The Bull Prince | Max Verstappen

SEQUEL - Chapter 12

"Okay, well. I'm off. Call me if you need something." The Austrian told him a little bit taken aback. Normally Alain would come over and kiss her cheek goodbye, but she wouldn't press the topic. She simply gave him a short, confused look before leaving, which caused Alain to exhale in frustration as soon as she was gone, leaning back in his office chair.

He wondered if he would ever tell her that it was him who had introduced her parents to each other. Back then, he didn't think too much about it. It had been a simple party. Niki came to visit, and Alain did what every good friend would do. Since that day, he felt responsible for the young Austrian. It was all his fault and he had gotten himself in the young Austrian a new responsibility.

Lately, he hadn't thought about it much. It was decades ago. Back then Alain knew that sooner or later Joanna would start asking questions about her mother, but Niki was fast to shut her down. After one particularly nasty fight, Joanna never again asked. Alain knew that she sometimes wondered about her mother, but she didn't ask. Too much time had passed. By now, there was no reason to meet her mother any longer.

They went on with their life. Alain took it upon himself to visit the young Austrian as often as he possibly could. Taking her with him for a few days, not caring what her stuck-up monastery school thought about missing school days. The Austrian had been smarter than most kids her age and she needed some care and love from someone who didn't get paid to take care of her. Joanna needed some devotion back then and Alain was happy to be the one caring for her.

She was so little back then. But Joanna grew into a beautiful woman, who was able to stand on her own two feet. Never looking back, never backing off. He was proud of her and sometimes he wished she would have been his daughter. Whenever she told him about the terrible things which happened in this monastery school, thinking it was completely normal, or when she suffered from not knowing what it was like to have a mother.

Alain was sorry for her almost her whole childhood, but Joanna was fast to make him stop. She told him to stop pitying her. She had two legs, two arms and a moderately clever head. No need to be pitied. Back then, she had been twelve. Thinking about it now, he had to smile. She was always so sure of herself, even though a lot of it was fake confidence. What she really was, was stubborn. Ready to prove the world wrong. She's still doing that, every moment of her life. And Alain couldn't be prouder of her.

Picking the letter up again, Alain scanned over the words again. He wanted to burn it and never let Joanna know, but it would be unfair. She deserved to know that her mother was still alive and that she had been looking for her, but Niki had shut her down the moment he realised what she was doing. It was a sad story really. The daughter wondered about her mother and the mother searched for the daughter, but the father had made sure they would never meet for reasons Alain could actually understand.

There was the possibility that Joanna's life would turn into so much more pain should she ever meet the woman, who had given birth to her.

Alain still remembered being at the hospital, it was a rainy January in the countryside, somewhere on the coast, La Rochelle. Her mother hadn't stayed long enough to know if the baby girl was alright or to give her a name. She was the daughter of a powerful man, after all, and the pregnancy had been an absolute secret. Alain remembered holding Joanna for the first time, Niki stood next to him, his arms crossed over his chest, while he watched the baby, already criticising her. Already trying to find a purpose for the little squirming bundle.

Looking down at the baby in his arms, all he felt was sadness for her and the life she would have to live through. She had inherited not only her father's intelligent eyes but her mother's tendencies, her drug problem and her urge to self-destruct. A mother she never knew.