La Rosa Gialla

Chapter 48

Soooo...I don't really know what happened but I noticed how much the reads went up. So thank you everyone and welcome. Hope you like this story. Please feel free to vote and comment :) Also...I'm not a native speaker, so I'm sorry for any mistakes I make. 
-B. 

September 2024

As there was a week's break between Monza and Baku, we decided to stay in Italy. Charles was once again Il Predestinato, who won Ferrari's home race and is fighting for his championship title. His face was on the front pages of almost all the newspapers, and the TV was constantly talking about "a lucky but important victory." Even if he was the biggest hero to all of Italy, I was still sick to my stomach about how he treated me during the race weekend. And the worst part was that he didn't even notice it. Since Monday morning, I gave him an angry look and frowned at him regularly every about 2 hours. But it was useless because he lived on his cloud of euphoria and did not register my sulking at all.

"What's going on with you two again?" Dad asked when we headed over to his place for dinner during the week off. I arrived a few hours before Charles to help him set everything up. "Nothing, I'm waiting for an apology," I grumbled as I mixed olive oil, salt and pepper into the salad. "For what?" Dad smirked.

"For acting like a jerk all weekend."

"And don't you think you could try to understand him at least a little?"

"I understand him. I totally understand him. It was a lot for him. He's been under a lot of pressure all season. I understand all this. But I refuse to accept that he ignores me because of it." I got so angry that half of the torn salad leaves flew out of the bowl and onto the kitchen counter. Dad just laughed dryly again and shook his head.

"I thought you had all your communication issues resolved," Dad remarked, returning the vegetables to the bowl.

"We had. These are more non-communication issues," I grumbled.

It was half past seven in the evening and there was still no sign of Charlie. Frowning, I alternately hypnotized the clock on the wall and the screen of my phone. The worst scenarios started running through my head because they were the only ones that could excuse him. Unless he's been abducted by aliens, hit by a meteorite, or eaten by a sandworm, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do. I tried to call him, several times. But even after many seconds of ringing, none of my calls were picked up. An hour later I finally received a text message: "Sorry, I can't make it today."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I pointed the phone at my dad's face so he could take a look. "Surely he has a good reason for that..." I raised my hand as a sign for him not to say anything else and I angrily finished the rest of the salad, which suddenly tasted somehow bitter.

"I guess it just had to happen sooner or later. Everything was so perfect and in the last few days, it's like everything has turned one hundred and eighty degrees," I muttered to Kala on the phone. "It's just a small crisis. You can't jump to conclusions right away. Wait till tomorrow and talk about it. You have to consider that Charles is a man," she said and I looked at her with an amused smirk. "Charles is a man, so he has no sense of responsibility and doesn't understand that you're upset until you tell him."

"I think your comment is very offensive to the majority of the male population," I laughed. She shrugged, "Maybe. But try to convince me otherwise."

Charles didn't call the next morning either. Of course, I had the urge to get in the car and go after him, but I knew that in a rush of emotion, I would say things that I didn't really mean, so I dismissed that option and continued to sulkily chug my cappuccino and tap my foot non-rhythmically on the floor. "Still nothing?" Dad asked and I just shook my head silently. I checked my phone again. "How long does a person have to be missing for you to act the police?" I muttered and my dad looked at me pitifully.

Two hours later, I heard the roar of an engine outside the house and the cracking of gravel in the driveway, I jumped off the couch and ran to the window with only one thought: "Please, let it be him!"