Corrode - [Charles Leclerc]

𝙏𝙧𝙚

        "Ms. Hinds! My dad is picking me up today". Jules excitedly said as he stood in front of her desk. "Oh, is he? How nice!". Joanne replied with a smile, leaning forward to ruffle his hair. The little boy giggled. Joanne kept the smile on her face, while she was thinking about how excited he was that his father came to pick him up, while other kids considered that such a normal thing. However, it warmed her heart that Mr. Leclerc seemed to offer his son a little more of his time. "Are you coming?". Liam called from the doorway, waiting for his friend to come outside. "Mum, will you come with us?". He asked Joanne next. "I'll be there in a few, Liam. Zip your coat up, it's still not summer". Joanne said slightly stern and then smiled as the boys helped each other to zip up their coats. They were playing outside again during the break and then there were only two hours of school left.

She wrapped her fingers around her mug of tea, her coat hanging around her shoulders as she made her way outside. The kids were playing with each other and drawing on the schoolyard, playing soccer or playing hide and seek. Joanne blinked against the bright sun, it was truly another beautiful day in Monte Carlo. Meanwhile, she thought of what she could do with the kids till the end of the day. They had been practicing simple maths with the help of funny videos of Mr. Bean, which the kids had liked a lot. She thought they could practice reading for a bit and then she could read another chapter of the book of the week for them. Each week, the children picked a book with just five chapters, with around 30 pages for each chapter and she read it to them at the end of the day. They all sat in a circle on pillows and she could sense the kids liked it a lot.

Joanne looked around the playground for a moment, checking up on the children and watching Liam and Jules seated in the sand, drawing things with sticks and it seemed like they were guessing what the other was writing. She smiled at the sight, loving that her son had made a friend, she just wished the friend was a little bit more free to go after school. Joanne was sure Liam would love to play with Jules more after school time. Her thoughts wandered to the previous evening, when Charles had joined them for the pizza dinner. He was an interesting man and so dangerously handsome. She gnawed down at her bottom lip at the thought of his piercing blue eyes looking at her face and not wandering them anywhere else for a couple seconds. She sensed the start of the evening was hard for him to adjust into the setting, yet the was kind to her.

"Ms. Hinds? Will you play hide and seek with us?". Her thoughts were interrupted when the little girl stood in front of her, her friends behind her, giggling and waiting for her to join. "Well, quickly! Make sure I can find you all within ten minutes". Joanne smiled and put her hands in front of her eyes while counting to fifteen to let the children hide.

     "This is unbelievably unnecessary, Charles". Pierre sighed while leaning his arm on the rolled down window of the car. He was settled in front of the school, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. Charles had assigned him to watch the playground and watch Jules. "I gave you the assignment to guard, Pierre, not to whine". Charles snarled in respond and made Pierre huff. "She's with them". Pierre said. "Joanne is there playing with the kids and keeping an eye on them". He updated his boss. "Well, you're keeping an extra eye on him". Charles said, sounding quite resolute. "Look, I'm all for the safety of your kid, but how about you finish your work on time so you can actually show up at the school on time for once? I'm not up for useless assignments like this, come on. Besides, you come for Joanne too". Pierre replied and knew he was right when Charles scoffed in response.

"She's taking the kids inside now, so you can pick him up at two. Good luck!". Pierre cut off the connecting and rolled the window up again, starting the car and driving away. Charles clenched his jaw in annoyance, taking his pen back in his hand. He was looking over some papers that were preparing one of the deals. It was a simple one, a yacht and drugs for some kind of small mobster from France. Charles had nearly laughed at the call he had gotten from the guy, but he was willing to pay a lot and Charles was surely in to make some good cash. He had a meeting with the guy tomorrow, where they'd handle everything. Charles finished his work and then left his office to get some lunch, which was already prepared for him in the kitchen. He greeted the maids who were cleaning the table and they blushed in response, hurrying out of the room to let him eat alone.