secrecy

ix.

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Scuderia Ferrari announced on this Wednesday morning that Carlos Sainz will not be attending the Media Day here in Baku tomorrow. The driver is handeling a personal issue and hopes that everyone is understanding of that.
He will arriving in Baku early on Friday. Reserve driver Giovinazzi will drive in FP1 for him.

After Adora told him, she fastly fell asleep in his arms, so he brought her inside, where he was lead to her rooms by someone of the staff. In her room, he first needed to arrange himself to know where everything is. It was the first time, that he was actually in her room, before he only ever saw it on one of their many face time calls.

"Please stay." She said silently, after he laid her down in her bed and pressed a soft kiss onto her forehead. And so he stayed the night, cuddled up behind her, holding her all night long, in case she would wake up.

They had breakfast together, but not really, because Carlos was the only one who ate. He tried to get Adora to eat at least a little bit, but she claimed that she wasn't hungry and would just skip breakfast for the day. Something which alarmed Leana, who just walked past the kitchen, because, unknowingly to Carlos, Adora did this a few times too often, since her brother got his first diagnosis. And combining that, with the stress of her final finals are just a few weeks away, wasn't good. Leana knew that on a human basis, she should tell Carlos about it, but she wasn't allowed to.

Carlos tried to avoid Silvia, because an angry Silvia is never good and he had enough to deal with at the moment, trying to send his father to her, but she called him and he accidentally took the call.

"Carlos Sainz."

"Silvia, this isn't the best time right now. I'll be in Baku on Friday. Ready for FP2."

Silence. Never a good sign, he thought.

"You'll better have a bloody hell good of an excuse for this. Fred is not your biggest fan right now. This is Ferrari, you just don't show up a day and a half late on race weekends, especially with how good the other teams are at the moment. Every lap is important. Is there any chance you could still arrive today, to be on time for tomorrow?"

"No."

"Fred will probably want to talk to you, when you arrive. And the FIA is discussing a fine." The woman sighed. "Sainz, someday, you will give me a heartattack. Please, do what you need to do, and come here in the right state of mind. We don't need a driver in the car, who's thoughts are not 100% with us, in Baku, at the track."

"I'll handle it."

"I gotta go. See you on Friday! Tell me tomorrow, if I should send someone to pick you up."

And with that the call ended. And Carlos turned himself back to Adora. "Go to Baku, Carlos. I can handle it here. I have may family and I'll ask Luca to come here. I won't be alone."

"I'll fly out Friday morning. Until then, I'll stay with you. No discussions, I won't change my mind. I told you to I wouldn't leave your side, when you need me."

With that Adora, closed her mouth again and decided against, an argument. She took her coffee and told Carlos that she would go up to her room and get her books, so she can start learning. It may seemed weird, that she wanted to study now, but Adora needed to distract herself with something and she needed to study anyway. Her finals where only a few weeks away and she wanted to pass. She needed to.

The couple spent most of the day in silence. Adora studied, wrote some notes down and looked which topics will be more important than others. And while Adora studied, Carlos went over the statistics of the car, changes of the circuit and about the weather predictions. They sat on the terrace, side by side and every now and then Carlos would stop concentrating on his data to look to his side.

"You are staring. It's distracting." Adora said, now looking up. A light red tone formed on his cheeks, pecking her lips, before looking back at his data. "You are just as distracting, it's only fair."

"I am not doing anything." She said.

"He's great with her, isn't he?" His majesty asked his wife. Her parents stood, unknown to the young couple, behind a window in his office on the second floor, having a perfect view on them. "He seems very understanding."

"You know, that you have to give him a chance. He could potentional be the love of her life and one day, maybe her husband. The father of our grandchildren." He said, nudging his wife slightely.

"I'm just scared after what happened. I am looking out for her."

"And you can do that. But it's hurting her, that you don't even try to give him a chance. Leonor says, that she thinks that Dora thinks that you aren't trusting her with her decisions. We all are looking out for her, we all are scared, but he seems like a great man."

"I know, it's just this feeling. We also said that about him, and see what happened."

"If it makes you feel better, then I can have a talk with him tomorrow."