Rivalry of the Century ~ Ayrton Senna Love Story

Blink of an Eye

Third Person POV

Time is subjective, for Ayrton it was going by in slow motion over the winter break. It became almost unbearable as Isabelle didn't talk to him, he knew why, she was travelling around the world for different photoshoots and interviews. Sure he had his own interviews , but since he still wasn't a title contender it wasn't anything major. He didn't mean to, but every time she had an interview or a magazine came out, he saw it. Part of it was him just searching for her in everything he saw and the other part was that his family kept him up to date on everything. Occasionally he would receive letters from her and every time it was a stamp from different countries so he was never able to write her back properly. Months rolled around and still no word but a few letters, Ayrton was uncomfortable the entire time and he couldn't quite place why. 

When Christmas came she had even sent a present to each member of the Senna family and he received a intricate old gold watch with a note attached:

Dear Ayrton,

I'm sorry I haven't called or written more, I fear if I did I would be on the first plane to see you after I heard your voice. I hope you're doing well and Merry Christmas, please pass that on to your family. It's been so different since I started really making grounds in the industry, I'm currently in Italy while I write this. I know how much you hate people spending money on you so I promise I didn't spend a single dime on your gift. My Aunty had a star crossed romance once. When she was younger she met a sailor, he would travel the seas and go to different continents by boat. Apparently he loved collecting antiques and one day as he was travelling he came across a small isle off the shores of Portugal and along the beach was a shipwreck. He went ashore and saw a flash in the sand, picking it up was this watch, he never took it off. I didn't know this until recently but they married and when he had to go again he left her with his favourite watch, the one he found. He never came back, they say his ship was lost in a storm, but she always held onto the watch. Later she told me she intended to hand it down to me to give to someone important to me, specifically to the person who became the sun of my life. 

Love your,

Isabelle

That stirred things in Ayrton that scared him, he never took the watch off unless he absolutely had to, and his family noticed.

"What did you get from Isa, Ayrton?" Leo questioned as he noticed his brother enraptured in the letter.

"None of your business little brother." 

Everyone saw the gold watch with the leather band at dinner and they all knew that he didn't have that before today. A week later his father asked to borrow the watch in front of the family, a test to see if they were right, and Ayrton had done nothing but give a striking stare and a simple no. 

His thoughts were on her during New Years, where he shared a kiss with a childhood crush, she was on his mind when her birthday came around, and it was focused on only her as her Aunty's deathly came as well. He lit candles and prayed for Aunty and for Isabelle when it came to the day that he knew she would need support on, he hated that he couldn't be there for him in person.

He didn't receive another letter from her until the day of the first race, one that dropped his heart into his stomach. 

Ayrton,

I know I promised I would try to come to the Brazilian Grand Prix and stay with your family but I cannot. I wish you the best of luck and I know you will do great.

Love,

Isabelle

It broke Ayrton's heart to not see her during his home Grand Prix, but he wanted to give it his all for her and for his pride. This time he did better than last year, landing on the second step of the podium, but he longed to stand on that top step. It angered him even more by the fact that Nelson Piquet was the one that one, a fellow Brazilian, also one of his biggest rivals for the country. He did his best to ignore Piquet but it was hard when Piquet made disrespectful remarks about him.