Foggy Mirrors | Max Verstappen

Chapter 24 - THE PRESENT

The seats were all empty. The theatre was hulled in darkness. But she was still acting. She was still wearing one of her so carefully crafted masks. Her back overly straight, her shoulders pulled back, her chest pushed forward. Leanne never allowed herself to take a deep breath and just relax. Not when over the years she wasn't so sure if she was still acting, if it was still a role she was playing or if this twisted creature she saw when she looked into the mirror was actually her true self. Everything that had survived all that morphing, all the change.

Being with Max was always dangerous. He was a danger to the carefully crafted reality which Leanne called her own, because he so easily pointed out all the flaws. He saw the truth behind well told lies. He saw through her bullshit and if someone could so clearly see the truth and called her out any opportunity given, it became unbearable to keep up the mask, to kept on acting.

All he wanted to see was her true self, but Leanne wasn't sure that anything of the girl he had fallen in love all these years ago had truly survived. Of course, there were splitter of that girl here and there in her movement or the way she carried herself, but maybe that was all that was truly left. Leanne was afraid Max would realise that one day and leave her too.

Max had a tick to instantly pointing out what Leanne barely saw, he easily named what was to her unnameable.

He was the one who tried to coax her out of her cage. The cage, whose door was wide open. Leanne had opened it herself many years ago. And she could just walk out, anytime she wanted, but she was still here, still sitting in the cage, because she was afraid that she didn't know who she was when she wasn't serving her family, because that was all she ever did. Leanne served her family, there was no pretty word to be used for it.

Sometimes she wondered what would happen, if she would just stop. If she would just put one foot in front of the other and run. Leave the cage behind her, but her duty towards Isa would always pull her back into that cage, because Isa was living there too, unaware that the golden thing around her wasn't the sun, but her restrain, her prison. She never seemed to spread her wings and fly. She was a bird with chirped wings, all she ever knew was that cage and she blossomed in it, while Leanne had to go great lengths not to fade away.

Lounging in Max's bed bare, just a blanket which was twisted around her hips was protecting Leanne from fresh air around her cooling skin while she was laying on her belly, her head lolled to the side so she could watch Max coming back from the bathroom. He sat down on his side of the bed, before resting against the pillows, one of his arms stretched out behind his head, while he reached out with the other, barely touching the side of Leanne's jaw.

"Alright?" He wondered, which caused Leanne to push her thoughts away and smile at him gently before nodding. Max knew her too well.

"I really don't want to move." Leanne muttered switching to their native language which caused Max to smile sightly as well as he stroke gently over the soft skin of her cheek. Leanne sounded so very different when she was speaking Dutch, untroubled and charmingly grumpy.

"You know you can stay here for as long as you want." Max pointed out softly, not about to push her from the corner of his bed, his finger gently brushing up and down Leanne's naked back earning himself a sound in approval.

"Too bad I have to do my skincare routine. People want me pretty after all." She mumbled into the pillow, earning herself a snort in amusement from Max before he moved down beside her a bit, laying on top of the blanket, causing Leanne to lift her upper body. Her fingers tracing Max's chest muscle at first before gently moving her fingers, scratching the Dutchman slightly from time to time as her fingers moved over his throat and Adam's apple up his chin where she stopped, only to use her forefinger and thumb to pull him closer slightly, causing Max to move forward and pull Leanne into a gentle kiss. Just a brush of lips. Again and again before deepening the kiss to leave them breathless.