Mystery in Red

Chapter LI - The castle

On Tuesday we were already at work in Maranello. Of course, Carlos was with me, in my apartment, and now it was his turn to stay longer in my home. It was still strange to me how we got here, but in some weird way I liked his presence. We had our little moments when we'd come back from a long day at the Scuderia HQ and we'd both make a light dinner, watch a movie, me sleeping on his lap, exhausted from all the stress of the last few days or just spending time together. Sainz used to hug me tightly, tenderly, with a special warmth that I rarely felt. His eyes sparkled, spontaneously showed bursts of tenderness and kissed me, caressed me, tickled me, making me laugh like a little child. At one point, I began to wonder if I had lied to myself that Charles was the one for me, when in reality it was... Carlos?

On Wednesday we celebrated the Le Mans victory in Maranello. Our teammates take a tour through the the whole of Maranello with the flags, on their cars. It was a wonderful moment that I couldn't help but be in awe of. I was proud of our team's accomplishments and actually couldn't wait for us to be on the podium one day and to see both boys happy.

But we didn't stay long in Italy - at the end of the week Carlos and I appeared at an event organized by our sponsors Vista Jet in Madrid. Carlos insisted that I slowly start to get used to public appearances and attending events, photo shoots, small advertising events organized by our sponsors. As a person gaining more and more popularity from my infamous performance in Spain that started it all and the articles that have recently started to be written about me, as well as my apparent presence at his sister's wedding, Sainz wanted to help me fit in in his world. Of course, he was worried about the reaction of the bosses, the fans, practically everyone around him except his parents, and he kept saying how he had to protect me and figure out some way to keep me out of the limelight long enough. But I was getting used to his way of life, to being together, but not obsessively demonstrating our relationship, even hiding it in our own way. At this point in public we behaved like close friends who are together for fun, nothing serious between them, but when we were alone Carlos was the most caring and kind person, showering me with kisses, using every moment to caress and hug me, making me to forget about everything around me. I can't deny that Spain was a beautiful country and Madrid a fabulous city so I could easily get used to spending my time there.

#

On the day of the event, Carlos again called the seamstress who worked on my dress for his sister's wedding to provide me with an outfit for the occasion. While he was busy working on his body at the gym, I spent most of the morning in his apartment trying on dress after dress. Ever since the Spanish Grand Prix, I've been in the gym with him almost non-stop, but this time I had to miss out. And because I was bored without him, I couldn't hold back and posted a story of the clothes pole titled "Something big tonight" for close friends only, and by noon I had already received hundreds of messages from Kika and a few other close friends of mine asking what I'm getting ready for. But one of the messages caught my attention and I couldn't help but respond.

It was from Charles. In response to my story, he had sent a picture of himself running through the streets of his city, with headphones on a cable, and as a message he had written "Obviously need your 007 emergency kit 😆 ". A smile immediately crossed my face and I told him that he would need an M7 subscription with the frequency of losing his belongings. We both exchanged some more flirty messages like we used to. He even helped me choose an outfit for the evening - against my wishes and the demands of his teammate, Leclerc settled on a burgundy jumpsuit with a bare back, wide teardrop sleeves and a gold belt around the waist. I trusted him with the choice, since I had no time and no idea what to wear. If it were up to me, I'd still be standing in front of the post and wondering between the green lace dress or the jumpsuit with the feathers on the sleeves. Along the way, I found out that Charles would also be at an official event that day, along with Lorenzo... And that his two brothers kept talking about how quiet their lives had been since I'd been out of their company. It was a little strange that he was the one giving me these words, but that was a characteristic of Charles - painfully honest. Before we finished chatting, I sent his two brothers greetings, kisses and hugs and had to leave my phone to charge while I got my hair, makeup and outfit ready.