𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 ★ 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓁ℯ𝓈 ℒℯ𝒸𝓁ℯ𝓇𝒸

𝑿.

𝑱𝒂𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 ❀

★★★

It's saturday during the Saudi Arabia GP race weekend, before quali.

I exit the engineering debrief, still in thought as I visualise my laps in my mind. Suddenly I bump into someone's chest, and I stumble back, startled. I blink and look up to see it's Charles Leclerc.

"Oh, I'm sorry, c'est ma faute. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking." I say.

("Oh, I'm sorry, my bad.")

He blinks, even more surprise flashing across his face as he hears me speak. "No, it's okay, I wasn't looking out either." He says in his well-known Monégasque accent. "Your accent... you switched so smoothly and quickly..." He says.

"Oh, haha," I chuckle, blushing a bit. "Yeah, French was one of my best subjects in highschool, back in the Netherlands." I explain with a shrug. "It was one of my favourite subjects, actually." I add quietly, as if trying to dismiss it.

He smiles back. "Ah, I see. Your accent is perfect, it sounds really good." He compliments, a glint of pleasant surprise still in his eyes.

"Thanks, that means a lot." I say gratefully, truly happy because the compliment is coming from someone who's spoken French his whole life.

Those green eyes... Shut up. I can't.
But the lashes... SHUT UP.
Why do men always have naturally beautiful lashes and us women have to struggle every time we wanna look pretty? Hm, good point. I hate that.

"So, what are you gonna do now? I just had an engineering debrief." I say.

He nods. "Yeah, me too. I just went out for fresh air... And then I'll probably go, uh, to a quiet spot in the garage." He says.
I nod in understanding, having heard, and also observing he's more reserved and maybe a bit introverted. I know he can be social, but he's probably more introverted in high-pressure moments like before quali.

"Mind if I walk with you? I also came out for some fresh air." I ask.

He nods. "Sure,"

I can't tell if he's just saying it to be polite, or if he genuinely doesn't mind. But whatever.
There's an awkward moment when we both twist and turn on our heels and laugh awkwardly, because we're not sure what direction to go.
In the end I turn one way, and he turns the same way, and then we laugh awkwardly again before starting to walk down along the motorhomes in the paddock, towards the pitlane.

"So, uh... You grew up in the Netherlands?" Charles asks, the typical French 'euh/uh' in his sentence.

I nod halfheartedly before shrugging thoughtfully. "Half and half, sort of. When I was three, we moved from the Netherlands to the Philippines, and when I was seven, we came back. That's one of the reasons I only started karting at the age of eight." I explain.

He nods in understanding.

"So, how do you deal with... You know, how do you prepare for quali and stuff?" I ask.
Before he can answer, however, I cut him off again.
"I'm just asking because you always seem so calm and collected before races." I laugh nervously.

Emphasis on before... Oh stop it, don't be mean.

He laughs back awkwardly. "No, no, it's uhh okay." He says. "I don't know, I just... listen to some music sometimes, just find a quiet place to sit and calm down and mentally... euh, prepare myself." He explains.

I nod in understanding. "Right, right..." I say. "Yeah, I listen to music too, but I never really get calmed down and I just mentally can't force myself to listen to calming music before quali or races." I huff. "I can listen to calming music, but not then." I glance at him as he listens with a small smile.

"Oh my gosh, sorry, I talk too much. I wonder how Alex and Osc put up with me." I chuckle, embarrassed.

"No, it's okay, I'm a good listener- I think, haha." Charles laughs slightly in that iconic, well-known way of his.

We walk in silence for a short while, before I suddenly speak up again. "So, do you like animals?" I ask randomly, trying to ease the awkwardness that's still lingering in the air.

"Yeah, I kind of love all animals." Charles answers. "Except for snakes." He wrinkles his nose slightly and I laugh. "I don't like snakes."

"Relatable," I say.

"Do you like animals?" He asks the logical question.

"Yeah, I love them. Just... not all of them. I absolutely love cats - and dog, too. But I hate spiders, the hairy ones I mean, eugh." I involuntarily shiver at the idea of them. "The small, thin ones aren't scary at all, you know, the daddy longlegs and stuff, but the thicker, hairy ones are disgusting and scary." I wrinkle my nose. "Snakes and reptiles are not my favourite animals either." I explain. "Eh, I suppose you could say I generally love animals, but when you take a deeper look I'm picky and precise." I laugh.
He listens with a small smile and laughs with me at the end.

That laugh... SHUT UP. JUST. SHUT. UP.
But the smile... SHUT UP!!

We continue chatting as we walk, the conversation flowing from racing to the places we've called home, him in Monaco and me in the Netherlands and the Philippines. It's easy, surprisingly so, even with the quiet moments that feel more comfortable now.

As we near the pitlane, I stop and turn to him. "Well, good luck in quali, Charles."

"Merci, good luck to you too, Jasmine," he says with a small smile, his green eyes meeting mine for a moment before he looks away.

"Thanks," I say softly, giving him a quick nod before we head in different directions.

As I walk off, I find myself smiling, thinking about how natural it felt to talk to him, even if it took a while to get less awkward. His laugh plays in my mind, and I shake my head, pushing the thought aside. I need to focus on quali.

(A/N: medium length real life chapter!! It took me quite a while to write this bc it was hard to think of conversation topics for them 😭 I'm getting better at it tho, and ofc it'll be easier for them to talk to each other as more time passes. Also, the ending was super hard :sob:. I'm gonna add lots of 'uhh's and 'euh's to his sentences, pls tell me if its annoying to read bc if so, I'll gladly stop it! I just think it makes it more realistic since irl he (and French-speaking people in general) say that wuite often. Hope y'all like it!! ❤️)