Brute

3. Max

He woke up early that morning, earlier than usual he wanted to go out for a run before his commitments for the day. It looked like it was going to be a rainy day in Stavelot, stepping out of the doors of the hotel he realised it was already drizzling.

He sighed, pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and started his warm up. He liked this town, it reminded him a little bit of Hasselt, as he jogged around the streets taking more of it in he realised it had been years since he had been back  to Hasselt, he wondered if much had changed.

By the time the sun was starting to rise, he noticed people looking at him. He heard some whispers, a little boy continued looking at him with stars in his eyes, even if his father kept telling him it was rude. Max gave him a kind smile and a small wave.

"It's him! Da! It really is!" The boy squealed.

"Who?" His dad asked him.

"It's him!" He squealed pointing at him sitting on a bench, drinking some water. "He's my favourite! He's the world champion." The boy looked at him in admiration.

Max could hear the admiration in the child's voice, he looked at him and waved at him, letting him know it was okay for him to approach Max. Almost instantly, the boy ran in his direction.

"Wow." The boy sighed catching his breath, "your eyes are even more blue in person. I want to be just like you when I grow up." He beamed revealing his smile that was missing a few teeth.

"Is that so? What's your name?" Max asked him.

"I'm Hugo." He stood up straight, introducing himself, "I am eight years old and I started Karting last year."

"Are you good at it Hugo?"

"I try," he shrugged, "but there's this girl named Martine she's so fast it's hard to keep up. I do beat her on track sometimes though."

But there's a girl, she's so fast it's hard to keep up. It brought back something in Max's mind, a skeleton of a memory. He brushed it aside and continued his conversation with eight year old Hugo who was keen on improving his craft. Max signed his cap for him, took a picture with him and Hugo was on his way.

"My mom and dad are here with me to see you race! I hope you are the fastest!" Hugo crossed his fingers.

"Now that you've wished that for me, I'll be the fastest." He ruffled the boy's hair.

Max realised he was attracting some more looks and attention he didn't want to deal with early in the morning. He headed back to the hotel, took a shower and got dressed for the day.

He sat down for a bit to practice mindfulness, he had started practising it ever since his fight for the title last year the amount of pressure he was experiencing from everyone rarely got to him, but lately it had been getting under his skin. He had started this ritual to gather his thoughts and clear his mind.

He was proud of himself for everything he had achieved, he was young, he was already a world champion, he had a legion of fans, a beautiful girlfriend but there was still some sort of hunger inside him that didn't seem to be quenched. He didn't have to sit down and question what it was maybe in tomorrow's mindfulness session- he lied to himself everyday.

A part of him knew that he was going to find nothing but trauma he had become so good at suppressing at from such a young age, he called up his manager, Raymond to ask what was the plan for today.

"Go eat breakfast first." Raymond mumbled, "why are you up so early boy?"

"I'm content but that doesn't mean the hard work stops."

"Okay motivational speaker, I'll send you your schedule in a bit."

"See, this is why I say I need you to travel to as many races as possible with me." Max complained.

"I'm growing old and you're not a little child anymore! Besides you have so many people to help you out I'll stay back in office and manage from here. It's a system that works!"

"If you say so." Max sighed. He looked away from the window and back at his bed, his girlfriend, Evi was still fast asleep, a slight smile on her face. She looked so at peace, he didn't want to wake her up for breakfast.

"Stop staring at me you creep." She laughed with her eyes still shut.

"I wasn't!" Max tried defending himself in vain. "Now that you're awake let's get breakfast."

"Can we get breakfast in bed? I'm not quite fully awake yet." She stretched her arms.

"Whatever you say." He smiled, "what do you want?"

"We're in Belgium isn't the answer obvious?"

"Ah yes, waffles." He said picking up the phone to call for room service.

Evi hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. Max looked at her as she washed her face and went about priming and pruning her appearance, he had gotten really lucky and everyone loved reminding him about it.

He still had to pinch himself sometimes, she was quite literally out of his league and so much more than a dream. Occasionally self doubt would creep into his mind, how had he managed to convince her to give him a shot? But then she'd smile at him and it would all melt away, and disappear.

"What's wrong?" She asked him settling into the bed next to him.

"Nothing." He shrugged it off.

"You can tell me Max, you know that I'm always here for you." She laced her fingers with his.

"I was out for my run and I met this little fan, it's just- I can't believe it." He sighed.

"What can't you believe?"

"People look up to me, they think I'm all that."

"Isn't that good?" Evi looked at him.

"It's just so strange to become the person you used to look up to, I never thought that one day I'll be someone's childhood hero- I've only had childhood heroes!" He vented.

"That's growth! You don't have to feel pressured into being 'a better version' because people look up to you for who you are, don't take heat and change yourself."

"I get what you mean, my life has been up for public scrutiny since I was kid. But this is just a new kind of inspection, I've worked hard to get where I am, they've put me on a pedestal and it'll be a matter of time before they drag me down."

"People who are bitter are going to tear into you any way, and believe me when I say that." She laughed, her own words stung her a little but it was true. People who didn't even know her were bashing her character and analysing everything she did- just because she was dating a man who was very much in the limelight.

"You're right, I've been worrying way too much. I spent the whole first half of the season worrying, I was troubled through out summer and basically ruined everyone's holiday- the second half of the season will be better." He kissed her cheek.

"Yes! Let's just eat our waffles, have a good time and focus on what makes you happy." She smiled.