Rivalry of the Century ~ Ayrton Senna Love Story

Hidden Paradise

Isabelle's POV

I walk up to the house in front of me, holding my breath and lifting my hand to knock, but I can't help except pause. I second guess even being there in the first place, coming here unannounced. I turn around to leave, but fate had other plans for me as I see their car come into the driveway.

"Isa, what're you doing here?" Viv asks me, blatant shock on her face as she gets out of the family car.

"Who cares about that! Bells we missed you around here! Almost thought you died except for all the news and magazines coming out!" Leo yells as he hops out of the car and charges towards me, causing me to let out a shriek when he picks me up and spins me around on his shoulder.

"Oh put her down now, she's probably exhausted. Come inside sweetheart, we're making dinner soon." Neyde says to her son, who finally sets me down.

"It's good to see you all too, I've missed you dearly. I really am sorry to intrude I got on the first plane but it's too early to check in at my hotel." I say after hugging Leo tightly and Neyde comes up to me, handing a bag of groceries to Leo.

"Don't be silly my dear, you can stay with us. I'm sure Ayrton won't mind giving you his room for a while, we would put you in the guest room but unfortunately Leonardo is getting his room renovated so he's in there and Vivianne has a friend over as well."

"No I couldn't intrude really, I'll be fine staying on the couch just for tonight then I can go to my hotel room." I try to say, even though I was lying since I hadn't booked a room yet at all.

"You don't wanna try and argue with her on this, you won't win. This is what happens when you go away for over a year..." Leo whispers next to me, throwing his arm over my shoulder as we enter the house.

I laugh and follow along, grabbing a bag from Viv and bringing it to the kitchen where I start unloading the items with Neyde. There was just silence between us, something that I didn't even realize until she spoke.

"Isabelle dear why are you being so quiet?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" I ask in surprise, turning to see that amid the silence Viv and Leo had left the kitchen.

"You've barely spoken at all, you always use to tell us so many stories about your travels and jobs. We haven't seen you in a year and you haven't said more than 3 sentences."

I didn't even know what to say to her, I hadn't noticed, and it scared me that someone that didn't even know me that well noticed something so different about me in the span of over a year. It only added to my spiral, the loss of who I was troubling me even more. I could feel a teardrop slide down my cheek and as Neyde comes to me, but I brush it aside.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't be crying right now, I'm not sure what's going on. My apologies just give me a moment to collect myself."

"It's alright to cry Isabelle, you're in a safe place here, I don't know why you came here but maybe you knew this was somewhere you could heal from whatever it is that is hurting you. I won't push for you to talk, but instead why don't you help me make some food?" I smile through the tear at her, her comfort and understanding was welcomed in that moment.

We start making food together and as we go we also started to clean up so there wasn't so much leftover to do after dinner. I grab the plates from the cupboard and start setting the table before I was called back to do some more dishes with Neyde. I was silent still, before looking up through the window that overlooked the ocean, and became shocked when I saw the one person that I wanted to see. Walking on the dock in the back was Ayrton and his dog, I could feel my face heat up because he was shirtless, his body glistening from water on his body.