𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 | 𝐋𝐍𝟒

𝐈𝐗

Two weeks later - 9th February 2024 Eindhoven

Milaine stood at the edge of the field, looking out over her father's farm, now covered in shades of green. The smell of fresh soil and animals brought back memories of her childhood. In the distance, horses grazed quietly in the sunlight. Goats ate leaves, and chickens pecked at the ground near the old barn. The peaceful farm life was so different from the busy tennis courts she was used to.

John, the old caretaker who had looked after the farm since she was little, worked in the garden like he always did. He was the one person who stayed after her father's death, a steady reminder of the past.

She sighed, feeling the disappointment of her recent loss at the Australian Open sink in even deeper. The defeat still hurt, like a wound that wouldn't heal, and she couldn't stop thinking about how close she had come to winning. She had given everything in that match, hoping to make her father proud, but in the end, she fell short.

As Milaine kept replaying the tennis match in her mind, the pieces finally started to come together. She realized why she truly lost. While she knew she was distracted during the game, it wasn't until now that she could pinpoint exactly what had thrown her off.

It was Lando.

The thought of him, his absence, the way his presence seemed to matter so much more than she had admitted to herself. She had expected him to be there. She had waited for him to show up..

When he didn't show up, her mind immediately went to that terrible place. Her thoughts spiraled out of control, and she couldn't shake the fear that something had happened to him, just like it had to her father back in her finals at US open 2019. Her brain couldn't separate the past from the present, and the terror of losing someone again took over her mind. She was trapped inside a loop of overthinking, and obsession.

The more she tried to push those thoughts away, the more they consumed her, until she was barely aware of the match itself. she had lost control.

Milaine realized she hadn't just lost because of her opponent's skill; she had lost to the fears of her past and of history repeating itself.

Milaine closed her eyes as the breeze touched her face, soft like a comforting hand. She knew that her father would have wanted her to learn something from all of this—maybe patience, or how to be strong even when things go wrong.

But right now, all she could feel was how much she missed him ..

Throughout the past two weeks, her phone was buried deep in her suitcase, turned off and forgotten. She had cut herself off from everyone—no messages, no calls, no updates from the world beyond this farm. She only had her camera , taking pictures of everything she found beautiful around her..

There were moments when she considered turning her phone back on, even just to check in with her mother or Max, her best friend, but the thought quickly disappeared . Milaine wasn't ready to face them yet. Andrey might have tried reaching out too, but right now, she really didn't want anyone to interrupt her solitude..

That was until her solitude was indeed interrupted when Viv , her manager randomly showed up one day in the farm , telling her to pack her clothes because they had a flight back to Monaco in an hour or so .. Now Milaine could've just said No and went to sleep , but she knew she had duties to attend and she couldn't just keep hiding like a coward , she needed to get herself back together and focus on what to come. And Viv was pretty scary when she was mad so she didn't wanna defy her ...

So that's how she ended up on a plane back to Monaco with Viv by her side , catching her up with all the things that had happened in the past two weeks , She didn't miss much really .. Except for the fact that people had a new nickname for her now ..