When die-hard Formula 1 fan Alice attends the Monaco Grand Prix thanks to a contest she won, she expects thrilling races and breathtaking views, but she never imagines catching the F1 prodigy, Max Verstappen. Amidst the glamour and high stakes of th...
After the moment of bliss with his team, he went to be weighed in and when he took off his helmet, he finally spotted me. He crossed back the space from the little helmet podium to the barriers and without any hesitation, he kissed me.
The moment his lips touched mine, I couldn't care less about the people around us, I couldn't care less about the cameras surrounding us. I couldn't care less that millions of people could watch us on their televisions at this very moment.
All I cared about was how perfect that felt, how my universe suddenly snapped back into focus, how I knew that I was going to spend the rest of my life with that man.
In this kiss, I didn't see all the problems my brain had listed before.
In this kiss, I saw us happy.
In this kiss, I saw his triumph.
In this kiss, I saw how being together made us both better.
In this kiss, I saw our future: a bright one, filled with love, happiness, pride and respect for one another.
When our lips finally parted, reality came back abruptly with his team whistling and hollering. I hid myself in his shoulder, feeling suddenly embarrassed that so many people had watched this.
He chuckled in my ear, "Well, that was a hell of a first kiss."
"Let's not wait for the race in Baku for the next one, huh," I joked, my face still on his chest.
Too quickly for both of our tastes, he had to leave to do his interviews. I was reluctant to let him go and being by myself in this lion's den. Yet, he still had a job to do and I did too. But before he left, he grabbed my cheek, making me look into his deep blue eyes and said, "I love you."
I wanted to say it back, because that was how I felt about him too, but he pulled away too soon, as if he didn't want to have an answer. Maybe he was afraid of being rejected... During our late night phone calls, he had admitted of being terrified of failure. From a very young age, his father had taught him that he had to win or else there would be consequences. It had translated into this determination to make a name for himself in Formula One, even if that meant sacrificing the normal childhood and teenage years experiences.
However, I now wondered if this fear didn't go beyond the sport. Perhaps the reason he made that bet was not because he was confident in his winning abilities, but more because he thought that he did have to win the race to impress me and win my affection. Whilst my epiphany of being in love with him came from seeing him so happy at his win, I would have come to that conclusion even if he hadn't. Because I fell in love with him, and not with his driving abilities.
But my answer would have to wait, for he was about to receive the trophy from Prince Albert of Monaco.
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Since I didn't want to be alone in the crowd, I rejoined the Canal + production crew who did not ask me anything about the kiss. They must have been warned by Red Bull's Public Relations team. Yet, Franck came up and asked me what I thought about Max's interview with an amused tone and a wink. I didn't know what he was talking about so I pulled out my phone and replayed the post-race interview. I had missed it because of my shock over his confession and my musings over his hasty departure after said-confession.
Mark Hughes asked him how he managed to get pole and the win this weekend. Max's answer made me blush even more than after we kissed in front of the entire world, "Well, this weekend I fell in love with this wonderful girl and she said that if I won, she would finally let me kiss her. So that's what I did."
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