After reading that message, Y/n walked towards Charles' room and knocked. It wasn't long before Charles opened the door for her, looking at her with wide eyes. Y/n really had no idea what was going on, what she had done wrong.
"What is wrong with you?" y/n closed the door behind her and followed Charles to the centre of the room. He was flustered, looked at the pavement, then touched the back of his head with both hands and looked at the ceiling.
"Charles you're scaring me"
"Why were you with Max tonight?"
"What do you mean? You suggested me to go to him!"
"I suggested you talk to him, not to be seen in the car with him, wearing a Red Bull sweatshirt" Charles gesticulated a lot as he spoke and his tone of voice was high.
"It had rained and I got my clothes wet. Max lent me his, nothing happened between us, OF COURSE"
Charles nodded, he believed her but knew that this would have far more serious consequences than y/n could have imagined.
"And why are you so mad about it? Nobody saw me!"
*CHARLES' POV*
As soon as Y/n left the hotel to go to Max, Charles videocalled Charlotte and he informed her of Carlos's medical condition, without mentioning in any way y/n's team radio or where y/n was at the time. Although Charlotte was his girlfriend, y/n was his best friend and would not tell anyone the private facts of her life. He went to the bathroom, took off his clothes and got into the shower, came out after a while and rolled the towel around his waist, remaining shirtless. His body was perfectly trained, he loved going to the gym and liked the results even more. A few drops ran down his chest and ended up on the edge of the towel, being absorbed by the sponge. He took whatever he needed to shave and did so calmly, in silence. In any other situation he would have turned on Spotify and played the Peso Pluma playlist, but that was not the case. He tried hard not to think about Carlos' accident, so he spent an unspecified amount of time shaving in front of the mirror.
He took a good look at himself, rinsed his face and applied aftershave, stroked his now smooth skin, brushed his teeth and thought about how Y/n was feeling at that moment. Next to the sink, on the marble countertop was his mobile phone. He looked at it for a moment, then picked it up, unlocked it and thought about texting her. Then he regretted it and was about to put it down when it rang in his hand. He looked at the screen, thinking it was Y/n, but it was Caco. Immediately he answered.
"Hi Caco, how's it going?"
"Hi Charles, very well. I called to tell you that whenever you want, you can now come and visit Carlos. The doctors said he can receive visitors"
"This is wonderful news, Caco!" Charles was relieved by this news, it meant that Carlos was indeed healing.
"When will you come?" Caco's question displaced Charles. He would have liked to go straight away, but Y/n wasn't there and who knows when she would be back, but he couldn't tell Caco where she was and certainly if she found out he had gone without her, she would never forgive him.
"Tomorrow morning for sure. For now it's probably best if Carlos rests" he held his breath, hoping that Caco didn't seem too disappointed by that answer which he felt was too cold, if forced.
"You're right! He's actually already asleep! Que cabròn!" Charles laughed into the phone, more because he had realised that Caco was not angry than because Carlos was asleep.
Charles ended the call and got dressed. He spent some time with Andrea Ferrari and his brother Arthur, whom he had not seen since the day before, they spent the whole afternoon together. But Charles' thoughts were all on Y/n; he was not worried, but he wished he could have been there to defend and help her. Before dinner, Charles' mobile rang again. He had it in his jeans pocket, picked it up and read the name "Mattia Binotto". He got up from the armchair where he was and walked away from the two.
*The conversation between Mattia and Charles was in Italian*
"Hello Mattia"
"Hi Charlie, can you talk?"
"Sure, tell me everything"
"Are you with someone? I'd like you to be alone" Charles looked at Arthur and Andrea and signalled to them that he would step away for a moment. He took the keys to his room and headed towards it.
"Did Caco call you? He told me Carlos is fine" Charles opened the room and entered, turning on the light.
"That's not why I called, Charles" his tone of voice changed abruptly. It became sombre, serious.
"What happened? You're worrying me"
"I don't usually take an interest in the private lives of pilots, on the contrary! But they just sent me some photos and I can't ignore them."
"What are these pictures about?"
"Have you taken a tour on social? Instangram, TikTak, that sort of thing."
"Actually no, I haven't used my phone much" Charles laughed, Mattia was such a boomer.
"Well, I'll tell you. Someone is spreading pictures of Y/n in Max Verstappen's car wearing his clothes"
Charles stood motionless for a second. It was not possible. Y/n is not naive enough to be photographed in such an ambiguous situation, they must have been mistaken, it couldn't be her.
"Are you sure it was her?" said Charles, but it couldn't not be her, she was there with Max at this very moment, actually. Could it be that she had lost her mind?
"Of course it's her, Charles, don't defend her. You know perfectly well what I thought of her and I believed you. But now this...my hands are tied Charles."
Charles' heart stopped for a moment. Mattia intended to fire Y/n and he had to stop him at all costs. She was the best engineer they'd had in recent years at Ferrari, they couldn't lose her to gossip.
"Mattia I know what you're thinking, but I swear she has nothing to do with her father. Whatever those pictures are, it's not what you think. I'll vouch for her, but don't fire her, we can't lose her."
Charles could not lose her. He had grown fond of her, she had become really important in his life and he could not allow her to be fired from the Scuderia.
"They have already called me from Maranello and they are not happy about this at all. They fear there is a lot more behind it from Horner."
"Can you try to talk to them again? I'll talk to Y/n in the meantime and get an explanation of what happened. Talk some sense into them, Mattia. I know you can do it."
On the other end of the phone, Mattia let out a long sigh, then said goodbye to Charles and ended the call.
Immediately, Charles sent the message to Y/n.
*Y/N POV*
"They saw you, actually" Charles said as he dropped into an armchair.
"What? Who? How?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. Binotto called me and..."
"and...?"
"And he thinks your father is behind it all."
"Are you telling me he thinks I'm a spy for my father?"
"Not a spy, Y/n..."
Spying had happened in Formula 1 before and everyone in there knows how it ended. To cut a long story short, it didn't end well at all.
Y/n turned pale, began to break out in a cold sweat. She saw her whole career pass in front of her, all the news about her, a career destroyed, years of studies and sacrifices thrown to the wind, and then the suspicions, the trials and God knows what.
She felt her legs give way, her vision begin to blur.
"Y/n! Y/N!" shouted Charles, who grabbed her by the arms to prevent her from falling to the ground.
She woke up after a few moments, she was on Charles' bed as he held her legs up.
"You need to take it easy, y/n. I'm here to defend you. I've talked to Mattia, you'll see we'll work it all out. I promise."
Charles looked at her and smiled the sweetest smile she had ever seen. She slowly sat down on the bed, then hugged Charles tightly and he gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"I have good news for you," he said putting a lock of her hair behind one ear. "Caco called and said we can visit Carlos whenever we want."
Actually that was not good news. That is, it was, but not under those circumstances. The 'relationship' with Carlos was certainly not exclusive, but Carlos had always been suspicious of her and Max and she knew it. These damn pictures would have confirmed Carlos's suspicions and destroyed everything they had managed to build up in recent times. A sandcastle far too unstable to withstand the first gust of wind.
"Do you think we should go?" asked Y/n now resigned.
"In my opinion you should. You were about to lose him forever. We'll get out of the hotel's inner car park and make sure we're not seen."
"I don't deserve a friend like you, Cha" Y/n looked into his eyes and felt serene, as if they had the power to relieve her of any suffering. Those blue eyes were so deep and full of kindness, it was like God painted his eyes choosing the most beautiful shape of blue that exists.
"Let's go to the hospital in the morning, okay? Now get some rest, you really need it" They hugged again, this time even tighter, she smelled his perfume and made it penetrated to her lungs, then she got up and walked towards the door as Charles followed her with his hands in his pockets.
Y/n opened the door, then turned to him and smiled.
"You're my best friend, aren't you?" asked Y/n.
"Forever"
They smiled at each other and Y/n walked towards her room which was a few doors away from Charles', who stood outside in the hallway and waited for Y/n to enter. They greeted each other from a distance, then both closed the doors before throwing themselves into bed and falling asleep.
The next day, Charles told Andrea and Arthur that he would go with Y/n to the hospital to see Carlos, while the two of them would leave that morning for Monte Carlo.
Charles knocked on y/n's door, which she opened sleepy. She was still wearing her pyjamas and her hair was a little ruffled. Charles looked at her tenderly, her eyes seemed to shine in the light coming in through the windows and her rosy cheeks made her even more delicate. He shook off those thoughts and spoke to her.
"Still in your pyjamas? Hurry up, we have to go to Carlos's, did you forget?"
"Of course not, but the alarm didn't go off. I'll run to the bathroom and change my clothes!" Charles sat down in an armchair, he couldn't help but think about Mattia's words and waited impatiently for some news from Maranello, but still nothing.
He looked at his mobile phone and saw that it was already very late and y/n was not coming out of the bathroom. He thought she was making herself beautiful for Carlos, but she didn't need anything, she was already beautiful as she was...he shook his head again and got up abruptly.
"I'm going to the car park, I'll meet you there. AND HURRY UP!"
*Y/N'S POV*
Looking at herself in the mirror, all she could think about was how ugly she looked that morning. She had brought to the bathroom a pair of jeans and a very heavy, oversized sweatshirt and hated what she was seeing before her eyes. She had put her hair in a ponytail but immediately let it down because she felt ugly. The truth was that she felt dirty towards Carlos, even though she hadn't actually done anything wrong. For a moment she even thought about not going to hospital, maybe it would be better for everyone.
Suddenly her phone lit up. It was Carlos.
"Caco told me you are coming to see me."
Her heart sank. She hadn't spoken to Carlos since the accident and that message made her heart stop for a second.
"Yes, we are about to come." She couldn't back out now.
"I can't wait" Carlos was about to send that message, but he deleted it. He thought that would be inappropriate to say by message. The truth was that he had been missing her so much those days..
Y/n put on her make-up lightly, then closed the door and walked to the garage where Charles was already waiting for her inside the car. On the way they talked very little, Y/n was still sleepy, she hadn't had breakfast and she hadn't had her first coffee of the day yet, so she was practically a zombie.
Arriving at the hospital, they reached Carlos' room and already outside, in the corridor, Charles and Y/n saw Caco, Rupert and Carlos' parents.The two walked towards the group and immediately Caco and Carlos Sr. approached them.
"I am glad you have arrived," Carlos Sr. said to them both. He squeezed Y/n tightly, looked into her eyes and smiled. Y/n did likewise. Y/n already knew Carlos's family, but they had never actually had a chance to introduce themselves. Immediately afterwards Carlos's mother Reyes approached her. A beautiful and elegant lady. She had long, soft hair and eyes as dark as Carlos's. Y/n held out her hand to Reyes to introduce herself but Carlos' mum hugged her. They were all happy to meet Y/n, that she was there for their son.
Y/n, on the other hand, was really embarrassed. First of all, she was meeting her fuck-friend's parents for the first time, which was already quite unusual and embarrassing. Not to mention the fact that pictures of her and Max had been circulating around since the night before and they could have seen them at any moment, at which point Y/n would have preferred to die instantly.
"You guys can come in if you want," Ana, Carlos' youngest sister, said as she emerged from inside Carlos's room. Y/n and Ana had met before in the paddock, although it was rare for her to attend GPs. Y/n would have loved to have a sister and looking at Ana, she thought Carlos was really lucky.
Y/n and Charles walked in and approached Carlos's bed. He was sitting on the bed, his foot and hand in a cast and a series of now almost healed wounds on his cheekbones and chin. As soon as Y/n entered the room, Carlos's eyes lit up, they all saw it. He was waiting for her. The two of them smiled at each other from afar and Y/n's heart began to pound, the same for Carlos. The instrument to measure his heartbeats betrayed him in front of everyone, there was a series of hidden smiles, but then the heartbeat returned to normal.
Charles approached Carlos, they joked a little about how bruised he was and that he had to hurry up and recover because Charles needed his teammate.
Y/n had stayed behind, next to Ana and had a chat with her. Then Charles turned to her and, after nodding to Ana, they both walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving Y/n and Carlos alone. She had not expected to be alone with Carlos, this was supposed to be a normal visit.
"Charles always does this, he suddenly disappears," Carlos said, smiling. "You can come closer if you want," he pointed to her bed, as if to invite her to sit next to him. She moved closer and got a better look at him. He had more scratches on him that she had not been able to see from a distance and she felt like crying thinking about how much he had suffered inside that burning car, how afraid he must have been to die.
Y/n approached Carlos's bed but did not sit down, she stayed beside him who took her hand. Y/n trembled and almost burst into tears.
"Hey..." said Carlos as if to cheer her up.
"Hey..." she said as she looked up at him and tried not to cry.
"You came" he smiled at her looking into her eyes, those huge dark eyes looked right into her soul.
"You're alive, Carlos..." were the only words that came to her mind. Losing him forever would have been impossible to bear for her.
"I told you, Ferrari boys are the best," he smiled, referring to a sentence he had said to her long ago, even before they had given each other their first kiss. They smiled intensely at each other without taking their eyes off each other.
"Me too," Carlos said suddenly. Y/n was puzzled by that phrase, so out of context.
"You too, what?"
"I watched the race yesterday and heard your team radio so...so I love you too, Y/n"