Starlight | Charles Leclerc [ENGLISH VERSION]

Chapter 11 : Confessing

« How can we explain in terms of chemistry and physics a biological phenomenon as important as first love ? »
— Albert Einstein

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juliavidal Forgot my gym shoes 😬
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carlossainz55 Beautiful even when you're sweaty 😑
↪️ juliavidal I can say the same about you Mr Smooth Operator 🌶️
lia_f1girl my jaw dropped

April 22, 2021, Monaco

Social medias were going crazy with the news of Charles and Charlotte's separation the day before. Julia had, of course, seen Charles' post, and was speechless. She had no idea that her relationship was so unhealthy as to break up. Further proof that her best friend was keeping her at arm's length.

She had had no contact with him or Pierre since Sunday evening. On her way back to the hotel, she grabbed her things and took the first flight to Nice, wanting only one thing : to get back to Monaco. For four days, her two best friends had been pestering her with messages and calls, but she'd deliberately ignored them. Julia was still very angry with them, but above all very disappointed. She felt she'd been taken for a fool by the two people she trusted most, and this kind of betrayal left her with a bitter aftertaste.

To avoid thinking about this story, the young woman tried to keep herself busy. In particular, she spent hours on the phone with Carlos, and when she wasn't, she went to the gym to prepare for the Portuguese Grand Prix, which was just a week away.

And that's exactly what she was doing right now. After a series of abdominal exercises, she was about to do some pull-ups. At first, she did several with the help of an elastic band, but she wanted to try some without help. She then removed the rubber band and mentally prepared herself, setting herself a target of five pull-ups. She set herself and performed the first and second with no problems, the third began to be more difficult, and she struggled more and more on the fourth.

Just as she was about to give up, someone came to her aid, grabbing her feet to help her up, and she was able to make her final pull. As she returned to the ground and turned to thank the stranger, she came face to face with Charles. Her face closed immediately.

— Hi Ju', he said with a faint smile.
— Thanks for your help, Julia replied coldly, before grabbing her things and heading for a treadmill.

She screwed her headphones over her ears, not giving the Monegasque the chance to speak to her. He watched her walk away and start to run on the mat, disappointed. Andrea, his sports coach, put a hand on his shoulder, looking sympathetic.

— Come on, let's do your session, it'll take your mind off things, he said.

Charles took one last look at Julia, who was doing her best to ignore him, then followed Andrea. He did his session, but the Italian could see he wasn't concentrating. He made silly mistakes, which he never usually made, and didn't put much conviction into them.