Apex | Charles Leclerc

Chapter 10

Please don't hate me 🫣 I know this was long overdue but I've been so busy with school that I haven't had much time to write. I'm already warning you guys that the updates after this are going to be more random. I'm debating whether I should just continue updating when I've finished writing the book on my own so that I could go back to updating every day. What do you guys think?

Believe me, I've been trying to write but every time I try, I feel like the scenes I'm writing don't fit and are half assed 😂 I don't want to give you guys a chapter like that because I know that as a reader, I wouldn't want that as well.

Just please be patient with me because this tends to happen whenever I finish writing a book. It's like my brain is drained of its creative juices and I'd need something to trigger me to work again.

Enjoy!

*****

January 10, 2028 - Monaco

Charles and I have made an agreement.

Every day, we'd set aside an hour of our time for me to share some things to him. When he brought it up after the dinner we had at Lorenzo's house, he must've seen the panic in my eyes because he quickly reassured me that it was up to me to choose what to share.

"Are you sure?" I asked as the two of us stood inside my office. He was getting ready for bed, toothbrush being held by his hand, while I was still going to do some work.

He nodded his head and gave me a small shrug. If everything were up to him, he would most likely be asking question after question, immediately diving into the heavy stuff. "I may have lost my memory, but I'm still good at reading people. It's obvious that there are things you're not comfortable with sharing yet."

The next day, I was sitting in front of the piano, lazily letting my fingers glide over the keys, when he arrived back from training with Andrea. It's been hours since I last saw him when he left early that morning to have a meeting with Toto and George. Before letting him into the car, they figured teaching him the new terminologies and mechanisms would be best since a lot has changed since his 2024 season.

The soft tunes of To Build A Home was filling the air as Charles dropped his body onto the sofa, clearly drained from training.

He was silent for a few minutes as I played the song and it was about a minute later when I felt his eyes on the side of my head, elbows placed over his knees. "What song is that?"

"This," I said, playing the last few keys and turning around to face him on the piano bench when I finished. "is the first song I taught you to play."

His eyes widened as he glanced at the white piano before moving back to me. "I can play?"

I nodded my head and stood up, sitting down on the opposite side of the couch. I placed my feet by my side as Charles followed, removing his shoes before copying my position.

"Better than me, actually. I should be pissed that the teacher has been out-talented by her student but there's always the guitar." I couldn't help but smirk and Charles raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'm guessing I don't know how to play that?"

"You broke a string on your first try and was traumatized because there was a small cut on your cheek because of it."

"PTSD from a guitar. Never expected that." He chuckled and I felt a warmth surge through me at hearing his laugh, even if it was just for a short time. "Anyway, how did I start playing the piano?"