La Vie En Rose |MÅNESKIN|

Chapter 19

2021, Paris, France

Being a contestant at the Eurovision Song Contest was a lot of work, Michelle knew it, but she did not realise the challenge that it was before being one of them. A month had passed since she officially became the French contestant for the ESC, and Elle was exhausted especially because today was a very bad day.

It had started with a zoom call with some Australian producer at 6am, then she worked all morning on her performance, she had a break at noon to eat lunch with Clara, but then some bad news ruined the day. Her aunt had been hospitalized in emergency after a bad car accident, and they were not sure that they could save her. The brunette had not seen her aunt in more than a year, since they had that argument about Michelle's father, but it still hurt to learn that she might not make it. Catherine had raised her since she was two, she had offered her a roof, had sent her to one of the best schools of the country, she had travelled across Europe with her, she was her only family. Elle had gone to the hospital, she had met the doctor who had explained that she only had a couple of hours left, because they could not do a surgery, so she had to say goodbye. The French girl had cried a lot, begging for her forgiveness, thanking her for raising her like her own daughter. It was a heart-breaking day, she wished she had someone by her side to help her, because she was way too young to organise funerals.

When the singer got home the next week, after a week in her aunt's flat, she looked like crap, and her best friend looked like she had bad news to announce, even if nothing could be worse than the days she had just passed.

"Okay, I know you probably don't care right now, but you have to know who's going to represent Italy at the ESC." Clara seemed nervous, which could only mean one thing.
"They won, they won Sanremo and now they're going to Rotterdam, am I right?" Elle sighed and fell in the sofa, taking her head in her hands. "That's too much, I need a day off. I can't deal with that right now. I'll try to get some sleep, Anna said I have to go back to rehearsal tomorrow."
"That bitch, you just lost the only mother figure you've ever had, you need time to grieve." The blond girl sounded angry, but Michelle was too tired to deal with it, she just wanted to sleep, and to never wake up.

The brunette was not ready, not ready to face him in two months, not ready to see Victoria again, nor Thomas, nor Ethan, she was not ready to see her friends again. Her travel to Rotterdam just got way more complicated than it was originally planned, and she was scared to see them again, scared to see the hatred in their eyes, scared to see Damiano, scared to see that she still loved him, and that her feelings never left.