Brute

11. Kalki

Kalki walked into her room after the long day, she relaxed for a while. It was her 27th birthday, she was going to celebrate who cares even if she was all by herself? It couldn't possibly be that bad, plus she was in Monza, this place was probably full of people from all over the world here to watch a race right now. She told herself she would definitely find interesting people, it wouldn't be that difficult.

She wore the dress Anika had picked out for her, a simple burgundy slip dress but the way it fit her made her feel really confident. She styled her dark hair into a low bun, put on her heels and slung on a little purse to carry her phone. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time before heading out, she allowed herself some praise, she looked stunning.

She reached the restaurant just in time, having a birthday on a week day had its own advantages- getting reservations wherever you want. The host seated her at her table, promptly a waitress arrived with a menu. She thanked her and glanced through the items, deciding what she should get herself.

"A gorgeous person sitting here, all alone?" An angelic voice filled her ears. Kalki looked up from the menu and looked straight into the most azure eyes she had ever come across.

She studied his face for a bit and he took his time to do the same, dimpled cheeks, a strong jawline, neatly gelled back blond hair and a dazzling smile- he looked like a Hollywood actor from the old days, he looked too perfect to be real. Kalki snapped out of staring at him and laughed, apologising to him for looking at him funny.

"I'm Mick." He introduced himself.

"I'm Kalki." She smiled.

"So tell me Kalki, what are you doing here all by yourself?" He asked.

"Well, it's my birthday and I'm far from home but I still want to celebrate so here I am!" She said doing jazz hands.

"Happy birthday Kalki!" He grinned. "Now, why don't you join us? Nobody should be celebrating their birthday all by themselves."

"I couldn't possibly intrude on your dinner outing like that." Kalki said with hesitation.

"I got up and left the table to come talk to you, I'm pretty sure the dinner party had already been quite disturbed." He laughed. "It will be more fun this way, I promise! If I'm making you uncomfortable-"

"No, not at all. I'm quite comfortable."

"Then you must let me join your celebrations, I insist!"

What's the worst that could happen? Kalki thought, Mick seemed like a familiar face she couldn't quite pinpoint, and he hadn't made her feel unsafe. She had decided to have a night out so that she could meet people, and he was a person sure enough. A very pretty one that is.

"You win, lead the way." Kalki threw her hands up in defeat.

Mick was nothing short of a chivalrous man, helping her out of her chair, taking her hand ever so gently to guide her to his table. It was when they reached his table everything snapped into place, at his table sat Carlos, Charles and their team principal, Mattia. Mick had her seated and then decided to introduce everyone to each other.

"Everyone, this is Kalki. It's her birthday today."

"We have met before." Charles smiled, "Happy birthday to you!"

"Happy birthday Kalki." Carlos said.

Was being attractive one of the requirements to have the tag of being a Ferrari driver? Kalki thought to herself, because none of the three were bad looking. It was the opposite, each one of them handsome, incredibly handsome.

"Happy birthday! What brings you to Monza?" Mattia asked.

"Thank you! I'm actually starting work this weekend." Kalki said, she didn't know if she should bring up being with Red Bull here.

"What do you do?" Carlos asked.

There was no way to get around it, Kalki decided to rip the bandaid off. "I'm going to be working with Red Bull, image management and all that." She said as vaguely as she could.

"They could use all the damage control in this world." Mattia chuckled.

Kalki didn't like that fact she was wholeheartedly laughing with him in agreement, if Christian Horner could see this she would definitely lose her job before she even started.

"Don't reveal our trade secrets to them and we won't ask you about theirs." Charles joked.

"This was worth disrupting dinner." Mick smiled at her.

The five of them ate and discussed F1 with a lot of laughter, Kalki was having a good evening she couldn't think of having this evening spent any other way. When it came to settling the bill, Kalki was adamant on paying it, it was her birthday after all. But Mick was two steps ahead of her, he knew there would be a fight at the table about who pays, each person insisting they would. He had slipped to the cashier's counter when the rest of them were laughing about something.

"He's one sly boy, keep up this sneaky behaviour and you'll snag a Ferrari seat one day." Carlos laughed.

"I'm going back to the hotel now, have a good evening you youngsters. Just go to sleep at a decent hour, your trainers better not come after me for taking you out for dinner." Mattia bid adieu.

"I'm actually quite tired too, I'm taking an early night in bye guys!" Charles waved.

"Oh yeah! It's past the baby's bed time, sleep well our little fairy." Carlos teased him.

Charles rolled his eyes and continued his exit, Carlos too followed him out. The only one standing was Mick, he said that he couldn't drink until after the race, maybe they could delay the drinking to Sunday evening.

"That doesn't mean your night is over!" He looked at her.

"There's nothing to do now, I'll see you later-"

"The night is still young, we're in Italy, there's a dozen of shops selling gelato and you just want to go back to your hotel?"

"Now that you say it this way..." she grinned at him.

And then she found herself walking the town square in painful stilettos, eating lemon gelato and talking to the boy with the most brilliant eyes she had ever seen.