Faded Love

4

"I can very much walk on my on, Papa," Emilie scolded her father as he helped her make her way into the hallway of the hotel.

"I know, I know. Just want to make sure nothing happens," he shrugged.

Opening the door to her hotel room she was instantly greeted by balloons, flowers, and teddy bears. "Who?" She questioned before she was bombarded by a big group hug that consisted of Pierre, Carlos, Lando, and Daniel.

"Careful now," Sebastian told them, slightly pushing them away from her. "She's still fragile."

"How are you feeling, nena?" Carlos asked her, leading her to the couch in the lounge area.

"Good, just a little dizzy," she smiled.

"Anything out of the ordinary?" Lando questioned but was quickly elbowed by Pierre.

"Way to be slick," Pierre whispered, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, this random guy kept on calling me 'mon amore,'" she said, completely ignoring the interaction between Pierre and Lando. "He said I was his- YOU!"

"'His you'?" Lando questioned, titling his head to the side.

"What are you doing here? AND IN MY BEDROOM?!" Everyone quickly turned to look at who Emilie had suddenly pointed at.

Charles slowly stepped out of the bedroom. "Woah, woah," Carlos interfered, "He's my teammate. He saw the accident and wanted to see how you were doing."

"Then why were you calling me 'mon amore'?"

"He calls everyone that," Daniel butted in.

Turning to look at her father, who was leaning against the door frame, he simply nodded as a way of telling her that she was alright.

"Hello Emilie, my name is Charles, Charles Leclerc. Pleasure to meet you," Charles introduced himself as he stepped forward, extending his arm, slightly shaking as he feared he would reject him.

"Emilie Vettel, where are you from?" Emilie smiled as she shook his hand.

Charles let out a soft sigh as he realized Emilie had taken his hand and in a way accepted him. But his heart shattered the woman who knew him better than anyone in the world, even himself, knew nothing of him. He couldn't blame her. "Monaco."

"A monégasque!" She smiled, intrigued by the stranger in front of her. "I knew someone from there," a sudden wave of nostalgia hitting her.

"Really?!" Charles eyes lit up.

"Long time ago," she shrugged, as everyone around her leaned closer to her, wanting to hear more about the person. "We used to kart together," she paused, "Wonder what happened to him?"

"What was his name?" Her father asked, as he slightly straightened up and made his way to her.

"I'm can't remember, been a while," she laughed. But no one around her did. They all gave Charles a sullen look before Emilie spoke up again, "I'm really glad you are all here but I would really like to rest."

"Oh yeah."

"Totally."

"Right."

"Of course."

They all answered as they made their way out of the room, Carlos made his way to the young woman, "Rest up, nena," he smiled.

"Gracias, Carlitos," she answered back.

"You didn't forget the Spanish I taught you!" Carlos responded taken back by her response."

"Claro!" She smiled even more proudly as she cuddled herself into bed, clearly exhausted.

Making his way out of the room he closed the door and was immediately met with a series of hits. "Ahhh! What the hell?!"

"What the hell you!!" Charles mimicked him.

"What was that for?" Carlos asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"The obvious flirting," Charles said, signaling to the door, "She is still my girlfriend, you know!"

"She doesn't remember, you know!" Carlos fired back. "Look," he said softly, grabbing his teammate by his shoulders. "I am going to help her remember you. But you have to trust me with everything that I do, ok?"

"Alright," Charles said looking down in defeat.

"It might hurt a little, mate."