Her || Charles Leclerc

35. Cry & Back To Business

Breaking the rules.

Ever since Matilde became the team principal of Ferrari, she started to break her own rules. Own morals. Crossing her own line. She found herself crossing lines she had once vowed never to approach. Working outside of office hours was one of the first to go. The funny thing was, whenever she returned home to Denmark, everything reset. It was as if her internal compass pointed north again, and her morals snapped back into place like fabric stretched too far but not torn. But the longer she stayed away from home, the more those rules started to bend and blur.

Hygge faded away.

It was 19:15 and Matilde was still present at the office. After the Vogue afternoon, she had to catch up on some work. She worked ahead, but you know, the work of a team principal never stops. After the shoot, the plan was to catch up on some work, but she found herself in a very productive flow so she decided to stay.

But then her stomach growled, loud and insistent, snapping her out of her concentration. Hunger crashed into her, sharp and sudden. Matilde took a deep breath, removed her blue light glasses, and rubbed her tired eyes. She stretched her arms over her head, her body stiff from sitting in the same spot for too long. She glanced at the piles of work left on her desk but decided it could wait. The work wasn't even a deadline, but finishing up some things relieved her.

As she walked through the department, she hummed along to the music she was listening to. Tonight, she was listening to Mumford & Sons, the band that reminded her of her family. It was their family band - her dad's band. He loved their music and whenever the band was in the country, she, her dad and two brothers would go see them live.

A shock went through her body as someone suddenly appeared from around the corner. She froze for a split second, her heart racing. The dim lighting in the office only added to the ghostly quiet that had settled in, making the figure's sudden presence all the more startling.

"Whoa, sorry," came a familiar voice. It was Charles. He raised his hands in a gesture of apology, clearly noticing the surprise on her face.

Matilde let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. "For satan," she mumbled, shocked. "You scared the shit out of me," she said, placing a hand over her chest, trying to calm the pounding of her heart. She removed the airpods from her ear.

"Sorry about that," he said, giving her an apologetic smile. "Didn't think anyone else was still here."

She nodded, still trying to shake off the sudden adrenaline rush. "Same. I thought I was the only one left."

Charles leaned against the doorframe. "You've been here a while, huh?"

Matilde gave a small smile. "Yeah, I lost track of time. What about you? Still working this late?"

"Working on some data and strategies for Austin. We need to have a perfect next race," he replied.

They were in a fight with Red Bull. Even though Red Bull was still leading by a couple of points, Ferrari was closing in. There were five more races left and every mistake that was being made, could turn into a very expensive mistake and possibly a disaster.

"What are you working on? I thought you said you were on track with everything," he smirked, repeating her words from this afternoon.

Matilde pressed her lips into a thin line and stepped towards the department's canteen; which was just a long table, a functional kitchen with a coffee machine and fresh fruit. It was minimalistic, but very functional and still cosy. "Well, you know, administration, financial stuff. Things I love to postpone."

"Hmm, don't you like that?" Charles followed her to the area.

"Let's say that is the part that I don't like about my job. But I gotta do what I need to do. So I guess it's just not my favourite thing to do." She turned on the coffee machine, knowing she had to clean it afterwards. Luckily, she was familiar with the machine and she knew how they needed to be cleaned. Matilde leaned against the counter and crossed her arms in front of her chest.