Taming the Bull ~ [Sebastian Vettel]

Chapter 18 - Grinning Yellows...

Lights were flickering and the music was blasting out of the speakers with the distinctive tones of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The room before Ingrid was crowded with people, she had gotten the impression that this was supposed to be a bit of a secret party, but apparently a small party according to Jenson was a very big party according to Ingrid.

The large room where she would spend her evening had been lavishly decorated with tables full of food and drinks, sofas and tables where one could sit down and relax from the dancing and mingling that was currently going on on the dance floor. The room was already filled to the brim with people. There were countless men in polished suits and women in sparkling dresses and of course the one thing that made them all stand out. The masks.

It was the Wednesday before the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the new season, and everyone who was anyone important in the Formula 1 world had gathered in this mysterious environment today to party with one another and let everything go for a couple of lucid hours, before hitting the track determined to crush all enemies in just a couple of days' time.

But today, beating each other out on track wasn't of the essence, instead everything that mattered was this. The people dressed up in masks dancing the night away whilst socialising with one another, regardless of who was under the mask or not, the aura of mystery just made the ambience in the air even more carefree. Whilst there were some people that simply couldn't stay hidden for long, even under a mask, someone like herself could get swept away tonight without having to bother about anything, the mask on her face was the perfect shield from the rest of the world.

She and Jenson had been late. Nothing unusual or to be bothered about really, but Ingrid thought that it for once had been worth arriving late because standing in the vault leading into the room where people were dancing the night away in gorgeous dresses made her insides tingle with excitement. This evening promised to be magical in more senses than one.

Ingrid had spent all evening making sure she looked perfect, polishing her make-up to perfection, curling her hair in effortless waves, and putting on the dress she had picked out just a couple of hours earlier. The process had very much reminded her of another ball, a ball that also had signified the start of something. Because whilst getting ready for the masquerade party, how could she possibly forget the start-of-the-year ball organised by the FIA, the start of her Formula 1 career as well as the start of her relationships with two certain Formula 1 drivers, one of which was currently hanging off her arm.

The dress she wore felt like it had been made exclusively for her, it fitted her like a hand in a glove, and as soon as she had tried it on in the store the smile on her face had been impossible to wipe away. It was a ballgown that shot out from her waist and outwards into a puffy skirt, not as big as some of the other dresses she spotted around the room now, but still big enough to make her feel like a princess. The skirt that was made out of red tailored roses led up to a snug bodice that fitted her curves perfectly. The bodice that was made out of silk floated out into off-the-shoulder arms that, just like the skirt, had a rim of red roses at the edge of the fabric. The neckline was daring and showed off a bit more cleavage than she was used to, but to justify her dress Ingrid was using the same argument Jenson had used to convince her to come along as his date to the party.

"The only people who will know are you and me, think of how fun that'll be. We can do whatever we want to, and it'll be our secret, together."

The reason for her and Jenson only knowing about certain things, was of course the fact that her face was now covered with a golden masquerade mask that looked lavish enough for a queen.

The mask was made out of a swirling pattern of gold that created a swan if you looked close enough. On the right side of her face, the pattern created the beak and bodice of a swan as well as the tail feathers at the edge of the mask. The swan was only noticeable if you looked for it and only one of the many details of her outfit today. Apart from the hidden swan in the golden pattern, the mask was also bedazzled with a couple of crystals around the bottom of the eyes as well as in a gorgeous pattern over the nose finishing off with a dangling pear-shaped diamond at the end. It was a sleek and luxurious mask that looked positively stunning.