Max Verstappen

Five years ago, Charles Leclerc spent an exchange semester at an institute in the Netherlands. There, he met a freshman named Max Emilian Verstappen.

He was quiet, too tall for his age, always wore his uniform disheveled, and seemed not to know what to do with his hair. Charles, immature and believing himself to be the king of the school, didn't take long to make him one of his favorite targets. He mocked him constantly, made comments about his appearance, and, along with a few friends, made his life miserable for months.

To Charles, Max was nothing more than "the weird, ugly exchange kid."

When the term ended, Charles returned to Monaco convinced that he would never see him again.

Five years later, now twenty years old and studying at one of the most prestigious universities in Monaco, Charles remained one of the most popular students on campus. Everyone knew him. He was attractive, charismatic, and had a huge group of friends consisting of Lando Norris, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and many others.

On the first day of the new semester, the dean announced the arrival of a transfer student from the Netherlands.

When the boy walked through the classroom door, the entire room fell silent.

Tall. Blonde. Confident. He was dressed impeccably and walked as if the place belonged to him.

—Max Emilian Verstappen.

It took Charles several seconds to react.

It couldn't be.

Was that the same boy he had called ugly for an entire semester?

Max barely gave him a glance before sitting at the back of the classroom, completely indifferent, as if Charles were just another stranger.

While the rest of the students couldn't stop turning around to look at him and comment on how attractive the new student was, Charles couldn't stop asking himself one single question.

"When the hell did he get so hot?"

And, for the first time in many years, the problem wasn't whether Max remembered him.

It was that Charles couldn't stop looking at him.