Book 1: Leap of Faith -Charles Leclerc

Chapter 28th

Chapter: 28 December... something-th, 2023

Charles paced around the showroom of the elegant dress store, whistling a tune that he had stuck in his head all day. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, undeniably bored after doing this for hours. He was back in Monaco after all of the celebrations and parties, finally getting a sense of normalcy at home with Caroline.

"Okay, what about this one?" Caroline stepped out from behind the curtain wearing a beautiful red gown with a one shoulder strap that kept falling down. "This looks horrible on me, oh my god" she said as she turned to face the mirror.

Charles watched as she cocked her head to the side, letting her hands wander over all of the things she wanted to fix about the dress or herself. Her hands spent an especially long time around her hips and lower abdomen.

"Dresses like these are not made for girls like me, with hips like this. Especially not short girls either," she said as she kicked the extra couple inches of fabric with her feet.

Charles glanced at her face as her expression went dull with sadness behind her eyes. He had spent enough hours studying her face to know exactly what every facial expression meant. Her expressions always told the truth even when her words were lying. What should've been a cute little shopping trip for them was turning south with every dress Caroline didn't like.

"Well, like I said about all the ones before, you look absolutely stunning to me," Charles said as he approached her from behind, giving her a slight hug. The dress fabric was deceptively scratchy and he grimaced at it under his fingers.

"Charles," Caroline said as she turned to face him. "I'm just not cut out for all of this. I'm not model size. I'm not a typical WAG, wearing Chanel or Versace. Those brands try to pretend that women with curves don't exist," Caroline said as she gestured to her hips.

Charles saw the tears in her eyes starting to form, as he felt the pang of guilt for putting her into this position. In the past, his girlfriends would have no trouble finding a dress and usually were fielding multiple offers from major fashion houses. But Caroline was having a hard time trying to pick something perfect. His heart was breaking seeing her be so critical about herself. He didn't care what color she wore or what the dress looked like, she was perfect to him just the way she was.

"Then we go somewhere else or do something else. Please go change," he said kindly, giving her a kiss on the forehead. If anything, he knew that they needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

Caroline was quiet from the time it took to change back into her clothes to when they walked out of the store. Clothes shopping was usually so fun with her friends and mom, but those were the times when she was shopping for a new sweater. This was the end-of-season gala, the time to go all out with money and class. Charles had to practically beg her to come, saying how much he wanted to show her off and tell everyone about his new girlfriend. Deep inside Caroline hid sheer panic at the thought of being surrounded by all those rich people.

Nicole's words about the media rang in her head like a church bell, going off at every hour. She feared that popping their little happy bubble of secrecy would also affect their relationship- something that felt as fragile as a bubble to Caroline. She spent days waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Charles to come to his senses and break up with her. Every text, Facetime, or hangout, there was some lingering sense of anxiety over it for her. But, like most men, he was completely oblivious to the mental battle in his girlfriend's brain. And now this, she felt like a giant stuffed sausage in every one of those dresses.

She could hear some of the salespeople snickering at her for asking for a size 4 and the fat jokes that came along with them. She felt the fabric of the dresses clinging awkwardly to her curvy hips, and not in a way she liked. Caroline never hated her body before, but she was really heading down that path now. She cursed the effortlessly thin chain smoking French women, as the weight lifting craze that American women loved never seemed too popular with the French.