P E N A L T Y | c. ѕaιnz jr.

EPILOGUE

MANY YEARS LATER...

C. Sainz Jr.

After all these years, after growing older and older and now I'm nearly the same age as my driver number, I ended up looking exactly like my papá. Salomé was standing beside me, our 10 year old daughter Samara holding her hand.

I remember quite vividly how furious Salomé was when she was pregnant again for the fourth time with our only daughter. She'd blamed me for my insatiable qualities which I'd never heard any complains about until that moment.

Our first child was Mateo, he was born just before our wedding anniversary. I still remember how he clapped his hands as a little baby as I held him while his mamá finally finished her degree, stood on that stage and accepted her diploma. Then he was followed by Santino a year later, then a few years later we had Camilo and finally after what seemed like no sign of any more children, Samara came into our lives.

"Mamá, is the race starting yet?," Samara asked, tugging on her mother's blouse and Salomé only laughed and said, "Be patient mi niña, your brother Mateo has been preparing for this race all winter. Let's not spoil the fun for him."

Of course, not much to my surprise, my sons followed in my footsteps. Mateo was 23 now and it was his 2nd season in F1, driving for Audi. As soon as we saw our son step out from hiding and his name announced to the crowd, we cheered our hearts out.

I nudged Salomé's shoulder playfully and said, "I told you we'd have a family of racers, didn't I princesa?"

She only rolled her eyes and kissed me on the cheek. It's been more than two decades since I've been married to this beautiful woman and everyday I am thankful she stuck around.

My wife's hair was short this time, she'd kept her curls and decided that shorter curls were much easier to manage this time around. I looked at her and found barely any wrinkles and barely any white hair, it made me look like I was a decade older than her. Beside us were our friends Artemis and Charles.

Artemis and Charles didn't have as much children as us. Shortly after we had Mateo, the pair had two daughters, Juliette and then a few years later, they had their second daughter Noella. As if on cue, the announcer exclaimed Juliette's name and the pair alongside their daughter Noella screamed at the top of their lungs.

Juliette was more or less our son's rival, she drove for Ferrari just like her father and mother before her and she is the only one who's matched Mateo's talent. With the way the two were always neck and neck for a Grand Prix win, they were quite the power rookies in their first season.

As the festivities died down while the drivers prepared for the upcoming race in just less than an hour, all six of us sat down at the paddock club and enjoyed the food. "So, it still feels so weird watching the race rather than being in it," Artemis said as she lazily snacked on some chips. I laughed and nodded then said, "Yet again, if we drove at this age, we'd snap our necks in half with that much g-force we have to endure."

"True that," Charles said as he twisted his neck around to soothe an ache, "My neck can barely handle maintenance work at the house haha, I really am getting old." I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm way ahead of you in that."

"Noella, how come you're hanging around your parents?," Sal asked to a clearly disinterested Noella. Unlike Juliette, Noella looked more like Artemis but she decided to pursue sports journalism rather than join the sport. Charles seemed to answer for her as he said, "Noella, had lost her rights to freedom because Artemis and I caught her and Hugo making out on the family couch!"

"Papa! I am 19! I'm allowed to kiss whoever I want," she complained and Charles narrowed his eyes then said, "Look, I love your Uncle Pierre but he went through a bit of a playboy phase when he was younger which Hugo is going through at the moment! I do not want you caught up in that!"