It All Started With a Name - SEBASTIAN VETTEL FANFICTION

Chapter 3

*Spa - August 2014* 

'Huh, error! Game-Set-Match, I won!' Alexandre yelled and threw his arms up to declare himself as a winner of our horrendous tennis game, from my side. 'Totally unfair! The ball was on the line! Referee!' I shrieked back and pointed aimlessly towards the left corner of Alexandre's side, where the ball's landing was clearly visible outside of the court line. 'The referee' happened to be our parents, who were laughing their pants off while nursing their drinks. 'Huh!'

'Sis, you're such a sour loser', Alexandre teased when he came to ruffle my hair with a wide grin on his face. 'Whatever.' I huffed, but the loss didn't sting. I was beyond horrible at playing tennis.

Alexandre and I strolled lazily towards our parents who were sitting beside the tennis court. The shade covered them from the Mediterranean sun while they kept drinking their drinks with an umbrella.

We were having a family vacation in our summer villa in the South of France, close to Monaco. The day before Spa, the last race I was attending as a Race Coordinator before I was set to fly to Shanghai the day after. My mum had insisted on family time since we were all still in the same part of the world. Especially now that Alexandre was also travelling with the Red Bull. She had difficulties letting go of her babies. Therefore the family outing had been full of quality time on different forms of dinners, parties, sport and top of everything; tons of drinking.

'Well done, kids!' My father complimented us when Alexandre and I popped into our seats and reached to the jug to fill our glasses. I rolled my eyes and took a sip. 'Right, it was such a fair game', I murmured sarcastically. 'Belle -'

'It's a joke, daddy', I grinned while I savoured the strawberry margarita that filled my taste buds. The family rolled their eyes affectionately towards me and picked up a random topic to debate on. I close my eyes to savour the moment; the steady sounds of waves hitting the bank and the whisper-like wind that tickled my skin. I fell into my thoughts, lurking towards the time I had spent with Daniel at the beginning of the break, right after Hockenheim.

The night before I was due to return my flat in the UK to pack my items before Shanghai. Daniel and I had returned from dinner with his mates, who were backpacking through Europe. The dinner had been incredible, and Daniel's friends had kept us amused with embarrassing stories of their youth when Daniel still had lived in Perth.

Upon arriving back to Daniel's place, he mumbled something about changing his clothes, making him disappear to his bedroom. I made my way towards my favourite part of the flat; the balcony. Time with Daniel had been enhancing, although odd since we hadn't spent time outside of race weekends. I had expected that we would only meet up during race weekend. Therefore I had been shocked when Dan had asked if I was interested in spending time with him in Monaco. I hadn't hesitated to join him. It was also the perfect opportunity to share my Shanghai plans since we hadn't had a private moment in a while.

I had made myself comfortable at Dan's sofa at the balcony, overlooking a breathtaking view of Port Hercules. A hint of a smile played on my lips when I soaked in the view opening in front of me - I loved Monaco, its history, scenery, lights, you name it. Hence I was sad I hadn't had the chance to return to Monaco while being in Shanghai.

'There you are, gorgeous', Dan offered me a beer, making me look up to him when he snuggled next to me on the sofa, scooping me under his arm. 'Thank you, Dan', I smiled gratefully and took a swing of the drink. 'Dan?'

'Yes, gorgeous?'

'I'm moving to Shanghai after Spa.' Daniel's body became stiff next to me. I kept my eyes staring forward and waited for Daniel to say something. Instead, I met silence as expected. The silence dragged along; I took another sip from my beer to keep myself busy. After internal debate and quick pep talk later, I shifted myself enough to turn around look at Daniel, who had an intense look on his eye.