Another Love

24 Slipped

Today was the Canadian Grand Prix qualifying but I woke up late and now, Q2 was the only part of qualifying that I could watch live.

As much as I was hurting, I miss him still so I still watch the qualifying and the race even though I receive data on a weekly basis about how he and Carlos were doing and the observations on the car.

I wanted so bad to call him because I know that he was upset with the way he dropped out of qualifying, ending up in P11 but I stopped myself when the camera panned through the garage and I saw Charlotte there.

Her being there must mean they got back together, at least someone is there to comfort him.

I told myself to concentrate on doing my job and seeing how the car would perform in the circuit so I continued watching the qualifying to see how Carlos would do.

After the qualifying ended, I sent Carlos a message to congratulate him on the P8 and told him that he did well with a car that has not been fully upgraded yet and he replied with a thank you and a devil emoji which made me laugh.

I then fixed the notes I had taken from observations and compiled them in a folder and labeled it before getting ready to sleep.

I woke up earlier than expected this morning so I went for a run.

I got back at my apartment by 7:30 AM after I grabbed a coffee from the nearby café so I took a bath and got ready to go to the Ferrari HQ to help finalize the upgrade designs and dynamics as much as I can. 

Luna and Izzy were waiting for me at the gate of the HQ to share our observations on the car's performance in the qualifying yesterday while walking to the factory.

When we arrived at the factory, they introduced to me the upgrade details made to the engine and other parts of the car that we discussed before sending a proposal to be analyzed and approved in order for the team to proceed.

The proposal was approved and here we were looking at the finished product of the upgrades that the factory has produced.

Matteo then told us that the mechanics would be arriving tomorrow to also check on the upgrades before the cars were to be assembled and tested by both Charles and Carlos who they told us were gonna be arriving on Tuesday.

After checking everything at the factory and giving the OK sign for the testing since they need the Go signal from us and the mechanics team to proceed to testing, I headed back to my apartment to read through the business plan that Lei sent to me via email saying it was final before the race starts.

The race started just as I was about to finish on the second to the last page of the proposal so I decided to finish reading first as there was still a long way to go in the race.

I finished reading the proposal as the race just started on Lap 12, as Max was entering the pit lane.

I was concentrating on the race with my only thought being 'Ferrari Strategists please don't mess up this time.' But as the end of the race was approaching, my thought changed to 'Ferrari Engine please don't fail.'

When the two Red Prancing Horse cars crossed the line, while the chequered flag was being waved, at P4 and P6, I released a sigh and got my phone, sending a 'Great job. The upgrades are expected to be finished just in time for the next race so don't worry.' to both Charles and Carlos knowing they wouldn't be able to read it right away.

I then booked a ticket to LA after sending the message and told Lei that I would be in LA by Tuesday morning so I would be there for the meetings for the final planning for the business launch.

I just arrived in LA and was headed to Lei's apartment to drop my luggage before heading to the small office building that Lei is using as the main building for the business she is planning to launch by the end of Summer or the beginning of Fall.

I was told to go directly to the conference room by the receptionist at the lobby of the building so I followed her directions and arrived at the conference room to be met by Lei and her management team waiting for me so the meeting can commence.

The meeting continued until late in the afternoon with us having a working break which meant we had our lunch inside the conference room while the meeting was still on-going as Lei said that the topics in the meeting is to be finalized today so her team can sort everything out on time before the next topics are to be tackled in the coming days.

After the meeting ended, I told Lei that I'm heading back to her apartment first and just as I entered my room, my phone rang, it was Charles calling.

I just rolled my eyes and let it ring out, heading to the bathroom to take a quick shower before I ordered Chinese food for Lei and I.

I then moved to the bed and turned the tv on to watch Pandora on Disney+.

My phone rang again hours later and I looked at the time to see that it was almost midnight and looked at my phone to see that it was Kelly calling me so I answered because no sane person would be calling in the middle of the night just because she feels like it.

Kelly: "Hey, sorry if I woke you up or I'm disturbing, but we couldn't stop Charles from making a mess because you wouldn't answer his calls, texts or dms so I had to call you to ask if you could just please maybe calm him so he wouldn't cause a scene and we could bring him home."

"Is Charlotte not there with him?"

Kelly: "She left when Charles started to get drunk. Please deusa, you're the only one who can calm him."

"Fine, switch to Facetime then." I said with a sigh.

I accepted her request on facetime and she gave the phone to Charles who just stared at me.

"Charles, please, you need to stop drinking already. Let Max and the others take you home please. You getting drunk, drinking to drown or forget whatever is happening will not help in the least. So please, mio caro, get up so the boys can help you get home." I said pleading and he got up so Max and Lando immediately grabbed him and guided him out of the club towards Max's car while he was still staring at me for about 2 minutes.

"Will you be there when I get home, mon amour?" He asked with droopy eyes, making my heart flutter with the endearment he used as I saw Max and Lando putting him in the car and Lando put his seatbelt on before driving towards his apartment before answering.

"I can't Charles, I'm nowhere near Monaco right now. Please rest when you get home and don't do anything stupid. Mia will kill me the next time she sees me if you do." I watched as his eyes started closing while I was answering his question until he almost dropped Kelly's phone, luckily Lando caught it and gave it to Kelly.

She then turned the phone to show her face.

"He's been different ever since you left after the race here in Monaco. Charlotte means nothing to him even when they were together, you know, and Charlotte also knew that because he told her his expectations in their relationship. They both knew that their relationship is beneficial to each other but then she cheated on him so he broke up with her and moved on to Alexandra with Alexandra also knowing that the relationship that he wanted was one based on respect and support not love but he and Alexandra were never official because he met you." Max said from beside Kelly before she could say anything.

"I don't know what to believe anymore Maxie, it's better like this, us concentrating on both our careers and let things flow the way they should than to barge our way into each others' lives." I said before saying good night to the 3 and ending the call as my eyes were about to close.