P l e a s u r e

26 - Passenger

"Milla? What are you doing here?" - Carlos looked at me in surprise, as he held onto me to prevent me from falling.

"I just... uh..." - I tried to come up with a believable excuse, but the longer I thought about it, the weirder my ideas became.

"It's Charles, right?" - he folded his arms in front of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." - I stammered.

"You're coming from his room, aren't you?" - he raised his eyebrows.

"No, why would I?" - I asked, puzzled, although I couldn't think of any other reason why I'd be in this hallway.

"Just tell me the truth, this constant secrecy is getting annoying." - he rolled his eyes.

"There's no secret." - I replied firmly, while my heart pounded in my throat.

"Milla." - he grabbed both of my shoulders - "It's very kind of you two to plan surprises behind my back to make me happy, but it would be easier if you just simply involved me too."

"Involve you in what?" - I looked at him with wide eyes. I was so prepared for him to confront me about our secret affair with Charles that I didn't even pay attention to what he was saying exactly.

"Listen to me. I know what is going on." - he sighed heavily - "Charles knew that you promised to come to the next race if I won this weekend. After finishing first, I told him that I hoped you'd keep your word, which made him act so weird that I knew something was up. And now I found you here, so... It couldn't be more obvious that he is planning to bring you with us."

"Okay, we really got caught." - I tried to play the sad part convincingly, while part of me was immeasurably relieved, and the other part completely forgot that I said anything like that to him and couldn't believe he actually won.

"Hey, I don't want you to feel bad because I really appreciate your effort. Especially that you're willing to put aside the conflict between you two for at least this amount of time." - he cupped my face in his hands - "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." - I shook my head - "And congratulations, by the way." - I added, smiling shyly.

Then suddenly finding myself in his arms.

"You can't imagine how much strength you give me. I wouldn't have won without you." - he said, hugging me tightly.

I did not know what I should do, I just felt he didn't want to break the embrace, so we stood like that for a long time.

"Excuse me." - someone said behind us.

Carlos suddenly let go; then I noticed a man trying to get out of the elevator with a drinks trolley.

It was the man I met in the garden when I came here.

He behaved professionally, but when he passed us and I made eye contact with him for a moment, a half-smile appeared on his face, making me feel even more uncomfortable.

He didn't go far; he stopped in front of Charles's room. A few moments later, the door opened, but all we saw was his hand reaching out to take a bottle of vodka before disappearing again.

"I think I should talk to him before he finishes that bottle." - Carlos's face darkened - "It can't be easy for him right now."

"Why?" - I asked, trying to sound not too interested.

"Since the last race, he's been completely down and it's impossible to have a normal conversation with him. I know this season is draining him overall, but sometimes he should relax and let go of these things, but he can't." - his face was full of concern. It was clear that Charles meant a lot to him.