King of my heart

Invitation to lunch pt.2

"Bonjour, mon ange. Are you ok?" he questioned as I walked towards him. I didn't reply as I knew that the second I said anything I would burst into tears again. Charles seemed to notice this so he pulled me into his chest and held me without saying anything. I couldn't hold the tears back any longer and they began to slowly fall down my cheeks and onto Charles t-shirt. He placed a hand on the back of my head and stroked my hair to try and calm me down whilst whispering to me that everything would be ok and that he was here for me no matter what. After a few minutes of us standing by his car, I finally picked up the courage to look at him in the eyes before quietly asking if we could go find somewhere for lunch as I was hungry and needed something to take my mind off the whole situation. He placed a quick kiss on my forehead before we pulled apart and he opened the passenger door for me to get in. Charles then walked round to the other side; hopped into the drivers seat and started the car engine.

Nothing was said throughout the entire drive but it wasn't an awkward silence much to my relief. I could sense that he had a few questions as to why I was crying but I think he was trying to wait for the right time to ask them without overstepping the line. He pulled up to a small cafe which was fairly quiet considering it was lunch time and normally some people would go out to eat. He quickly got out of the car and jogged round to my side to open the door for me. He held out his hand for me as I stepped out which I gladly accepted and I gave him a small smile to assure him that I was doing a bit better now. We entered the cafe and made our way to the back and into the garden to sit out in the sun and because there was nobody out here, which meant I could tell him what had happened without other people prying into our conversation. A waiter came over to the table to take our orders before walking back inside to get us some drinks. I looked up at Charles who had taken an interest in a few bees which were flying around near a large pot of flowers over the other side of the garden. I quietly chuckled to myself about how easily entertained he was by such simple things which caused him to look over at me, still wearing his usual smile which created little dimples by the corners of his mouth. "What are you laughing at mon amour?" he asked which caused the butterflies in my stomach to go crazy from his little nickname for me. "Oh nothing, just you looking at the bees." I replied shyly to which Charles chuckled, little creases appearing by his eyes. "I'm glad I make you smile." he said as I blushed and tried to hide it by looking away. When I looked back, I saw the waiter on his way over to our table with our food and drinks which he placed in front of us before heading back into the cafe.

"So um y/n, I hope you don't mind me asking but why were you crying earlier? Did something happen at work?" Charles asked as I took a bite out of my food. "Uhh my boss Theo kinda sent me a note telling me that I looked beautiful today and that we should go out to lunch together at some point. When he came and saw me in my office I told him it made me feel uncomfortable and that I don't want to get to know him in that way. He thinks it's all a game and that I'm playing hard to get so he basically said that he will wait for me to realise that I should accept his offer... Thing is stuff like this happened back in England and things didn't end well between my boyfriend and I after he cheated on me and he was really abusive as well. It kinda just reminded me of that and I can't handle that sort of stuff anymore." I told him as he listened intently. Once again I felt a few tears welling up in my eyes but this time I refused to let them fall as I felt like I had done enough crying for today. "Y/n I'm so sorry, you don't deserve any of that." he said quietly as he took my free hand in his. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he added. "I don't know really. He's my boss so it kinda makes things a bit difficult. I also don't want to make a big deal out of this and perhaps he will listen and leave me alone now." I replied as I took another mouthful of food. "I'm sure there is someone above him which you might be able to go to. If you want to, I can help you find out and get this sorted but it's up to you at the end of the day." he told me whilst he continued to trace small circles on my hand with his thumb. "Thank you, I feel like I should just leave it for the moment and hope that he leaves me alone. If anything happens again I'll find someone to tell then but it is only my second day there and I don't want to start causing trouble." I practically whispered. "Okay ma cherie, but if you ever need anything, just let me know okay. I promise that I will always look out for you. You are one of my closest friends after all." he said with a small chuckle before he ate some more of his lunch.

***

Once we had finished, we went back into the cafe to pay for our food which Charles insisted was on him despite me saying several times that we could just split the bill. "Now mon ange, shall I take you back to the office as it's almost 2 o'clock?" he asked me as we got into his car. "Oh um I forgot to say that I told them I wasn't feeling very well so they sent me home." I told him quietly. "That's ok. I can always drop you back at your apartment if you would like, or you can keep me company at my work until I finish at 5 and I can drop you back then. I promise my boss will not mind one bit if that's what you're worried about." he replied calmly. "I don't - I don't mind." I stuttered. "Well tell you what, you can come with me and I can always find you a room to chill in?" he questioned before turning on the engine. "Okay, sounds good to me." I answered as I looked over to Charles who gave me a small smile. He turned on the radio and told me to connect my phone to his car and play any music I wanted for the journey. Of course I put on Coldplay and as soon as I did, he looked over at me with a huge smile on his face. "What?" I asked as he continued to look at me instead of focusing on the road. "You like Coldplay? That's literally my favourite band y/n!" he almost shouted out of excitement. I laughed at his excitement over yet an other thing we had in common. "I've listened to them since I was 12 years old. How about you?" I replied. "I love that! I've only been listening to them for 5 years now so not as long as you." he told me. "Have you ever seen them live?" Charles asked. "No, but I would love to at some point. I've just never had the time or money to go... Have you?" I replied. "Neither have I, I would love to go at some point though. Perhaps we should go together?" he remarked. "Sure, I would love that!" I said before turning the volume up because Viva La Vida started playing. Charles and I started to sing along to the lyrics at the top of our lungs until we arrived at his work a little while later.

We got out of the car and he directed me to a set of large doors below a large sign saying 'FERRARI' in large red letters. I assumed that he had some driver stuff to do with his team but I didn't mention that because he didn't know that Grace had told me about him being an F1 driver. I was sure that he would tell me when he was ready. "So I have a few meetings I need to do but if I show you to my office you can stay in there if that's ok?" he asked. "Yeah that's not a problem." I replied as he placed a hand on my lower back to guide me down a set of corridors which seemed to go on for miles. His touch sent shivers down my spine and made me feel safe so I was kinda sad when he removed his hand to open a glass door which lead to a large room with a desk and couch as well as shelves for folders and books. "Make yourself comfortable. If you need me just call me but I should be finished in around 3 hours so I'll come and get you then." he told me. "Oh hang on, I've realised I never gave you my number... here." he added as he wrote down his number on a post-it-note and handed it to me. He smiled at me and gave me a light kiss on the top of my head before leaving to go back the way we came. I didn't really know what to do with my time as I couldn't exactly do any work as it was all in the office. I was quite tired from the stressful events of today though so I decided that a short nap on the sofa wouldn't do any harm. I took my converse off and placed them by the end of the desk before I laid down on the sofa and pulled the fluffy red blanket, that was folded neatly on the arm of the sofa, over my small body. 

***

"Amore mio, it's time to go." I heard Charles whisper near my ear as he shook me gently to wake me up. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Charles crouched down next to me with a kind smile on his face. "How long have I been asleep for?" I asked him as I sat up and reached for my shoes which he passed to me after seeing my struggle because of my short arms. "Hhmm, I don't know. I think about 2 and half hours as when I asked Carlos to quickly check on you he said you were fast asleep and that was only half an hour after I left you. It's now 5 o'clock." he informed me whilst I did up my shoelaces. "Well it's a very comfortable couch!" I told him with a laugh. "Oh I know, I've fallen asleep on it many times after a busy meeting." he laughed as well. We made our way out of the building and into Charles car to make our way home. I put on some more Coldplay for the journey and of course we sang along to every song. When he finally arrived outside my apartment I felt sad that I had to leave him after spending so long with him this afternoon. "Au revoir mon amour. If you ever need anything, just call or message me and I'll see what I can do to help." he told me as he gave me a tight hug. "Thank you, for making my day so much better." I replied as I got out of the car to walk towards my apartment. I heard the roar of his Ferrari and then he was gone.