lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

23.

July 2014

"Hey, Maxie. What are you doing here?" Pia was a bit surprised to see him in Germany. Max rarely attended Grand Prix weekends. It was no wonder since he was competing in Formula 3. Pia wasn't sure about Max quick moves between the categories. At the end of the day, it wasn't Pia's concern. It was Anthonie who was Max's manager. He would be the one to blame, but as much as Pia would enjoy Anthonie's downfall, she'd be so worried for Max. She was sure that Anthonie would take down Max with him. He was that type of a person.

"Oh, hey, P. Your father took me here. He wants me to get more familiar with people from Toro Rosso. I got an offer to join Red Bull Junior Team," he explained quickly to P. Pia was stounded by this piece of information. Anthonie was crazy if he thought he would get Max into Formula One this early. It was foolish from Anthonie. Max had tremendous talent, and nobody denied that, but he was just a teenager. How could he possibly handle that all at such a young age?

"He's not my father, Max. Not after he had done to me," Pia said while watching her shoes. She was still ashamed of it all. "He's foolish, Max. Don't let him destroy your life too," she tried to warn Max, but then she realised that maybe it was too late for that. The young Dutchman had already signed a contract with Anthonie, and even if there was a way how to back out, Max wouldn't be able to do that. Max had now two devils controlling his life - Anthonie and Jos. There was no way how to back out from that.

"It's not really up to me," Max just confirmed Pia's thoughts. It wasn't up to him for a long time. When he was a child, Jos decided about Max's life, and now it was Anthonie and Jos. A pair of Dutch devils, that's how Pia called them.

"You have the talent to make it. I'm sure you can do that, but at what cost?" The young Italian whispered the last part of the sentence. Pia saw Formula One differently, thanks to Jules and Joanna. They were adults, and they weren't clearly handling it, so how could Max?

"That doesn't matter to them." Perhaps this was the scariest part about it all. Max knew that they didn't care at all. It was Max who was risking it all, and he just had to be okay with that. How cruel is that? "Anyway, how are things between you and Charles? Are you still happily together?"

"Yeah, he's just a bit busy. Well, you know that more than anyone else. But yeah, happily together," Pia admitted with a smile on her face. Max was expecting this answer. He couldn't imagine them without each other. In his opinion, they were together almost for a century. "What about you? Did you manage to finally find a girlfriend or you're still crushing on Joanna Lauda?"

"To your surprise, I'm a taken man. I've started dating Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky a few months ago," Dutchman proudly announced. If Pia remembered correctly, she competed in a few karting races in 2011. The only thing that Pia remembered about Mikaela was that she was blond and Swedish. Somehow average when it came to racing. She didn't catch Pia's eye.

"I can't believe that you finally fooled someone that much to be with you. It's good that you gave up on that happy life with Joanna. I heard that she's pregnant," Pia shared gossip with Max. Well, it wasn't really gossip. It was a fact, but she doubted Max would believe her anyway.

"Hey, I'm a perfect man." Max felt slightly offended by Pia's words, but he knew that she meant it as an unharmful joke. "Don't bullshit me. She's not that stupid. She has one of the best seasons in her life. Moreover, I don't think she has a boyfriend." Max was fairly sure this was just some nonsense from the paddock. People there loved to tattle.

"You and a perfect man? Who are you kidding, Verstappen?" Pia laughed. She didn't see Max that often, but they were still really good friends even though there were many obstacles in their friendship. Before it was Charles, now it was Anthonie. Pia promised herself that she wouldn't lose anyone else because of Anthonie. She didn't want to let Anthonie cause more damage than he had already done.

"You heard right. It's the charm of Dutchmen." Well, Dutchmen definitely needed to be somehow charming. There had to be some reason why Gianna married Anthonie and why Sophie married Jos. They had to be charming somehow. Well, Pia couldn't imagine how, but there had to be something.

"Oh, for sure," Pia laughed together with Max. She loved moments like these, but then she saw Anthonie, and her smile suddenly dropped from her face. Max stopped laughing as well and took a step away from Pia. Anthonie quite clearly told him that he should stay away from Pia because she could incite Max against Anthonie.

"Go to Jos, Max. I need to talk with my daughter for a bit," the Dutchman said when he approached them. Pia expected that Max would oppose, but he just simply turned around, leaving Pia and Anthonie behind without any word. Anthonie had Max in his pocket. He was like an obedient puppy that listened to every command.

"Don't call me your daughter. Haven't you heard? I'm Pia Vettel. You're nobody to me," she smiles. She wanted to rub it in his face ever since she had changed her surname. It was such a pleasant feeling, seeing his face in utter shock.

"Anyway, what do you want?" Pia wasn't afraid of him. She had lost respect for this man a long time ago. She wanted to treat him as he treated her.

"Stay away from him," he warned her. She could hear the threat in his voice, but she decided to ignore it. He wasn't worthy of her fear.

"Why would I? He's my friend. We were just talking," Pia smiled sweetly at Anthonie. She learnt that from him. She enjoyed having her opponent over a barrel. Anthonie was always the stronger one, but how the turntables.

"I won't repeat myself. Stay away from Max." Max was his golden boy, and Pia knew that. He was his chance how to overcome Sebastian's records. He wanted to erase Sebastian's name from everything if possible. Verstappen was the name that should replace Vettel. As much as Pia believed that Max was an exceptional driver, she was sure that he wouldn't be able to overcome every of Seb's records.

"I won't repeat myself either. We just talked." Pia kept it calm. He wasn't worthy of her anger. She was smirking because she knew that Anthonie couldn't control his emotions.

"Yeah, I can imagine what you said to him." His voice was full of disdain. Pia couldn't believe she ever considered him as her father.

"Truth. What else? Don't you think he deserves to know who his manager is?" she questioned the Dutchman in front of her. Obviously, Max deserved to know that, but she knew that even if she said to him, it wouldn't change anything because Max wasn't in charge of his life. It was his father, and yeah, Jos and Anthonie were kind of similar.

"He deserves to know that his manager is willing to include his own child in his deals, no? Also, that he's willing to ruin the career of the youngest champion in F1. And do you want to hear something funny? Sebastian had signed a contract with Ferrari before you made him leave Red Bull." Pia said venomously. Finally, she was the one who was on the top. She knew more than Anthonie did, and with that, she left him with a wide smile on her face. She won this.