Hopelessly Devoted ☆ Pierre Gasly

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"Are you sick? Do you need to see a doctor?" Toto continued asking. "We can't lose you today, this is so important... You are so important today. You have been ignoring us, and we can't afford to lose more time on this situation." He was watching this situation from the work perspective, not the human perspective. It wasn't like he didn't care about his people, but there was so much pressure on the team. "We've already lost one man because of food poisoning, another one is not good."

Juliette was shaking her head. "I'm not sick." The words were pressed over her lips. She deeply inhaled and closed her eyes when she stopped walking. Her limbs felt like jelly. "It's called anxiety, Toto."

Those words changed the situation. Toto switched from being the chief to a human being. "What can I do? Do I need to get Pierre?"

The facial expression of Juliette straightened, she was also confused. How did he know about Pierre? "W...what? No, no," she said and started to snap her knuckles again.

Toto nodded, debating what would be the next move. He saw Juliette as a powerful woman who earned so much respect by everything in and outside of the time over the past few months. She was always smiling and joking around. Juliette was the light in the team when it came to the ambience; she knew how to calm people down, cheer them up - even when it wasn't her intention to. And the work she delivered... For a young woman, it was unique; Juliette was unique in this world. This was a whole new side of Juliette, one Toto had never seen before, and he knew Juliette well; at work and personally.

"Do I need to get your dad?"

Juliette shook her head and started to walk around in the room again. She ran both of her hands through her hair. "No. I can't keep him off his work."

"I will call him, you shouldn't be alone," Toto stubbornly said. He walked to the door and looked at his assistant. "Call Edward, say it's Juliette," he mentioned and give the assistant his phone. Toto walked back into the room and opened a window for some fresh air. "Julie, sit down," he demandingly said and pointed at the chair.

She was squeezing in her hands and mumbling some words.

"Juliette," Toto said. She nodded and sat down. Toto grabbed a stool and sat in front of her. "Look at me now," he said and waited on her reaction. Juliette kept looking away. "Attention to me, please," Toto continued. Juliette carefully looked at him, she was finally listening. "Now breath it," Toto performed an inward motion with his hands. "Together," he softly said. A shaky breath entered Juliette's airways. "And out," Toto breathed out with Juliette. "And we do it again. In... And out."

It took them a few minutes until Juliette had control over her breath again.

"Good," Toto whispered. "Name five things you see."

Juliette looked around and swallowed hard. "A bed, a lamp..." Tears formed in her eyes. "Err... Shoes, a book and a laptop."

"Four things you can touch."

"This chair." She touched the chair. "This pillow, the table and the floor."

Toto nodded, satisfied. "Three things you can hear."

Juliette was silent, trying to pick up some noises. "The cars outside." She stopped talking and closed her eyes. "The air conditioner," she said. "You."

A careful smile grew on Toto's face, that was true. "Two things you can smell."

"My perfume and sun cream."

"An emotion you feel."

Her eyes opened, there was fear in her eyes. "I'm scared," she whispered.

Toto nodded. "I know," he softly said. "What's wrong?" He grabbed a bottle of water, opened it and gave it to Juliette.

"I..." Juliette took a sip and looked down. "I'm scared to lose Pierre," she mouthed. "I can't lose him. I know he knows what he is doing, but what if? It didn't go right last week. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Anthoine." There was so much pain in her voice.

"I know... I'm so sorry for your loss." There was silence, but Toto was making a huge decision now after a long debate in his head. "You're going to take this weekend off, Juliette... For your own sake. You can't work now. A lot has happened, and you didn't get the time to process it. You're going home, and we will see you next week." There wasn't much choice left. "Take some time off, and you will be back with full focus and energy. I know you're pushing yourself over your limit these days. Your team is important to you, but you are more important to yourself."

"I'm sorry," she apologised.

Toto shook his head. "Don't apologise." He scanned her face, it seemed like she had got it all under control again. "You okay now?"

Juliette looked at him and nodded slowly. "Thank you."

"Don't watch F1 this weekend, take a break from it. There's enough time to catch up with it next week," he advised. She nodded. "Read a book, bake a cake, do anything but racing."

"I promise."

Toto raised his eyebrows and stuck out his pink. "Pinky promise?"

A smile grew on Juliette's lips, this was so stupid. "Pinky promise," she said and hooked her pink in his.

"I like this smile more," he mentioned and got up. "Tell me where you are heading to, I will book a flight."

"Oh, my goodness," she whispered and got new tears in her eyes. This time because she was so grateful for this. "Uhm..." She cleared her throat. "I'm going to Paris, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport." She parted her lips. "Thank you so much, Toto. I really can't say something else."

"No problem," Toto replied and smiled. "No need to thank me, Jules."

"How did you know about that method?"

"My psychologist taught me that," he confessed, confirming he struggled too. "You are a strong woman, Juliette. Good luck next week, it will be tough. I will think of you." Toto gave her a comforting smile. "We will stay in touch and text me when you arrived in Paris."

She nodded. "I will. Thank you so much."

Edward entered the hotel room, thanking Toto when he saw she had calmed down already. Edward walked over to his daughter and took her safety in his arms.

"Inform Floris he will take over Juliette's job this weekend," Toto announced to all the people who were standing outside. He closed the room door behind him. "Book a flight for Juliette Reynolds to Paris and let someone bring her to the airport."