Chapter XV. Home To You

my vivi 💕
when were you going to tell
me that you're injured

fake bf 🙄
oh fuck what do i do ?!
AHAKSBWKWHLIAKAJ
DELETED

fake bf 🙄
i should act dumb
DELETED

fake bf 🙄
what are you talking about??
i'm not injured

my vivi 💕
don't play dumb with me
i'm serious right now
i saw your game and you weren't
playing, you weren't even in the
subs and i found out through
max fucking verstappen that
you're injured

fake bf 🙄
gotta love max, he's a
real one, a true culer

my vivi 💕
pedri please i'm not in the
mood of jokes right now

fake bf 🙄
ok fine yes i'm injured
and i'm sorry that
i didn't tell you, i just didn't
want you to worry

fake bf 🙄
i didn't want to be a
hindrance between you and
your work

my vivi 💕
do you really think that you're
a hindrance to me? that's
just absurd! you said it
yourself that we're friends
and then you act like we aren't

my vivi 💕
and wdym you didn't want me
to worry??? ofc i'll worry for you
because i care for you

fake bf 🙄
i did not want to push my
luck by assuming that i'm
important enough for you to
worry

my vivi 💕
wow just wow
i can't with you like at all
you ARE important to me

my vivi 💕
can you imagine how i felt
when i found out that you're
injured and it might be serious
enough for you to miss half
the games

fake bf 🙄
that's the main reason i
did not want to tell you

my vivi 💕
well, you should've

fake bf 🙄
yes i know and i'm
sorry
seen at 14:23 pm

fake bf 🙄
mi amor ???
seen at 14:23 pm

fake bf 🙄
are you really that mad that
you're gonna leave me on
seen?
seen at 14:24 pm

fake bf 🙄
baby, my sweetheart i'm
sorry i just didn't want you to
worry
seen at 14:25 pm

fake bf 🙄
pls respond 😔
seen at 14:26 pm

"I'm going to Spain." Vivienne declares while putting down her phone on the coffee table.

Charles' eyebrows raise up to his forehead at Vivienne's sudden declaration. He pauses the movie they had been watching and turn towards his little sister to fully assess. A furrow takes over his expression when he realises how stiffly Vivienne is sitting as if she's ready to bolt out of the front door.

He casts one look around the house to see if there are any prying ears only to see that the house is empty except for Arthur sleeping in his room while everyone else is out of the house.

"Why?" He asks, "And so suddenly?"

Vivienne nods her head while exhaling deeply.

"Yeah. I-uh I need to do something there..?" Her answer comes out as a question in itself making herself internally scoff at her inability to lie to her family especially Charles.

Her answer makes Charles look at her suspiciously, "Are you sure it's not because of Pedri."

Vivienne scrunches her nose, "Why would me going to Spain have anything to do with Pedri?"

Charles gives her a look, a certain look that screams don't play dumb with me.

Instead of answering, Vivienne averts her eyes away from his, staring at anything othet than him. Charles calls out her name again but when she still doesn't say anything, he sighs and grabs her hand which finally makes him look at her.

"Vivi," He says gently, "You going to Spain so suddenly, especially in the middle of your recording session, has everything to do with Pedri."

His words cause her to deflate, making her lose the faux nonchalant mask she'd been displaying in front of him.

"It's because Max told you about Pedri getting injured, right?" Charles guesses.

Vivienne's silence is enough to answer his question.

"Oh ma soeur," He shakes his head as if he'd been dreading this outcome, "You're not acting like this is fake."

Vivienne's eyebrows furrow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're not treating this relationship between you and him like a PR one."

"Stop talking nonsense." She scoffs and attempts to move away from him but he holds on to her hand.

"Am I really talking nonsense?" He counters, "Who would ever leave something so important like an ongoing recording session to go visit their fake boyfriend because he has a hamstring injury?"

"Umm...a good human being." She answers his rhetorical question, "Anyways, let me go because I need to pack some stuff and book a ticket."

"Now, you're just trying to divert the subject."

"Maybe because you're spewing nonsense!" She snaps at him.

"And this is called denial." He states in a know-it-all manner.

"You're being delusional if you think I like Pedri romantically." With that, she pulls her hand away from his grasp and stomps towards her room. With an annoyed huff, she scoffs at the thought of Charles implying that she has feelings for Pedri that are other than platonic.

Charles shouts, "I just don't want you to get hurt again, Vivi!"

Vivienne slams the door to stop his voice from reaching her ears but before the door fully closes, she hears his shout again in which he exclaims,

"And I never even said that you liked Pedri. You said it yourself!"

The caller id fake bf 🙄 lights up her screen as she picks up the call with a roll of her eyes.

"Why do you need my address for?" Is the first thing Pedri asks her. He sounds confused and concerned at the same time as if he can't fathom why would she need his address for.

"Just because." Comes her clipped reply.

She hears Pedri sigh from the other side of the phone.

"I'm a little confused here because you left me on seen since yesterday and also left my 36 calls unattended and 72 messages unread and now you suddenly want my address." He says slowly as if he doesn't want to provoke her wrath. "Forgive me, darling but I must say you sound highly suspicious."

"You don't get to tell me about sounding suspicious especially after you and your stupid reasons for not telling me about your injury." She seethes into the phone while tapping her foot against the floor restlessly.

"I know you're angry with me, mi vida but-"

"But what?" She asks, "You deliberately kept your injury from me."

"I know but in my defence, I did not think that it would matter to you-"

She cuts him off again, this time with anger bleeding through her voice.

"You think that you don't matter to me? That your injury, your pain, anything to do with you doesn't matter to me? That I don't care for you? Well, news flash, I do care about you and everything, every little thing, about you matters to me. Don't give me this bullshit, Pedri." Vivienne huffs.

She hears him take a deep breath as if what she'd just said is too much for him to take in.

She doesn't understand why she's still so angry with him but the fact that he thinks he's not important enough for her is just absurd to her. Who did he think he was to keep his injury a secret from her, assuming she does not care about him.

Something has shifted between them and it's brought them closer and for him act so indifferently about it makes her scared.

Silence settles between them for a moment before it's broken by him.

"Can you forgive me?" His voice sounds tired, as if he's mentally exhausted and it makes Vivienne's anger falter. The thought that she's being unreasonable crosses her mind, that she's putting her anger in a misplaced area. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I promise I won't do it again. I don't like fighting with you."

"...Me too." She replies after a pause in a breathy whisper. "But still I can't believe you'd think I would prioritise superficial things over you."

"I'm sorry, I'm stupid."

His answer makes her laugh. She shakes her head with a small grin as she replies, "That you are."

He laughs and god, does it sound beautiful? She fears that beautiful might not be the correct word for how beautiful it is. His laugh sounds heavenly and it makes her yearn for him to be close to her.

"So...are we good?" He says hesitantly after a some moments of silence.

A beat passes and then she replies, "Yeah, we're good."

She hears him sigh in relief and even she can't deny the fluttering feeling that arises in her after resolving this. She's never felt this way before and it makes her feels light like a feather.

"Pedri," She calls out and he hums in response from the other side of the phone.

"Yes, amor?"

"Just...just know that you're important to me, okay?"

Charles' voice echoes in her head, telling her that her feelings regarding Pedri are slowly but surely changing but with a furious shake of her head, she pushes hin out of her mind.

She does not like him like that and she never will, she vows to herself.

Pedri himself has said that he's not looking for a relationship. It'll be too much of a heartbreak for her already broken heart to fall in love with a man who has deemed himself emotionally unavailable.

The comfortable silence that had settled between them was once again broken by Pedri.

"Though why did you need my address for?" He asks curiously and Vivienne can mentally picture his furrowed eyebrows and his adorable nose scrunch he does when he's confused.

"I still need it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm in Spain in Barcelona, at the airport." She clarifies.

"Wh-what?!" He stutters in shock.

"Yes. I'm here as your appointed nurse."

"Mi amor, what the fuck! What are you doing in Barcelona?! You know what that doesn't matter, just share your live location with me, I'm coming to get you."

vivienneleclerc posted a story |
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