arezoo | charles leclerc

CHAPTER 2: The Letters

for the record:

leilani leclerc is meant to be charles' sister. she has her own book :)

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[2022]

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charles was sprawled out on his sofa, which had become a major lounge spot for him recently, with on of his arm's laid out over his eyes. as soon as he opened the first letter, he knew who it was from. he didn't need to read to the end to figure out that leena had sent him the letter, which had somehow ended up in his old mailbox.

who knows, maybe she purposely sent them there. with leena, he never knew for sure.

he didn't bother opening the next letter, all numbered at the top, as if she was trying to sort out her thoughts. it was a habit of hers, rationalising everything. when they had lived together, he found that she numbered and dated her paintings at the back.

the letter was clutched in his free hand, which would feel the papery texture and then once again feel obliged to read the letter again. her straight half cursive handwriting that he always found strange given her artistic background. she had always laughed and replied that it was the added effect of writing from right to left in farsi.

his eyes scanned over the words again, and groaned.

'how else could you let something so precious, so ours, go down the drain?'

she was right, of course. charles had never been one to settle for long, and he just bailed out on his relationship with her simply because he didn't want to commit to her forever. he admits his mindset three years ago was not the best.

he grumbled as he got up, wondering how he would look if his girlfriend were to walk in on him moping around because of an ex girlfriends letter.

he walked to the kitchen and got himself a glass of water, eyeing the other 5 letters. the letter was not accusatory to the extent she probably would have wanted it to be given that she was never harsh with her words in person. he got himself ready for read the next when his phone rang.

'andrea.' he acknowledged as he picked up the phone. he nestled the phone between his neck and shoulder, and used his free hand to put the rest of the letters in the storage under the coffee table.

those could not be read now, if he wanted to feel any sort of peace.

'yeah i'll be doing that. was just tired so didn't do much when i came home.' he lied, of course, but he wasn't going to let it slip to one of their biggest fans that he had found the letters from her.

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he walked out of his apartment building, with every intention to run around and clear his clouded mind. it felt like every woman he saw was leena, walking around with anahita.

lena only had brothers, so had taken a keen liking to his sister. he sometimes wonders if leilani kept contact with the older woman, but he never dared to ask given the can of questions it would open surrounding his intentions.

he phone buzzed, unusually busy for the day, and he found it to be his sister calling him.

'lani, i was just thinking about you.' it was not a lie, since he was indirectly thinking about her.

'oh don't lie charles, i bet you were sucking faces with the she-devil.'

her distaste towards marina was not brushed under the carpet as much as charles would have liked. 'don't call her that. it's rude.'

'yeah, well, so is she.'

leilani sounded like she was bored of the discussion surrounding marina and conveniently got to the point.

'i'm coming home in a few days, any chance you could pick me up from the airport?'

'in a heartbeat.' he said. this would be the first time she'd be coming home since their reconciliation. 'is lover boy coming with you?' he was clearly referencing mick, who he could see had taken a liking to his sister.

'is a leena dabiri going to be there too?' his sister replied, not letting her brother tease her again.

he breathed in sharply, feeling caught.

'must you ruin every joke, leilani?' he said with an emptiness in his voice. she just had to go and mention the woman who he could not stop thinking about.

there was a moment of silence on the phone, as leilani realised he was being softly serious.

'it's been three years. you must be over it by now.' she trailed off, as if not knowing what to say next.

'yeah, it has been. i've moved on,'

'yeah, with multiple women.'

'leilani.' he said again, but much more lighthearted this time. he talked some more, walking up the street to where his block of flats was, until he felt like he saw her again. he felt like he saw her face but it was covered by her dark long hair in seconds. he silently turned his head to follow the sound of a laugh. it was two women, both happy as they walked down with clicking heels.

'charles?' his sister asked over the phone, seeing as charles was not responding. it took a few more turns of leilani calling his name for him to lose track of the woman and focus on his personal conversation.

'what happened?' leilani's voice, concerned, gently asked.

'nothing, just thought i saw someone i knew.'

——

hey everyone, sorry for the republishing nonsense. i've been really busy and i suddenly found the time and patience to start writing this book again so some love would definitely be appreciated.

love you all,

author x