Starting Again (A Charles Leclerc Fic)

009 : anonymity

"How did we end up here?" George finally asked again. This question has been asked and answered multiple times today. Normally Katrina would be annoyed but it was really funny seeing the confused faces of these racers once they woke up and realized that they were not in their own homes. 

"Everybody was wasted last night except for Charles and I. There was a miscommunication between the leclercs. He was supposed to stay with his cousin but he didn't know she would stay with me. Then with the others, we were asking for your apartment keys but you're all passed out so we decided to let you crash here instead of sleeping in the hallway. We used my car instead of going back to the harbor"

"Thank you for letting us stay here, we hope we didn't really cause too much trouble"

"No it's fine. I hope you enjoyed your stay as well"

They exchanged social media accounts and followed each other while they were chatting.

"Do you mind me asking, why don't you follow other people?" Daniel asked curiously

"This is my private account, I just follow those I know personally. I want to maintain the peace in my timeline."

"Is it okay if we follow you?"  he added

"yeah sure, I have no problem with that just please try not to post pictures of me, I don't want the attention"

"that's new" Daniel commented seriously which was a little bit out of character.

"why? what do you mean?" 

"It's just, majority of the people we met wanted to be posted on our socials while you, want nothing"

"I have my reasons. I like the peace and calmness that anonymity brings" 

Katrina was relieved that Daniel stopped asking questions. She was sure that one more question, there is a high chance that she would've spilled the reason why she transferred to Monaco. One by one, the drivers started following her social media account. This action didn't go unnoticed by some of their most loyal and eagle-eyed fans. The F1 community was filled with curiosity on the identity of this seemingly random account that drivers started following. Fans also started to follow the account in hopes of getting a glimpse of the private account.  

It was like fate was playing with her. Imagine escaping in the farthest country you can think of to escape the limelight and then the people you befriended ended up being high profile celebrities of the little principality. Getting associated with these people can be scary, any moment fans can start digging into her identity and they might be able to trace where she came from. 

Few months later...

It's been a few months since she moved and it was really great getting to the drivers outside formula one. With the current season approaching it's ending, they spent lesser time in Monaco and more in their team's based. It has been a little tradition to spend time together whenever they are in town. 

Max was also amazing and patient with Katrina the whole time. He has been helping her understand the basics of formula one, He has been introducing her to the members of the 2024 line up while also explaining the regulations of the sport. Imagine a three time world champion was the one introducing her to this world. His enthusiasm and the love he has for his sports is evident as he explains every terminology used in the race which was apparently popularly known in the community as "Maxplaining". 

All the drivers had unique trait and characteristics but among all of the drivers she met, she forged a special bond with Charles and Max. She clicked with Max in a way that she see him as someone who she can be great friends with. They have similar taste in food, music and even in video games they played. There were times that even during a race weekend, he would invite her to play Call of Duty at two in the morning. It was amazing seeing this side of him because he was nothing like the guy Netflix is portraying him to be. Charles on the other hand, was a really gifted musician. Sofia told her that he only started learning and playing the piano during the pandemic. It was impressive because she knew people from the industry who has been playing piano for a long time and still not in his level yet. They bonded a lot when it comes to music. Til this day, she still can't write or play that much yet but she was able to hear some of his compositions. He was really amazing and she can't help but be mesmerized by him.

It was another normal day in Casa Katrina. She spent the earlier part of the day doing some cleaning and chores. She was currently lounging in her couch reading a novel when her phone vibrated signaling a text message.

Hi Katrina, do you want to hangout?