When back in England at the factory, it seemed like the sparkles caused by the starting friendship between Daniel and Camille slowly fade away. The days at the office were formal, not the same ambience as the days in Abu Dhabi.
Daniel was sitting on a desk chair next to Mike, they were going through some data of the last race, but there wasn't much focus because later today, Daniel would give his thank you speech.
"How are things going with Camille? The Christmas party is in a week," Mike curiously asked and looked at Camille who was sitting behind her desk.
A sigh rolled over Daniel's lips. "I don't know, mate."
"We all saw how much fun you had with her in Abu Dhabi, and she got emotional at the end of the race. Says a lot," Mike told him and raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, we had some fun moments. She's funny, actually. And from Perth, Australia." Daniel had a short peek at Camille; she looked focussed - which looked kind of attractive. Her blonde hair was hanging around her face, he liked her blonde hair. "But I don't know, it was one-off. Camille is acting so cold and professional since the moment we got back. So no, she won't be my Christmas date, and the project has failed."
Mike nodded, impressed. "Project Golden has been aborted."
"Project what?"
"Golden, because the woman always drinks tea from a golden mug and we needed a code name, so nobody knows we're talking about her."
Daniel looked at Camille and studied the two mugs on her desk; indeed, one was golden. "Alright, if you say so..." He took a deep breath. "Ah, this is fucked up. I genuinely thought we had some connecting; she's an Aussie, she has the same humour, same love for racing and yet we are so different."
"That woman is impossible," Simon smirked who joined the two gentlemen, he only heard the last sentence.
"It looks like I'm after her, like creeping on her. I don't know why I even agreed on this. I'm already too involved to get out of it," Daniel frustratedly said.
Their conversation got interrupted by the intercom of the office, Christian asked everyone to go to the main hall of the factory. Daniel, Mike and Simon got up and made their way to the main hall while talking about the situation.
Camille finished writing a mail and send it to the concerned person. She made sure her work was saved, and she looked around, everybody was making their way to the hall. If she was honest, she wished to call in sick this morning. Camille wasn't feeling it. She got up and made her way towards the hall. And she was facing a lot of people. No, Camille wasn't waiting for this to happen. She was counting down the days she finally had a vacation.
"Hey, Cam," Meredith said when met with her favourite colleague on the stairs.
"Hello," Camille replied and plastered a smile on her face.
"I cannot believe this is almost your last week," Meredith sadly said and sighed. "Does your crew know?"
Camille was shaking her head. "No, not yet. I will do it at the end of the week, when the season has been processed. I can't say it, I refuse to do it. I can't look at their faces and see their disappointment," she stammered and sighed. "I'm only making it harder for myself, doing an excellent job."
A laugh rolled over Meredith's lips. "If we have to name someone who has procrastination behaviour, it would be you unanimously." She opened a door and held it open. "But you still manage to finish it according to the plan."
Camille couldn't help, but laugh. "Someone has to carry the title."
The two women entered the main hall and took place between their colleagues. Both Daniel and Max were standing on the stage, talking and laughing. Christian walked on the stage and started to talk about the past year. This was the speech everyone was waiting for. Camille crossed her arms in front of her chest and bit on the inside of her cheek. She was listening to his words, and for the first time, the realisation hit her; she was leaving in a week. Her eyes scanned the area, and she took a deep breath.
"And of course, we would like to thank Daniel. Daniel, we all thank you for the incredible time at Red Bull. We have spoken about it, but would you like to say something to everyone?" Christian asked and looked at Daniel.
"Again?" Daniel cheekily smirked. "Of course," he smiled and got the microphone of Christian. "Jeez, there's actually a lot of people here," he spoke.
People began to laugh.
"I have had my speech back in Abu Dhabi, but not all of you were at the race, so I would like to do it again, now saying it to you all." Daniel looked around and cleared his throat. "Thank you, all of you. Without you, I would be here. I've won a few races, there are a few I would like to forget, but we have been there together as one team. I know I have been quite a pain in the arse after work hours to make the car perfect, or just annoy you." A soft chuckle left his mouth. "Have you got a few hours? If I called out all those people to thank them, we'd be here for quite some time! Instead, I will simply say thank you. You know who you are. All the prices I have won during my time at Red bull may have my name on it, but in truth, it belongs to everybody who has worked hard on the car to make it a winning car." Daniel was scanning all the people, he was searching for one person. A grin grew on his face when his eyes found Camille's. "This wouldn't be a Daniel speech if I wouldn't say this: I would like to thank my arms, for always being by my side. My legs, for always supporting me, and my fingers...because I can count on them. And the hips... the hips for not lying," he finished the speech. "Thank you."
A playful smile came on Camille's lips, and she started to clap in her hands, she looked impressed by the use of Daniel's words. And he saw that look, he proudly gave her a nod and started to laugh because everybody started to laugh.
Christian laughed and clapped in his hands, Daniel was going to be a miss in the team. He took over the microphone and continued on this talk. "Besides Daniel, we're saying goodbye to someone else as well. Out of the hundreds of people in this team, we're saying goodbye to two people. For years she has been part of the team, she started as a rookie on Sebastian's team, worked her way up and ended up as head of aerodynamics on Daniel's crew," Christian announced everyone and was searching for the woman in the people. "Camille van Duyk, it has been a pleasure to have you on our team, and we wish you all the best at McLaren."
Some of the people were looking around to find Camille in the audience; this was a shock to everyone. Camille plastered a fake smile on her face and looked around, this was not what she was hoping for. "Thank you, thank you all," she said and looked thankful at everyone.
