𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Chapter 43

It was Thursday evening, I had spent the whole morning with Baba, the afternoon with Teo-that is pestering him in his break and now I was waiting to annoy my favourite boy in the whole world.

I waited a little outside the gates of the paddock for him, the security looked funny at me but I ignored them. A few minutes later, out walked the person I'd been craving to see for so long. It didn't take him more than a second to hurry towards me with his arms wide open.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you." He whispered holding me in his arms.

"You have no idea how long I've craved your familiarity." I said taking a deep breath, the way his arms wrapped around my back, the very recognisable smell of his perfume, the steady beat of his heart under my head I loved it all so much.

I don't think any feeling could ever replace how I felt while giving him a hug, we said goodbye to his entourage and headed to his apartment. The whole time we walked, he held my hand giving it an occasional kiss as I talked about what I had been up to.

He stopped to take pictures and sign autographs for some fans, but it was mostly people just saying they hoped he had a good weekend. Maybe finally a home race he'd do well at, I looked a little baffled. He laughed and decided to let me in on what was happening.

"It's the home race curse, I've never finished a race in Monaco. Always a mess." He laughed.

Even if he was laughing about it, I knew it stung him. Now it was my turn to give him a little kiss on the hand, "You're the hometown hero, this is your year. These are your streets, show them who's the prince of Monaco."

"Well it's Prince Albert." He smirked playfully.

"Charles!" I rolled my eyes, I couldn't help but giggle a little.

As expected, his house was a mess, in a state worse than my apartment is on a regular day. "Do you ever pick up after yourself?" I asked putting away a stack of sheet music that was just all over the coffee table.

"Well, yes but then sometimes I forget."

"How do you live like this?"

"Ma Chérie." He smiled, I knew exactly where he was going with this, "I still have-"

"A picture of your room during your writing process, papers everywhere." I finished his sentence.

"You're so smart." He ruffled my hair. "So what do you want to eat for dinner? Pasta or something else?"

"I'll eat whatever you're having." I said, still trying to make the living room like a person actually lived in it.

"That's not very helpful I'm having a preplanned meal my trainer already made for me."

"Oh. Uh well, I'll make myself a sandwich or something." I walked into the kitchen, where he was standing.

"Boring. I'm making you some good pasta, you just sit back."

"What if you give me food poisoning?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I know how to boil pasta, cut some vegetables and toss them in pesto." He scoffed.

"Alright then. I'll be cleaning your living room."

"Don't you think it's funny how we aren't exactly great housekeepers but we've gladly picked up each other's apartments?" He smiled.

"It is! It makes we wonder if our house together would be clean or a complete mess because we're both slobs." I laughed, and then slowly realised what I had just said. Shit. I'd probably scared him off. "Listen, like I didn't mean-"

"Mhm." He smirked. He diverted his attention back to the chopping board, I decided to leave my comfortable spot on the dining table chair and put back the rest of the things.

I looked around the room, he loved art more than I'd realised before. Every wall covered in a wonderful piece he had bought from local artists, some smaller decor pieces decorated the tables and display shelves. One particular style or movement of art didn't catch his eyes, it was so many different types and mediums.

I could see why Baba loved him so much, I could see why he liked being around the shop so much. His flat was nothing short of a museum and to me, he was the most treasured artwork in it. Even if right now he was struggling with opening the jar of pesto.

After a while, he let me know dinner was ready. We put on a show on TV and sat down in front of it to eat our meal. We spent more time making fun of the plot rather than actually watching the show. He made fun of the protagonists for being boring, calling them one dimensional and what not.

My jaws hurt from laughing, I had barely eaten anything. My belly was full from just how much he made me laugh. "You need to actually shut up, I haven't been able to eat!" I remarked.

I could see the look in his eyes right now, he looked so full of joy, there was a weird sense of contentment in them. They looked calm, but just as mesmerising as any time he put his charm to work.

"Come live with me." He said.

"What?" I looked at him.

"Think about it." He turned back towards the TV.

"Why can't you be normal and bring something big like this up after I'm done eating." I huffed.

"I didn't mean to make you lose your appetite! Is the idea of living with me really that unbearable?" He teased me.

"No! I'd love to but we're both in such different places in our lives right now." I admitted, "you've established yourself, and I'm still running on beginner's luck."

"Emiko!" He shook me.

"What?" I laughed at the sudden and unexpected contact, which certainly sent a jolt up my spine.

"You're a director now. That's not beginner's luck! That's being exceptionally good at what you do." He smiled.

"You always say the right words." I gushed.

"Imagine hearing them everyday, sounds pleasant no?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"You're pushing it now. I'm going home." I don't know where the annoyance came from but I hate than my voice was laced with it. I got up to place my dish in the sink, there was barely anything to clean so I decided to wash whatever was in the sink.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to annoy you." He whispered, hugging me from behind. Now there was only so much I could get mad at him, so I gave in.

"It's okay, I'm sorry for snapping out of nowhere." I turned around to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

"A kiss on the cheek isn't going to cut it." He smirked.

"What will then?"

"There's only so many times I get to see you in a year at least stay with me while you can, like this weekend."

Now this was a fair deal, kind of part two of pretending like we had a house together and we woke up to each other's faces every morning. I did want to be with him, be there to great him at home after a long haul away. I wanted to see him at the door after I came home tired from a shoot, but realistically, I still wasn't sure where my career was taking me. I needed some sort of stability somewhere, and how our relationship was panning out right now was stable to me- it gave me a sense of security.

"What? You haven't said yes or no." He looked at me.

"Yes my dear rat, I'm staying with you." I smiled.

"Good." He grinned, "I have to attend an event after the race, it's formal so I'd like for you to come as my date for the evening. And we need to work on a nice nickname for me." He shook his head.

"What's wrong with rat? You are my rat. You've burrowed your way into my heart." I laughed at the corny words coming out of my mouth.

"Yeah I could live with it."