Religiously ° Charles Leclerc

three

"Valentina?" he thought he was seeing things truthfully because she hadn't been to a race since they broke up, and sometimes like that moment, he would briefly think he saw her.

Then she turned around and his breath hitched seeing her, in person for the first time in two years, there was no denying that she was still as gorgeous as always but that was nothing new. 

He stared into her beautiful dark eyes and was immediately taken back to the day that he would forever regret more than anything, the day that he broke her heart. The look she gave him was branded into his mind, the way that tears were streaming down her face and it was all his fault.

2021 

He stared at the man in front of him, a look of confusion on his face, "no I'm not doing that." he instantly refused if there was one thing that he loved more than racing it was her, she was the one that was always there and would often times drop whatever she was doing to be able to support him, she got him in a way that no one else did. 

He did the same for her whenever he could, she was the one that he pictured a future with and he was not going to throw that away because someone thought that she was a distraction for him. He often considered her his lucky charm since he always did well at whatever race she attended. 

The man in front of him was Diego Rameriez his current PR manager. The man was giving him a flat look, "Do you want to win the championship or not?" 

"of course, I want to win the championship," while he had won several Grand Prix races he had yet to win a championship he had come close the past two with second place, which made him push himself even harder this season. 

"well then get rid of the distractions." there was a slight smirk on his face it was unnoticed by the man in front of him which was exactly what he wanted, "which includes your pretty little girlfriend." 

Charles glared at him for the tone of his voice when he said the last bit and immediately denied it again. "No, she's not a distraction, and I am not doing that." 

It took a full two weeks for Diego to get into his head, which was longer than it had taken for the others that he had done this to, in the name of 'helping them win' the older Spanish man was irritated beyond belief at how long it had taken. 

"Fine," the younger man sounded defeated as he finally agreed with the PR manager to get rid of all 'distractions' in his life at the moment. There was a triumphant smirk on his face as the driver walked out of the room after the meeting. 

He arrived at the place he was meeting his girlfriend Valentina after the meeting, and seeing the look on his face she immediately knew that something was off. "what's the matter amore mio?" (my love) she questioned. 

Seeing the concerned look in her eye had him questioning whether this was the right thing to do or not but then he heard that little voice that Diego had seemingly planted in his mind, telling him that he had to if he wanted to win the championship. 

And so he spoke the sentence that would come to be the one thing that he regretted more than anything else once he realized that he had been manipulated by someone on his team that he was meant to be able to trust. 

Present 

He was snapped out of his thoughts hearing her voice, "Charles." they just stared at each other for a few moments, taking in the other's features and appearance. 

The Ferrari driver noticed the colors that she was wearing and frowned slightly, which she noticed and there was a tiny spark of hope that he would react to it, "You're wearing McLaren colors...  don't know how I feel about that..." he trailed off before shaking his head, "actually I don't like it all it that much."