Brute

10. Kalki

The morning was particularly windy today, Kalki was a little bummed about not being able to celebrate her birthday with the people she loved. But not everybody could brag about flying down to Milan on a Tuesday. Her friends, Razia and May were here to see her off. It always surprised her how they would go months without talking to each other but the relationship never changed.

She had known them since they were fifteen, but they really grew closer only in university. Their friendship had survived it all, they knew each other's families well too. Neel had nicknamed them the discount Regina Georges. Anika would join them in ragging Neel.

"Congratulations and you're absolutely going to kill it!" May have her a hug.

"You've got this! Just don't kill him and be the sweetie we know you are deep down inside." Razia smiled.

"I'll try but it's soooo difficult." Kalki sighed.

"Every time you feel like you're closing to going feral, send us a text or call us up..."

"And we'll talk you out of committing a crime!" May suppressed her laughter.

"You girls are mean!" Kalki rolled her eyes.

"You know we're right!" They spoke at the same time.

They wished her a happy birthday and parted ways, it was time for her to check in, sit at the lounge and finally board the airplane to her new future. As she got on to the plane, with every step she was second guessing all the decisions she had made. Should she turn around and get off? Was she making a mistake? Her thoughts were thankfully interrupted by an air hostess who said her tickets had been upgraded to business class- Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad after all.

An hour later, she was in Milan, a representative from RedBull stood at the arrival terminal with a placard that had her name on it. He helped her with the luggage and they were on her final stretch of the journey, Milan was pleasant, so much warmer than Antwerp. She took pictures of the sights and scenes from her window to send to the girls and her family.

Anika: wow! It's so beautiful 😍

Ma: Ah! Milan is wonderful as ever

Papa: What do you say? It's been years, should we go again?

Neel: vacation?? Yayyyyy!!!

Papa: You are not invited, none of the children are invited.

Anika: I'll be going to walk the runaway one day anyway 💅✨

Papa: what is 💅✨??

She chuckled at Anika trying to explain what the emojis expressed while her father still completely missed the point of them. They had reached the hotel in Monza, she thanked him and grabbed her bags. She waited in the lobby for Raymond, who had told her this would be the one and only weekend he'll show her around the ropes.

"How was your flight? I hope you've been well." He smiled walking towards her.

"My flight was great! How are you doing?" She greeted him.

"I've been good, really relaxed now that you'll be taking over the most stressful aspect of my career." He joked. "Come this way! Let me walk you to your room." He said taking her suitcase.

He led her to the floor the team had booked for themselves, from the silence she figured either everyone was gone or getting ready for the day that awaited them. Raymond told her to take her time to freshen up and get ready for the track, he would text her when they needed to go.

"Thank you so much. I really hope that I'm able to do my work up to your expectations-"

"My expectations? No Kalki, I've hired you to do things your way. So, the only expectations you're living up to are yours." He declared.

"Oh-" Kalki blurted, "I'm sorry that was embarrassing."

"Don't be! I'm glad we could get that clear before you started."

She thanked him and entered the room assigned to her, it was nice. So nice. It was better than any of the rooms she was assigned during fashion weeks, the idea of people in fashion making a lot of money was a clear myth- she had learnt that very soon. You have to be a someone before you can justify why someone should pay you as much.

Kalki let her friends and family know she had reached Monza and then stepped into the shower. After a good shower, she decided to pick out an outfit, she needed to look sharp, let everyone- especially Max Emilian know she meant business. Sticking to the theme, she chose to wear a white blouse with beige trousers and take a blazer along, just in case.

Raymond: Are you ready? We head to track in 10

Kalki: I'm ready!

Raymond: Good. You can come to the lobby right now if you want, no harm in heading to work early.

They were chauffeured to the track, and unlike the last time Kalki had been to the paddock everything was still in the process of being built. She was confused why Raymond had brought her here, luckily he answered her question soon.

"You must be wondering what we're doing in a half built paddock, is this old man losing his marbles?" He chuckled.

"Well, I am wondering what we are doing here but you've shown me on many occasions you're as sharp a tack."

"You flatter me Burman." Raymond laughed, "It's important for you to familiarise yourself with the people around him before you travel with them. Let's start with the team."

He introduced her to all the mechanics and technicians, they had a chat and they were more than glad to answer every question she had. Talking to all of them reignited that childlike fascination she had always had for motorsport. They spent about two hours before heading back to the hotel, he wanted her to meet the engineers as well as the PR and marketing staff.

She hit it off with the Marketing team, their current responsibilities reminded her a lot of the times she would have to absolutely market the hell out of her models to get them projects. Anna, the intern was particularly kind to her and it made sense both of them were new.

"Are you tired yet?" He asked her.

"No, not really." She answered.

"Good! Because now I will talk to you about the people in his personal circle."

"Ah yes the gossip." She giggled, "I'm kidding. I'm very professional."

"We'll see about that." He teased her, "anyway, let me continue. Obviously, you'll be dealing with Jos Verstappen the most. He likes to be present for as many  races possible and he's going to ask you a lot of questions about every decision you make. Max's mother Sophie, she'll attend a race Jos isn't at. She only wants the best for her boy and won't interfere at all. Evi, his girlfriend- I think the two of you will hit it off! She's an intelligent girl, she rarely has problems with any decisions but any sort of promotional stuff, Max likes to run ideas by her before going through with it."

"His close circle seems fine, I'll try my best to keep them alright with whatever Max's up to." She smiled in assurance.

"Good! Before I forget, tomorrow I'd like you to meet Christian and Helmut over breakfast. I need to show them who I'll be handing the reins over to."

"Raymond! Don't make it sound like you're retiring!" Kalki protested.

"I'm not! I'm just so happy that half my headache is now yours." He grinned.

"I'll be prepared for breakfast tomorrow morning, nothing to worry about." She nodded.

"Alright then! That was your day. I'm off to dinner with my wife now, what are your plans?"

"Dinner and some drinks, it's my birthday today." She smiled.

"Burman! You're supposed to say that at the start of the day!"

"See! It would have gotten an overreaction out of you, I wanted to learn things today and I did. Thank you! I hope you have a good evening." She said.

"Thank you. Have fun! But no too much you're meeting some important people tomorrow." He walked off.

"Yes sir, I'll be on my best behaviour."