HAPPINESS WE SEEK FOR

Chapter 10

Two weeks had passed since the family gathered for that long and difficult conversation about Elia's future in F4 racing. The decision they reached hadn't come easily, but in the end, they all agreed—it wasn't worth the risk. Elia would have to walk away from the sport.

When Mama and Daddy finally sat everyone down to break the news, it felt like a collective breath was released—one none of them had realized they were holding. It wasn't that anyone wanted to limit Elia's choices or dictate her life. Far from it. After all, her whole life had been spent under the tight grip of adults making decisions for her. But this time was different. This wasn't just about chasing dreams—it was about her life, and that was where they drew the line.

Now, with that chapter closed, they focused on moving forward, rebuilding their lives and their bond with each other. Every step in their recovery was like learning to walk again—delicate, cautious, but growing stronger every day. And slowly, the cracks left behind by grief and trauma were mending, binding them closer together.

-/-

It was three in the afternoon, and the green room buzzed with a quiet sort of comfort. Maggie, Isa, Elia, and Cardan lounged on the mismatched furniture scattered around the room while the adults were off filming their scenes. The atmosphere was relaxed, lazy, as the four of them enjoyed the calm in the middle of their chaotic lives.

Elia leaned back in her seat, suddenly remembering something. "Hey, Isa, are you back in school?" she asked, her brow quirking with curiosity.

Isa glanced up from his phone and gave a small shrug. "Online. I started again after Christmas break. Can't afford to fall too far behind, or I'll end up graduating late."

Elia nodded thoughtfully before turning to Maggie. "And you? Back to school, too?"

Maggie gave a short nod. "Yeah. I started going back after Christmas as well."

"How's it been?" Elia asked gently, already guessing the answer. She knew it couldn't have been easy for Maggie to walk back into that building, where the weight of her brother's death would hang over her like a storm cloud. Jamie's death had been everywhere—in the news, on social media, even broadcast on national television.

Maggie exhaled slowly, her expression tightening for a brief moment before she relaxed again. "It was weird and pretty awful at first. The stares, the pity... All the whispers about Jamie. People kept bringing him up during assemblies. I had a few breakdowns the first couple of weeks."

She gave a small, tired shrug. "But eventually, people let it go. They stopped talking about it so much. You get used to it, I guess."

The others nodded in quiet understanding. They knew how grief clung to you, how it demanded space and refused to leave, even after everyone else had moved on.

After a brief silence, Elia spoke again, her voice soft but heavy with guilt. "I still feel it sometimes—late at night, when I wake up from nightmares. The guilt." She stared down at her hands, fingers fidgeting as if trying to wring the feeling out of them. "Because of me, everyone got caught in the crossfire. The Re—" she paused, her throat tightening, "—they didn't even know who Jamie was. They just used him to get to me. And now he's gone, and it's... it's just so unfair."

Maggie gave her a sad smile, her heart aching at Elia's words. "It's not your fault," she said gently. "It's theirs. The people who did this—those monsters. They made their choices, and now they're facing the consequences."

Elia glanced up, giving Maggie a small, grateful smile. She wasn't the kind of person to make everything about herself. She knew Maggie's family was suffering just as much, if not more. They had lost Jamie.