Burning Heart // CL16

Forty Eight

February 14th, Monaco

Alessia's POV

"Lace!" I hear from behind me at the door and if I was holding anything in my hands other than Ruby I would have dropped it in shock at the sight of Kiraz in the doorway. "What a surprise seeing you here..." she says with a smirk and I just look around to try and check that I am in Monaco, in Charles's house like I think I am and not somewhere else.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her as I place Ruby down on the play mat and walk over to Kiraz, throwing my arms around her neck and hug her tightly, the nerves and anxiety fading in an instant admiring the tight form fitting dress she was wearing. Damn, my best friend was hot.

"It's Valentine's Day... I wanted to be with my soulmate," she says with a smirk and I instantly look down at Ruby before she laughs at my reaction. "Bee is the love of my life but honey, you are my soulmate," she affirms and I grin as I kiss her cheek with a smile, weirdly relieved that she is here despite really not expecting it. "It's a nice flat..." she trails off and I look around with a slight smile as I nod.

Since coming back from Edinburgh, Charles and I had really made an effort to try and make this flat feel more like a home. The boxes in most of the house were unpacked and important rooms like the living room, Ruby's playroom and the study were fully operational. I still hadn't really been able to use the study because by the time it was put together, Charles had left to go to Maranello but it was there. The car launch was once again on the 14th and so I knew that I wouldn't see him until tomorrow or the day after depending on any more sponsorship things that he had going on. He said he was going to message me later today with his travel plans back but until then it was just me and Ruby... and now Kiraz apparently.

"Yeah, it's getting there. Having more of our stuff here helps but... it still doesn't feel right. I'm trying but I can't... I can't get myself to feel comfortable here..." I tell her as I look down and see Ruby crawling towards us, chubby little arms wrapping around Kiraz's heeled ankles as she sits and giggles."She seems happy enough though, so I think it's just me and if it's just me... then I'll cope, for their sake," I tell her and she looks impressed with my maturity which was still half fake because while we had both put effort into the flat, we were still struggling to talk to one another. I still just couldn't handle it and I don't think he could either. Every time Ruby was napping and we were both walking around the flat, bumping into each other it was just sort of awkward, like two strangers in the aisle of a supermarket, awkwardly trying to get past.

"Well... show me to the guest bedroom," she demands and I chuckle as I pick up Ruby and carry her up the stairs towards the second floor where the other bedrooms are and watch Kiraz struggle with her huge case with a smile on my face, laughing relentlessly at her as I pull out my phone to record. Ruby's uncontrollable giggles could also definitely be heard as she watched her aunt try to make it up the stairs, huffing and puffing all the while.

"Did you talk to him about it before coming or just decide that you fancied a holiday?" I ask her curiously and she smirks at me to silently signal that it's the latter of the two options. She smiles lightly as she follows me  into the room and looks around, lugging her enormous suitcase with her as she does, admiring the nicer of our two guest bedrooms. God, this flat was huge... it was so damn nice...

"Not quite a holiday to be totally honest though... with Instagram and stuff only growing as well as some of the marketing work I'm doing with the brands I collaborate with - I'm looking for a second home," she tells me and my mouth drops open as my eyes widen.

"What? Monaco?" I ask her incredulously and she nods, nerves clear in her eyes. "Why?"

"I miss you guys, you and Ruby. Besides, it's not like I can't do my job anywhere in the world and Monaco is a pretty darn good place to work from for an instagrammer... you're here, Ruby's here. Maybe even a future husband, I don't know but yeah. Would that be okay?" She asks nervously and I just nod my head rapidly as tears sting at my eyes because she has no idea how much I missed her. Even when I was in Scotland I had seen her a minimum of a week a month if not longer sometimes, being away from her and my mum. Only having Ruby here for comfort had been really hard... having more of my people here, well that was really going to help!