Behind It All (Charles Leclerc FF)

Chapter 1 : The Beginning of It All

A/N- Please comment if you do not understand any words! Thank you for reading once again!

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KEY:

amimsie - french (ITALICS and UNDERLINED)

Père - Father

Mère - mother

Frère - brother

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"Père! No, I can't and would never! How could you ask me to do this?"

24 hours earlier

I basked in the calm and surreal environment around me. My body and soul were at peace in the surrounding nature. I was currently climbing a mountain in Africa. I had eventually taken a holiday to organise my thoughts and get away from the sky-high expectations of my parents. I had finally after much exhausting work and sadness, graduated from university in the UK. What a relief!

I became startled as my phone started ringing. How did I even manage to get reception here? Flabbergasted and amazed at the same time, I answered the call. It was from an unknown number. How strange! I had just changed my number, and I was certain that I hadn't told anyone about it.

"Hello?" I answered warily, wondering who could have found out my new number.

"Emer, where are you? Father is fuming. You should have been here the moment you graduated and cleared your appropriate courses!"

"Slow down! I'm currently in a situation... and I left because I needed a break to get away from e-."

"Whatever you say- I don't care. If you are not here in 2 days time, I assure you that père will murder you."

I wanted to laugh but upon hearing my brother's strict and forlorn tone, all thoughts of humour flew out the window. He hung up immediately after so I hadn't had a chance to reply to him and ask him what was going on.

What could be so serious as to make père so anxious? Although he admittedly, was extremely strict, he never really cared for what I was doing, so that came as a surprise for me. Usually, he would just ignore my existence.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I decided to focus on the task I had to urgently complete; getting down from the hill and taking the next flight home. I groaned as I realised that my efforts to reach the summit were futile.

Soon, after rushing and falling all over the place, I finally reached the bottom and hailed a taxi. I rushed to my hotel, which was quite near the airport. Upon arriving, I quickly packed all of my things, booked a flight home and had a meal at the airport before boarding the plane. On the flight, I tried to relax but the thought that I did something so wrong as to make my father like this haunted me.

What the heck did I do again? I thought everything was going fine! Ugh... life is officially horrible.

Soon enough, I landed and smiled at the familiar landscape of Monte Carlo, Monaco. I hadn't come home for 4 long years and so much had changed already. I collected my baggage, had a croissant as I was starving, hailed a taxi and finally, went home.

Upon reaching my apartment, I immediately notified my brother of my arrival through a text. After an hour, he replied saying that there was going to be a family dinner with guests at a restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised- this was the first time in years we had a dinner as a family together.

Usually, père was way too busy- being a king and all that, mère was also busy with her fashion line and also had to rule, frère also being extremely busy with his own things and me, with my education.

My head ached as I realised I would, one day rule this country when my parents retire. My brother was younger than me by a year and so, I was the crown princess. I had been preparing for ruling my entire life. To my surprise, my parents allowed me to choose my course and to be safe, I decided to take Bussiness Administration because that may help in my future job- being the queen.

I decided to pick my outfit before lying down for a quick nap as I was horribly jet lagged. I didn't really own casual clothes or anything my parents deemed not fitting so it was pretty easy to decide. That and also the fact that I was never really into shopping unlike what the press thought- they assumed that I was an irresponsible brat who only knew how to blow her parents' money.

I picked an elegant lace and chiffon rose gold dress. It had a boat neckline with short sleeves, and from the empire waist, the skirt fell down the full-length finish, creating a fantastic look. It elegantly flowed. It was perfect!

I wanted to check up on all my friends in Monaco but I was WAY too lazy to do anything and just plopped down onto my bed like a sad potato.

I grinned as I thought of what the important news it could be. It sure had to be pleasant! After all, I just came back home after 4 long years, and the dinner was most probably because my parents missed me. I doubted so but still, my father had had to miss me after not seeing me all these years, right?

I took a quick nap like how I had planned, then proceeded to take a bath. Then, I realised that me, being a dumb person, forgot to ask my brother when I had to arrive. I groaned at my stupidity and called my brother again.

"Yes, Emer? What have you done again?"

"Frère, you didn't tell me when I'm supposed to be there! Speaking of that, where am I even supposed to be!? Also, I haven't done anything! "

"Oh, just be there by 8 at La Costle. I'll have someone there waiting for you."

I checked the time. 7.15pm. Already!? My eyes widened as I realised that I had about 10-15 minutes to get ready. La Costle Hotel was about 25 minutes away from my apartment, and I wanted to have 5 minutes to spare, just in case.

I'm not a huge fan of makeup but at such an event, I felt like I had to wear makeup. I didn't want my brother to make fun of my so-called boyishness again. I called my dear best friend, Freya Anker, to ask her for her opinion.

"Emer, ayo wassup!"

"Hey, Frey! So... we're finally having a family dinner after god-knows how long!"

"That's awesome!! What are you gonna wear?"

"Just a dress I had in the closet and light makeup! I'll look awesome and also won't be late. It's good-good."

"You mean win-win situation? Ok, have a nice dinner! I'll see you when I come for a vacation!"

"Bye! Love you!"

Then, I proceeded to get ready. Getting ready for dinners are so goddam hard.

I hailed a taxi and arrived at La Costle, 5 minutes earlier. Gosh, I was actually early for once! I entered the restaurant and true to my brother's word, there was a waiter waiting for me. He guided me to a private room, which no doubt was because of confidentiality and paparazzi issues.

I slowly entered the room while looking at my phone to check if my blockhead of a brother had messaged me. The chattering in the room died down and it suddenly became weirdly silent and so, I looked up, to see unfamiliar faces staring up at me.

What the hell?