Apex | Charles Leclerc

Chapter 4

I'm watching FP1 of the Dutch GP right now and is it bad that I'm a bit happy there was a problem with Max's gearbox? 🙇🏻‍♀️

Enjoy!

*****

December 27, 2027 - Monaco

Twenty minutes.

That's how long it took for Charles to utter his first coherent sentence. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, he continued to stare at our wedding rings to the point where I had to drop my arm because it was already hurting from being held up. Even when I sat down, his eyes kept glancing at my wedding ring and the one I had laid on the bed beside him.

Thirty minutes.

That's how long it took for him to ask question after question– everything he could think of. When it came to the hows of our relationship, I gave vague answers because I didn't want him to feel overwhelmed because if he knew our entire story, his head would be blowing up with all the details.

Forty minutes.

That's how long it took for us to bask in the silence of his realization. He only stopped with the questions when his head began to hurt and he had to lean back and close his eyes to let it surpass. I waited for him to speak during the first ten minutes but when it was obvious he wasn't going to, I moved to sit on the sofa and let my mind wander as well.

I don't know where this leads us. His life has pressed the restart button and he has to uncover three years of his life. Even a few months is a lot but three years? That's like a lifetime.

The silence was killing me so I busied myself by grabbing the files I hid behind the sofa and took out a case that I could read. I've been on an emergency leave ever since Charles' accident but the office has resumed sending me some files when we arrived back in Monaco. I'm still not going back to court since one of my colleagues has taken over that part of my work but I still help with the cases that not only she but the other lawyers were handling.

All you could hear in the room was the sound of my papers and Charles' sheets whenever he moved around in his seat. I felt his eyes on me before he even spoke up. I didn't mind the heat that his gaze burned on my skin as I flipped a page, playing with the green pen I was holding with my left hand.

"What are you reading?" He asked and I looked up from the paper to see him looking at the folders I had pulled out from behind the couch.

I reread a sentence on the page and noted my comments that I think would help in the case. "There's been some extrajudicial killings in Asia and the current administration is making it look like a manhunt of terrorists when in reality, they're just targeting the poor and defenseless."

Charles' eyebrows shot up as I moved on to the next page which I could already see was filled with paragraphs that needed to be revised. "You're a criminal lawyer?"

"I was." I said, writing down another comment and putting the paper back into the folder because that was the last page. I basically just wrote a bracket from the top of the page until the half and wrote the word revise in capital letters. "But now I work with the United Nations as a senior lawyer."

"Anything else I should now?"

"I prefer zero conversations before I've had my morning coffee." I said and I watched as he nodded in understanding because he has the same rule for his mornings. From the small window on his door, I saw one of the doctors peek inside and I knew they needed to run some more tests on him. "Any more questions?" I asked, standing up and crossing my arms over my chest as I walked nearer.