Hard out here | Carlos Sainz Jr

Chapter 3

The morning came by quickly and the light coming from the sun woke Giovanna up. It peaked through window and shined onto her face. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked the tired away.

She reached for her phone on the nightstand by the bed and opened it to check the time. It was early, 7:23 to be exact and Gio didn't think Carlos was awake yet so she spent another ten minutes on her phone.

After much deliberation, Giovanna got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After getting ready, she went to the kitchen and got started on making breakfast.

"Good morning Gigi." Carlos greeted walking into the kitchen. "Morning Carlito," She looked up to a shirtless Carlos. "How did you sleep?" She asked with a smile.

"Good," He answered sitting on the barstool in front of Gio. "What are you up to?" Gio was mixing dry baking ingredients in a bowl. "Pancakes. You can eat them right?"

Carlos nodded in agreement watching as Giovanna put the bowl aside.

She looked beautiful. The loose braids of her cornrows were on either side of her shoulder and the black tank top sat tightly on her body while her grey sweatpants stopped under her bump.

"Can I ask a question?" Gio spoke up grabbing Carlos' attention. "Mmh, go ahead." He said.

"What are you doing in Italy? Aren't you supposed to be in Saudi Arabia?" She asked grabbing another bowl for the wet ingredients.

"I see you've done your research," he smiled making Gio nod. "But I didn't have anything planned for the week break so I chose to go to the first place that came to mind."

"Of course I did my research, I can't be sleeping in the same place with a man I know nothing about." She said making him laugh. "So how long are you in Italy for?"

"Until the 30th." Carlos answered. "Aw, I'm going to miss you Carlito." Giovanna sadly smiled. "Don't worry Hermosa, you still have nine days with me." He reassured her.

Giovanna perked up at the use of the pet name with curiosity. She didn't know what it meant since she couldn't speak Spanish.

"You should get a hotel nearby." Gio suggested pouring in the milk. "Or you could stay with me."

"I won't be intruding?" He asked leaning over the counter. "No. You've been an amazing guest so far, I'd love to have you." She grinned.

"Thank you. I'll have to get my things in Milan then. You wanna come with?"

Giovanna nodded and hummed. "Do you need help?" He asked. "No it's fine, I'm almost done." She reassured him mixing the dry and wet ingredients together.

"How was growing up in South Africa?"

That was a good question that Giovanna loved answering. If she could, she'd probably only talk about her home country for days. "It was so fun, I loved it. I was born in the Eastern Cape then moved to Pretoria with my mom and dad plus I visited my cousin in the North every week."

"We would always be out playing for hours until my aunt called us into the house to eat or something." Gio answered moving to turn the stove on while Carlos listened intently.

"Don't get me started on school," She sighed contently. "I really liked going to school."

"What kind of school did you go to?" He asked. "A Hoërskool so a predominantly Afrikaans school. It's where I met my friends." Giovanna answered leaning on the counter in front of Carlos.

"You used to cart in high school, right?" She asked to which Carlos nodded his head in agreement. "So how did you manage doing both at the same time? I used to play tennis and sometimes, I didn't have time to study."