didn't know whether the Italian accent or her expression was what made her words hold more weight, but Charles was already trying to figure out what had he said in the past days during media duties to have Silvia baffled.
He had been careful with the topic of Ferrari losing the title this year, surely it had to be something else. "Did we say or do something we shouldn't have done? I stopped using my phone during press conferences!"
Silvia pinched the bridge of her nose and then took a deep breath. "Charles, per favore." She fixed him with a glare. "You and Aurora, si?" Oh fuck. It was like his soul was leaving his body and of course, it was noticeable enough for Silvia. "I should've known when you asked about it."
The thing was he could pretend he didn't know what she was talking about, clarify — and lie — about how they were just friends and coworkers, though Aurora had left him in such silence that he wasn't even sure what they were anymore. But he wouldn't do that because the woman sitting in front of him wasn't Sloane, it was Silvia and people simply did not lie to Silvia. He knew better than to try to do that.
"It's not forbidden." It came out more defensive than intended, and Charles made sure to shrink in his own seat as much as possible after the glare Silvia threw his way.
"How do you know that?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Valentina," Fuck, she's going to murder me, he thought after remembering Valentina wasn't quite as peaceful as Aurora. "I mean, she mentioned something about it not being in the contract." The last thing he wanted was to get not only Aurora in trouble but also Valentina. It would just be the end of it all.
"And since when does Valentina work for HR?" Silvia tilted her head, looking at him intently.
Charles bit the inside of his cheek. "She doesn't." Silvia nodded. "How did you find out?" It wasn't like they were being very good at sneaking anyway, but he was so sure Silvia hadn't caught anything.
"She told me," Silvia told him, her voice stern and serious.
"Valentina?" Charles asked with more than a hint of surprise in his voice.
Silvia frowned. "No, Aurora." He could feel something squeezing his chest. Aurora told Silvia. Aurora had willingly walked into Silvia's office and talked about it. That didn't sound like something he wouldn't worry about. "Valentina knows?"
Fuck. "Uh, no." He lied, although it was pretty much helpless at that point. Probably he had broken some unexistent record about getting not one but two Ferrari employees in trouble in less than five minutes. "I just wondered." By the way Silvia looked at him, Charles knew he wasn't fooling anyone.
