Do you belive in forever? (Max Verstappen)

Chapter 31

As expected, not only Charles was waiting for me, but all the drivers felt, but it was only the three Englishmen, the Australian and the Spaniards who stood next to the Monacan. So, I couldn't attract even more attention.

Daniel was the first to see me in the crowd and opened his arms for a hug, which I could use after the last 24h: "How is my little dwarf doing?" Outraged, I looked up to the Australian and released myself from his arms.

"I'm not a dwarf, I just got a little less sun and fertilizer. How am I supposed to go after I have also received my buses? Whenever you think it can't get any worse, fate proves you're going to do it," I muttered to myself.

Lando hugged me from the side, but he pushed in the wrong place and he hit my bruised ribs. Despite painkillers, I felt the pain and covered my face. Since I was pulling the air sharply, Lando had also noticed that he had probably hurt me unintentionally. In this moment the Englishman let me go and looked at me apologies.

I just waver because the pain was disappearing again: "Well, doesn't hurt anymore. But why are you all standing here? I thought you want to talk to me?" In the latter, I looked directly to the Monacan, which immediately scratched its neck embarrassed.

"Actually, we all wanted to talk to you and since Charles had told us beforehand that he was meeting you, we decided to come. Finally, I have to know how my dwarf is doing, because the big one is not really good," Daniel tried to bring some fun with it.

When he told me that Max wasn't doing well, I felt a knife in my heart. He should never be in a bad mood, even if it had been his decision. But it only took a second for the pain to elapse and I felt a spark of hope in me. If Max wasn't bad, he had to feel something for me, otherwise he would hardly care.

It was George who reminded us that we were still in public: "People we're still standing on the paddock and there are photographers." My eyes got big and I turned around so I could see the photographers myself. Since they could not be overlooked with their huge photo lenses, I had discovered both quickly and turned their backs on them again.

"We should really go, or we'll end up on the front page in all sorts of newspapers tomorrow," I agreed with George. Together we decided to drive in two cars to a park that was a little further away from the track, hoping not to be listened there.

When the guys wanted to go to the cars, I noticed their outfit: "If we want to stay undisturbed and unnoticed, maybe you should switch your outfits. Racing suits are not the best camouflage in a park." The six men had stopped and looked down at themselves, as they had probably forgotten that they had not yet moved.

"Oh," Charles then escaped, "I would have forgotten that. Let's meet again here, Hanna if you want, you can come with me quickly so that your colleagues don't bother you." I thought for a moment because I didn't know Charles as well as Lando or Daniel. But since I didn't want to stand here alone and wait for them, I nodded to the Ferrari driver.

So, it happened that I sat inside the Ferrari building and looked around the room. Charles had disappeared with his clothes in the bathroom and I was alone in his retreat room. Carefully, I looked around and recognized several pictures that I looked at more closely. One showed him on a podium, where he had probably just won a race. He had also taken a family photo, through my research I knew that his father was dead, so I found this photo beautiful and sad at the same time.

"That's Jules, he was my godfather, he was also a racing driver," I caught up. Charles stood in the door frame and looked at me. I felt bad because I had sniffed in his private things, even though the pictures were freely placed and not hidden.

I swallowed briefly because I knew what had happened to Jules: "Sorry, I didn't want to sniff in your stuff." Charles waved off and came over to me. His eyes were on the image of his godfather, one could feel the longing and yet Charles seemed to have learned to live with it.