Her || Charles Leclerc

22. Out Of Sight, But On Your Mind

Charles parked his car close to the factory. Besides meeting fans and taking photos with them at the gate, he received a few gifts for his team principal. It was his first day back at the factory after Silverstone. He collected all the gifts and got out of the car. He looked at them. There were a few handwritten notes and a few stuffed animals. A soft smile grew on his face. He thought it was cute from the fans.

As he walked through the gates, the atmosphere shifted from the enthusiastic cheers from the fans to the more subdued workplace ambience. Charles couldn't help but wonder how Matilde was doing. It has been four days since he last saw her.

Deciding to leave the gifts in Matilde's office, Charles approached her office, which wasn't empty. He hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether to leave the gifts behind or not. He decided to go with the first option since he didn't know where else to leave them.

"Hello, can I leave this in Matilde's office?" Charles politely asked the woman behind Galileo's desk. Where was Galileo?

The woman looked up, showing some arrogance. "You can ask Mister Verratti."

Oh, right, Narciso Verratti was the interim team principal for now. Charles showed a small smile and nodded. He knocked on the glass door and waited until he got a response. Narciso looked up from his work and gave him a nod. Charles opened the door and stepped inside. "Hello," he smiled.

"Buongiorno, Charles," the businessman said. "It's good to see you. What can I do for you?"

"I have some gifts for Matilde," Charles said and looked at the gifts. He looked back up to Narciso, who looked at Charles like he was stupid. "Can I leave them here for when she comes back?"

Narciso took a deep breath and looked back at his computer screen. "Sure," he breathed. "You're not the first one. You can leave them in the corner," he said, pointing to the corner. "She's very loved, isn't she?" he mumbled.

Charles stepped towards the corner, but stopped walking when he heard those words. "Come again?" He turned around.

"Hmm, what?" Narciso looked at Charles again. "I was talking to myself, sorry."

"Ha," Charles replied, squinting his eyes while scanning the man. He placed the gifts alongside the other gifts on a cabinet and left the office. Charles walked through the engineer's department, finding it awfully quiet. The exchanged greetings lacked the usual energy. Did they all miss Matilde so much? How much influence did she have?

"Hey," Charles greeted the team. He sat down next to Xavi. Oh, shit, the golden birthday box in Matilde's desk drawer. His eyes shot to the glass office; he didn't want to disturb Narciso again.

"Hello," Xavi replied.

More engineers greeted Charles.

"Everything okay here?" Charles asked.

Xavi nodded. "Hmm-hmm, just as usual."

Charles nodded, leaning back in his chair. "Narciso seems very enthusiastic to be here," he sarcastically said. "It looks like his mood is affecting the entire building," he observed.

Looks were shared, but no words were exchanged.

The topic shifted to work-related things, and the past weekend was summarised. The collected data had already been processed, and they quickly began to talk about the setup for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Carlos also joined the talk with his team, just like a few others who were important to a race weekend. The things that they usually discuss during a meeting with Matilde are discussed during a spontaneous desk meeting without the interim team principal.