Do you belive in forever? (Max Verstappen)

Chapter 27

"Excited for the race on Sunday," I somehow tried to build a conversation. Max raised an eyebrow and looked at me amused. This only made me even more nervous than before.

The smile on his lips become wider: "Do you really want to talk about our jobs?" I quickly shook my head, but it was the first issue that had come to mind. But now I was almost embarrassed again.

'No, of course not, I just didn't know what to say. After all, no words could make my behavior good again. Max I'm really sorry, and I don't know what to do. I just don't want to lose you, to be ignored by you is worse than anything else," the Dutchman looked at me neutrally.

Only slowly did he decouple himself from his rigid expression: "You apologize really often, for the same thing. You don't have to do anything, except maybe you don't have to drive into a tree anymore. Do you know how I felt when I saw you in the hospital bed? I thought maby I will never see you again. Promise me never to drive tired again, then we are quit." His eyes had been full of concern, which in turn had touched me a little. Indirectly, I had told me that I didn't care about him, otherwise he wouldn't have worried.

"I am now looking for an apartment in Munich, then there are no more three hours of way to work," I explained. Max was more than satisfied with that. It was also more than he could have expected, unless his sister had already told him about our plan next week.

Max took a sip of his water: "Sounds like a good plan. Maybe I'll come to you, or better you'll come to Monaco. Have you ever been to Monte Carlo?" I quickly shook my head, I've never been able to travel big before, only since I worked for Sky. My father hates flying, which is why as children we only had a holiday by car.

"You will love it; the city is really beautiful. But you'll see that for yourself in just over a month. If you want, you can sleep by me during the race weekend, I mean I still have a guest room free," Max's eyes had lit up when he spoke of Monaco. He seemed to really love the country, so I couldn't stop smiling.

Cautiously, I looked at Max: "Your offer is really nice, but I don't know what Sky would say about it. After all, they pay us everything, so your offer is euphemistic. I really thank you, but I can't accept your offer." Slightly disappointed, Max looked at me, but you could see that he could understand my arguments.

"Would have been a stupid idea because of paparazzi. During the race weekend the whole of Monte Carlo is full of them, otherwise mine actually has a pretty good privacy, but this weekend it's always quite bad", Max tried to make his own idea bad. Unable to speak, I just nodded and took a sip of my coke.

The waiter came into the room with two plates full of salad and put them in front of us: " Enjoy your meal!" Max and I thanked us as it was. But we both waited with the food until we were both alone in the room again.

"So, my sister helped you organize this?" Max wanted to keep a conversation going as we made our way over the salad. Since I had just put a lettuce leaf in my mouth, I just nodded to him.

I quickly swallowed down, so I could really answer him: "I don't really know myself here, their contacts were really helpful. I also thought, who better to know what you love than your sister. When I asked her, she almost couldn't stop planning."? Max started laughing.

'Victoria loves to plan things, once she's started, she knows almost no end. Do you really have siblings?" I looked at Max in surprise. I honestly thought I'd told him about my brother before.

Immediately I caught again and answered the Dutchman his question: "I have an older brother, Leon. He is studying law in Zurich." Max was impressed, but I was not the one who studied law. On the contrary, I had never studied and would probably never do it, even my family want it. 

Not that I wasn't smart enough, but just too lazy. If I was interested in something like ice hockey, I could really throw myself into work, but things like algebra I could never win anything, so I wanted to finish my school career as soon as possible.

"Then I should be more careful, otherwise your brother will suing me," the Dutchman joked. Of course, it was just fun, but I couldn't resist going into it and challenging Max.

Played in shock, I looked at him: "Why should he? Have you killed anyone?" Luckily, the Dutchman understood the fun and just shook his head with a smile on his lips.

"Don't kill, but if I keep his sister captive, I think he has a reason," Max said dryly. It probably should have sounded a little more romantic, but Max really wasn't good at it. That's why I could just laugh.

The Dutchman looked at me in question, who probably couldn't quite understand my laugh flash: "The sound just so absurd, excuse me. In addition, he can't do anything if his sister likes to stay with a certain racer. Max, I mean it seriously, I'd like to get to know you better and find out if there's more than just friendship."

"I know Hanna, you said that enough times in the last 24 hours, but I honestly don't know if I can. In the last few days, I have often thought about your fear and what if we were a couple. You could really lose your job and I would be the reason. If I know anything about you, then how much you love this job and I don't want to be the reason why your dream is shattered," Max confessed to me.

My mouth had become dry, and I was just bad: "Dreams can change Max, I don't need the job to be happy when you're with me." The Dutchman shook his head, which only made me more frightened.

"What if one day I don't give you enough, Hanna. I don't want you to lose everything because of me and then regret it. I'm sorry, I should probably do better," the Dutchman left me alone. He had just left, and I couldn't explain what had happened. From one second to the next, he seemed to have changed his mind. I was sure he wanted it, but he had left.

Slowly the message arrived in my brain and a tear broke out of my eyes. I buried my face in my hands and tried to gather a clear thought. Normally I would have called Jessi directly, but she was on another continent and couldn't do anything. So, I chose the only number I had from a driver who had helped me a lot in the last few hours.

"Hanna, are you done?" he seemed to eat not only with Charles. In the background I was able to make the voice of George and Lando. The latter had probably heard my name and instructed Daniel to switch up loudly.

I wanted to keep Daniel out, but I was too late: "Hanna and can I plan the wedding now?" If the McLaren driver wanted to know, I could be sure that everyone would be waiting for my answer. Since I didn't want to cry in front of everyone, I quickly tried to suppress the tears and suppress my grief in my voice.

"There will be no wedding", I was sorry for my attempt. I had heard my voice all too well that I was crying. Shortly it had become quiet on the other side.

Before Charles first caught himself: "What happened?" A sobbing escaped me before I could slap my hand on my mouth. So, the last one had understood that I was just crying my eyes out.

"Are you still in the restaurant?" asked Daniel. I whimpered to him because I couldn't pull myself together anymore. But the Australian didn't need more, because he just gave up.

Again, I leaned on the table and buried my face in my hands. I cried bitterly in front of me, as I was sure that everything was now out between Max and me. Even though we had never been a couple, it felt like my heart had been ripped out. In fairness, I was to blame for the situation myself, because I had realized too late that my heart had long since belonged to the Dutchman.

I could hear several steps coming, but I remained seated in my position: "Everything will be fine, Hanna. It's okay.' I heard Daniel's voice right next to me. He must have been the one who had drawn me to him. Based on the votes, I could be sure that Lando and the other two Britons were also here.

Carefully, George pulled my hands off my face: "He's not worth a tear, come smiling you're much more beautiful." It was really nicely meant by the Brit, but at the moment I really didn't feel like laughing. Which I also told him with a shake of the head.

I was really grateful to the boys for coming, even if Jessi would have preferred me. But the four really struggled to calm me down and upend me. But I just wanted to go back to my hotel room and hope that I didn't have to see Max anymore.

"I want to go back to the hotel", without saying anything for a long time Daniel simply lifted me up. I was more than grateful to him for that, because I wasn't sure if my feet could have carried me.

Trapped between Lando and George, I sat in the middle of the back seat of Daniel's rental car. My head was leaning against Lando's shoulder as I continued to cry my eyes. I could feel the tiredness coming, crying was always so exhausting.

Just before falling asleep, I had already closed my eyes when I heard the conversation from the boys: "Does she sleep?" It was clearly Alex who asked. George quickly came up with a yes. Because I was so tired, I didn't correct the British either.

"Hopefully the others will get out from Max what happened. I really thought they had finally realized they belonged together," George said. So, I knew that obviously Charles and some other drivers had driven to the Dutchman. For me, however, this did not change the situation in which I found myself. I had fallen in love with a driver, and yet he didn't want me.

As Lando got back in the car seat, it briefly jerked a little, but I just stayed with my eyes closed: "We could just lock them up somewhere, like in teenage movies." This idea came from Lando, but he only got laughs.

"Have you heard about the law? That would be deprivation of liberty and would be punishable," Alex said. I was glad that the others dismissed this as a stupid idea, because I didn't want to be locked in a room with Max. Not after today.

From Lando came only a sigh, he probably did not find his plan so bad, if it was not the matter with the laws: "Did anyone get a message from Charles or Carlos?" Daniel, who was driving, could hardly look at his phone and hoped that one of the others would look quickly.

"Nothing yet," Lando said. The other two agreed with his answer one by one. Whether this was good or bad, I couldn't say, because I didn't even know what I would have defined as good news.

The voices of the four sounded from ever further away, and it became much harder for me to follow their conversation at all. When exactly I had fallen asleep, I couldn't say anymore, but I couldn't remember the news of Charles. Only that he had probably written to them in a driver chat, I must have already dawned too much, into a dreamless sleep.

Race weekend! Thanks for every Star and Read, cheers everyone. -XxxFabi