IL PREDESTINATO | Charles Leclerc |

Chapter 20

Charles woke up at some time during what he thought was morning and found out that he was alone in bed. His hand went to the spot where he remembered Christina to be before he fell asleep and noticed that it was still warm. So she hadn't been up for long.

It was Thursday morning. The pair had arrived late last night in Monaco from Austria and thankfully managed to get some sleep.

The Monegasque reached for his phone that was placed on the nightstand, charging, and saw that it was 11am. They had overslept, but who could blame them. They both needed it. 

He got off bed, searching for Christina. His first guess was that she was in the bathroom. He realized that he was right when he noticed that the door was locked. 

"Tina, you in there?" he asked, leaning against the door. "Yes, I'll be done in a second." she told him.

Charles waited outside, wondering why she would lock the door. Of course, it was normal for her to want her privacy, even though they had done basically everything that could be done in a bathroom together, but locking seemed like a bit much.  He heard her flash the toilet and wash her hands on the sink before opening the door. 

"Good morning, piano boy." she placed a kiss on his cheek as she got out of the bathroom and walked past him. Charles eyebrows furrowed. First kiss of the day, and it was just a kiss on the cheek? It didn't even count as a real kiss

She was acting weird.

"Kelly called me," Christina stated as the two of them sat around the kitchen table to have something to eat. "She told me that Max has invited you and a couple of other drivers to play some video games and have lunch together," she explained.

"Cool. What will you do? I don't want you to be bored, " he asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Since you'll be all gathered together  the girls suggested to have lunch together as well," she replied, uninterested. "You should go,"

"I don't know. Not really in the mood to dress up and go out, " she sighed. She was still tired, he could tell. But she also seemed very stressed. He wanted her to relax, and what better way to do that than having a girls' night.

"Tell them to come here. Order some take out and have fun, " he suggested. "Charles, I can't just invite people over to your house."

"You can. This is your house as well, " he replied while eating one of the cookies Christina had placed on the table. "What?"

"Well, you spend more time here than your actual house. You have room in my closet and a shelf on the bathroom with all your things. There's even a special corner for Shadow in our living room. You're everywhere in this house, " he explained.

"It's your home as well," he concluded as he got off the table. "And with that being said," he pulled a small box out of the kitchen drawer, which they never used.

"Here's your key to your home." he passed her the box. Inside it, Christina found a pair of keys for his apartment.  "I don't want to invade your privacy."

"Please. I'm begging you to do that." he smiled at her as he wrapped his arms around her before leaning in to kiss her. But his eyebrows furrowed, and an offended look formed on his face as she avoided him.

"You smell like coffee," she said, scrunching her nose. Charles found it weird how the smell of coffee bothered her suddenly. Yes, she didn't like drinking it but she had never complained before.

He decided to let it go and just place a kiss on her head before returning to the bedroom.

"I'll go get ready. Call the girls"