Forbidden Love
Walking past the Redbull garage, I stole a glance of Max speaking with one of the strategists. I could feel myself smiling slightly as I admired his side profile from afar.
"I might go and say hi to Max," I say, not turning back to face my dad.
"Why?" he asks and I can feel his stare on the back of my head.
"I just wanna say hi. He's always been nice to me." I shrugged my shoulders and finally turned to face my dad. "I'll catch up to you."
He nodded and carried on walking towards the Mercedes garage, but he didn't look too pleased.
As I walked into the Redbull garage, the strategist began explaining something to Max from a monitor. I quietly stood next to them, not wanting to interrupt. I felt Max's gaze turn towards me. The strategist was currently facing away from us so he couldn't see me or Max. I took it as an opportunity to lightly touch Max's hand. As it grazed his, a smirk appeared on his face.
Max's strategist turned and I snapped my hand back immediately. Fortunately, he excused himself, saying he needed to take a minute to look at more data.
"I need to show Y/N something, I'll let you do your work," Max announced.
Max led me through a door and into the Redbull building. We made it to his driver room and he closed the door. Luckily, we didn't see many people on the way and nobody was lingering around the hallway where his room was located.
"I missed you," he said, leaning in to kiss me. I pulled away after a few seconds.
"But I saw you just last night," I giggled.
"And?"
"Okay, fair enough," I smiled down at the ground, butterflies flooding my stomach.
"I missed you too," I admitted. Max grabbed my chin with his hand and pulled my head up so he could kiss me once more.
We were interrupted when two knocks sounded on the door, followed quickly by Max's trainer entering the room. I had pulled myself away from Max as quick as possible.
"Oh, hey Y/N. Didn't know you were here," Brad smiled towards my direction, before looking at Max. "Just needed something I left," he said, beginning to rummage around the room.
As soon as Brad left, I let out a sigh. Max was staring at me intently. He didn't seem annoyed, but clearly something was on his mind.
"When are we going to tell people?" he asked, his voice low and sullen.
"When the time is right."
"When will be that be, babe?" Max asked, walking slowly towards me. "I don't want to hide from the world."
I sighed again. I didn't know what to tell him.
"I'm just scared."
"There's nothing to be scared of, baby. What is the worst that could happen?" he asks, taking my hands in his.
"You know what I'm talking about," I said, gripping his hands.
"You shouldn't be scared of your dad."
"But what will he think? You're rivals with Mercedes. He won't be happy about this," I could feel myself welling up.
"We've been through this, Y/N. He loves you and wants the best for you and I fully believe that I am the best for you." Max places a kiss on my forehead.
"I will tell him. Eventually."
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"Yes," I mutter under my breath as Max takes the lead from Leclerc. Lewis was currently in P5 and George P4. The Mercedes garage was alive with conversation and people shuffling about. I remained close to my dad, but made sure not to look too pleased with how the race was going.
"Toto, what are you thoughts on this?" One of the engineers shoved something in front of my dad. He scanned it quickly and nodded before the engineer scurried away.
"2 laps, 2 laps to go," I heard one of the engineers on one of the radios. Yes. Max had got this. Surely.
"Come on George!" someone shouted as he made a lunge at Perez.
The race was nearing the end, my dad looked tense and I could feel the atmosphere building. George was currently P3 so they'd have something to celebrate, but I was too focused on Max. A few more seconds and he'd have the win. I clenched my fists in anticipation and as soon as he crossed the line, I lifted an arm and, unfortunately for me, the word, "Yes!" fell from my mouth.
He was staring at me. A couple of engineers were too.
"P3! Woo! A podium!" I shot my arm fully into the air.
Would they believe that?
My dad turned back to the race and moved towards the engineers. Oh no.
Standing in front of the podium, I watched as Max ran out, a smile plastered ear to ear. I knew I could get away with smiling because surely everyone would think I was happy for George? I mean, I am, but it's Max who's on my mind.
My dad turned to me.
"What did you think of the race?" He knew.
"Some exciting overtaking," I smiled innocently at him.
"From George especially," he responded. Okay, maybe he didn't know.
"And from Max, I guess," he muttered. Oh, he knew. He knew my cheer was for Max.
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"You were so great! So, so great!" I yelled, jumping up and wrapping my arms around his neck. "You were on fire, baby!"
"I was looking for you on the podium," he said, gripping my waist with both hands.
"I knew you would win," I said, beaming.
"Oh really? Glad you have confidence in me."
"Always." I grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss.
"What is this?"
My heart dropped. My smile dropped. My arms dropped.
My dad was standing in the doorway to the Redbull garage.
"What are you doing here dad?"
"I was looking for you. Didn't take me too long, a short walk down the Paddock and here you are, fraternising with...him." He lifted his hand gestured towards Max, who had gone a little bit red but was, I'll give it to him, still gripping my waist and staring my dad in the eyes.
"Toto," he started.
"No. You don't get to talk now. You don't get to talk to my daughter at all. Y/N, you're coming with me." His German accent was growing by the second. He was livid.
"I told you," I lowered my voice and whispered to Max, who finally turned his gaze towards me.
"It's okay, baby, we will sort this out," he tried to reassure me, his hands caressing me affectionately.
"Get your hands off my daughter. Y/N, let's go."
I waited, staring back and forth between the two. By now a couple of Redbull engineers had come to see what all the fuss was about and there were a couple of other people lingering outside, watching the show.
"Dad, this isn't fair."
"We don't talk about fair, not right now. You have been sneaking around behind my back. We will go and talk about this together. You and me," he shot at me, venom in his voice.
"Okay," I sighed, pulling my body away from Max's. I had to give in. So I went with my dad back to Mercedes.
Once we were safely into an empty room, just the two of us, he ordered me to sit down and listen. I wasn't interested in a lecture though.
"I wanted to say that I am sorry for not telling you sooner. I was just scared of your reaction, but I am a 22 year old woman and I can make my own decisions." I felt confidence in my speech. My dad thought on my words for a few moments, probably thinking of a million different ways to punish me.
"I am not happy with this...thing...that's going on between you and him."
"I love him. And he loves me."
"If he loved you, he would not have kept you a secret and been sneaking around behind my back, behind everyone's back."
"But that was my decision. He wanted to tell everyone but I was the one who was scared. You have to believe me."
"Well, I don't."
He stood up and walked towards the door.
"This will not continue, Y/N." Then he left.
I sat and thought about how hard this conversation would be when I had to tell Max that we were forbidden to be together.
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"So what do we do now?" he asked, his body slumped into a chair, eyes facing the floor.
"What we've already been doing." I answer, a smirk forming on my face.
"You want to continue? Continue sneaking around behind your dad's back?" Max looked shocked.
"How hard could it be?"
