Repair (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 18: Revisit

It was the first time for him to see Sam's only daughter. "Oh, so this is Florentia," he said while poking her chubby cheek.

"Yes. She has just taken a bath," Magda told him.

"Can I hold her? If you don't mind."

She nodded. "Of course you can."

Seb took Flo from Magda carefully and started holding her in his arms. As she found the right time, Magda asked for permission to prepare something to serve in the kitchen.

He stood for a few moments. He was hit by a sad feeling as the baby girl in his arms was still too innocent to understand that she had lost her father, at a very young age. He also hoped that Sam would start considering about the surgery, so that Flo wouldn't feel that she lost the figure of a mother too.

"Seb, can you please sit here?" Sam asked, as she knew that Flo was with him.

"Sure."

Sam left some space for Seb to sit next to her. She was reaching for Flo's hand and when she got it, she stroked it with her thumb gently. "Hi, Flo. Mama is here."

"Mama!"

"Flo is very beautiful," Seb praised. "I believe that beside having a beautiful mother, her late father was also very handsome."

Sam suddenly froze. It wasn't because Seb mentioned about her late husband, Jonas. But it was because he didn't realize that he also praised her as a beautiful person. Does he realize though?

"God, I'm so sorry, Sam. I didn't mean to make you sad for speaking about your late husband," Seb apologized as she didn't say any single word. He thought that he had upset her.

"Erm, don't be. Please stop apologizing and feeling guilty every time you talk about Jonas. I'm fine, really. And thanks for praising her," Sam said.

Seb smiled even though Sam couldn't see it. Then, he tried to talk to Flo. "Hi, beautiful."

She didn't reply. Instead, she was giggling and it made her mother laugh too. Sam didn't know how Flo reacted when she met Seb for the first time, but she could feel that she wasn't shy.

"Flo, please say hi to Seb."

Flo didn't do as Sam asked. "Who are you?" she asked while touching Seb's nose with her forefinger.

Seb believed that if Sam could see what Flo did to him, she couldn't hold her laugh. "My name is Sebastian. You can call me Seb. And I am your Mama's friend."

"Hi, Seb," Flo greeted him with her cute little voice.

Sam's heart felt so warm to hear that Seb considered her as his friend. But then she thought that it was probably the easiest way for him to explain to her 2-year-old girl who he was.

"Seb, about the sunglasses, erm..."

He frowned as he looked at her. "Sunglasses? What's with sunglasses?"

"It is yours, isn't it?"

He finally understood that she referred to the sunglasses he gave her alongside the signed cap from Puma Store. "It was, but now it's yours."

"But... but it's a Ray-ban, as Papa told me so. It must be quite expensive."

"As I said on my letter, I hadn't worn it, and considering that you often wear sunglasses, so I decided to give it to you. It's unisex and I thought that it would suit you more."

She didn't mean to refuse what he had given her, but she often thought of how he could give it freely for her. "But I rarely go outside, so I won't wear it very often."

He wondered why she seemed to want to refuse it. He would blame himself if she got offended by that. "Sam, do I offend you to give those sunglasses? If yes, then I apologize, I really do."

"No, it's not like that. Please don't misunderstand what I mean. As you are here, I'd like to thank you for that. It's just that-" she suddenly lost for words.

Seb suddenly grabbed her hand. "Sam, please don't think about the price. And also, I don't care if you are going to wear it or just keep it in the drawer. Let's just say that it's a keepsake or something from me. So, will you accept it?"

Sam slowly nodded. "Okay. Thanks again, Seb."

When Magda was re-entering the guest room, Seb quickly released Sam's hand. He didn't want her to feel suspicious if there was something going on between them.

"I'm sorry it took a long time. I cut this cheesecake first. And don't worry, Seb, it's low-fat," Magda laughed a little.

"That's nice. Thanks, Magda."

She put a glass of cranberry juice and a slice of cheesecake on a small plate on the table. Then, she sat on a place that Seb had left a few minutes ago. She then looked at him who was still carrying Flo and Sam who sat next to him. They looked like a family. A proper family.

"Seb, if Stefan knew that you are here, I bet that he would scream with joy," Magda chuckled.

Seb and Sam also laughed. "I miss talking to him too, to be honest. But I know that he is working, so you better don't tell him now. He is a very nice person and as an F1 fan, he is very passionate."

"You are right, Seb," Sam agreed. Then she joked, "You two would be a match made in heaven when it comes to talk about F1 history."

He laughed at her words. "You are so funny."

"Yeah, I mean, I could imagine you both spending hours just to talk about how Tyrrell could have 6 wheels on their car, the strangest front wing designs, and many more."

He nodded repeatedly. "You could be right, Sam."

Seb didn't know before that her chuckle could become a music to his ears. A match made in heaven. He recalled the sentence she had just said and he liked how it sounded, but it obviously wasn't with Stefan.

As he remembered what his purpose was to come to Sam's house, he asked for permission to go to his car for a minute as he was going to take something. So, he gave Flo back to her grandmother.

When he went back to the house, both Magda and Flo couldn't hide their amazement as Seb was bringing a soft, plush, adorable giant teddy bear with ribbon.

"Sebastian, that is so huge!" Magda exclaimed.

Sam had no idea what her mother was talking about. "What do you mean, Mama?"

Seb was the one who answered it. "I've bought a giant teddy bear for Florentia."

He put the teddy bear on the floor and it didn't take too long until Magda released Flo and she ran quickly to hug her new 'friend'. Seb was so glad that she seemed to like it.

"Thank you so much, Seb. She loves teddy bear, especially Paddington Bear," she told him.

"It's not Paddington Bear, unfortunately, but at least I picked her favourite doll. No wonder now she hugs it so tight," he chuckled.

Magda stood as she wanted to accompany Flo who was busy hugging her new teddy bear, so she asked Seb to sit down again and eat the cheesecake.

She suddenly had an idea to invite him to have dinner with her family that evening as a form of gratitude. "Seb, are you staying in Düsseldorf tonight?"

"Yes, I am," he replied after putting the small plate back on the table. "I've been staying here since last night actually. I've told Sam that I'll be back to Switzerland tomorrow morning and spend a few days there before I go to Maranello."

"Erm, if you don't mind, would you like to come here tonight, to have dinner with us?" Magda tried to ask him.

Seb didn't expect it, if he should be honest, but he gladly accepted it. "I'd love to. Thanks for the invitation."

"I should thank you also for being so kind to my family. I promise that I'm gonna cook healthy foods for you," Magda laughed.

It wasn't only Seb, but Sam was also not expecting that her mother would invite him and he accepted it without thinking too long. What makes him being familiar so quickly with them who are actually new people to him? What does this all mean?