The Battle Of The Heart

Chapter 9: Home

I don't have a girlfriend, Dani.

I was stunned. Was he lying? It was public knowledge that he has been in a long term relationship with his childhood sweetheart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you- you had a girlfriend. And kids..." I finally managed to say.

"Hannah and I have got two girls together, yeah. But we broke up two years ago," he said, quietly. "We have tried to stay on friendly terms and co-parent."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay," he answered. "I do try to keep my personal life as private as I can."

"Do you get to see the kids often?"

"Yeah, whenever I can get time off to go home. But when I'm working, Hannah usually gets them to Skype me. She used to bring them to some of the races but they haven't been since... we separated." He sounded sad.

I desperately wanted to cheer him up. "Have you got pictures of your daughters?"

He looked at me for a few seconds and took his phone out. I leaned in to get a better view.

"This is Emilie and this one is Matilda." He smiled, proudly.

"Oh my god! They've both got your smile!" I squealed, pointing to the picture, then to his face.

"It'd be a shame if they didn't!" He was laughing now. "They've taught me that there's always something good in everything. Even if something ends up badly, there's always good present and I just need to find it and appreciate it."

I mulled on that while we walked back to the car.

"Okay, so you're driving us back." Sebastian tossed me the car keys.

"Absolutely not!" I shook my head. "I'm not taking responsibility of such an expensive car. I'll crash it!"

But he just chuckled and opened the door for me. "I'll take responsibility. Nothing will happen, don't worry. You'll be driving with me."

He got in the passenger's seat. "So you just press that to start the car. Yeah, well done. See, you don't even need me! You know which one's the brake and the accelerator? Yes, good. Now, this has a dual clutch transmission. It's just like a normal car but to change gears you just pull on this little switch. There's no clutch pedal, okay?"

He had such a calm way of explaining things that I felt somewhat reassured.

"Don't worry, I'm right here if anything goes wrong. But you can't do any significant damage, really. Now, let's release the handbrake. Good... Let go of the brake now."

'Significant' got me worried again but, as I let of the brake, the car slid as smoothly as a knife through butter and a sense of euphoria swept over me.

"Not a bad car, huh?" Sebastian asked, watching me grin from ear to ear.

"I drive a 7-year old Peugeot in London," I told him, elated. "Will you please take a picture of me for my dad?"

Instead, he took a video. Along with running commentary.

"Hi, Dani's dad. Your daughter has just hijacked my car and kidnapped me. I think she might crash soon... Help me."

"Daddy! I'm driving a LaFerrari! With Sebastian Vettel," I shrieked towards the phone. "And so far, I haven't even stalled the car."

"Yep, shes's out here doing big things," Sebastian continued to joke before putting the phone down.

I felt so comfortable with him. He wanted to know about my life and what I did. When I told him that I'm a PhD student, he wanted to know about my research thesis. And he seemed genuinely interested. Not like my dad who only pretended to understand my work, my brother who made fun of me for being a nerd or my mother who just didn't care. Sebastian seemed to actually care.

"You can go faster if you want."

"Sorry, I forgot I was driving with a racing driver! Am I going too slow for you?" I teased.

"Well, there's slow. Then there's you," he said with a grin. "But it's okay. It's your first time, so we'll take it as slow as you want."

It's your first time. We'll take it as slow as you want. Those words made me tingle all over but I quickly brushed the feeling off.

"You drove at a pretty decent speed earlier. I was actually surprised," I mocked.

"I'm a Formula 1 driver. Not a maniac. How fast does Lewis go on the roads?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I've never been in a car when he was driving."

Sebastian seemed surprised.

"We're actually not that serious. I've only been out with him a couple of times before Abu Dhabi and both times, we were chauffeured around," I tried to explain.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I thought you two had a real thing going on." He did not sound sorry at all.

"It's okay. It's probably for the best. I don't think we're each other's type."

"What you mean?" He was now looking at me intently.

"Erm, well, I don't think I'm cut out to for all the glamour and attention, to be honest. I think I'd prefer someone less... flamboyant. And plus," I continued. "I think his type is more like tall, skinny swimsuit models. You know someone like... like, say Mariam for example."

"Yeah but..." Sebastian trailed off.

But what? But I think you're amazing, Dani. I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on, Dani. Who am I kidding? It's never going to be as good as my imagination.

"But what?" I persisted.

"Well, let's just say that if Mariam is Maldives, you're Heppenheim."

I gaped at him, appalled. "So Mariam is an exotic, tropical island and I'm... what, some German town?" Is that what he thought of me?

Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Dani, Mariam might be an exotic, tropical island. But you're... you feel like... home." His voice was hoarse. "And home is the best."

It was even better than my imagination.