Back To You (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 26: Be Friends Again

Gia closed her eyes once again. She had to decide whether she was ready to welcome him again to her life or she needed more time to think. While Seb kept staring at her beautiful face. Deep inside his heart, he didn't stop praying. He wanted to, at least, be friends again with her.

He saw her nod slowly. But it wasn't enough for him as he wanted to hear the answer. "Gia?"

Gia looked at him again with her puffy eyes. "Yes. I forgive you."

"Thank you, Gia." Seb was more than grateful as it had been a good start for him. "Can I hug you?"

Gia didn't answer. But, she shifted her position to get closer to Seb. After 12 years, they finally hugged again. She sobbed, which made him tighten his hug. He felt that his t-shirt was getting wet as her face was right on his shoulder, but he didn't care.

She was the first to pull away. She was about to erase her tears with the sleeve of her sweatshirt when Seb did it first with his thumbs. He promised himself that those should be the last sad tears that fell from her eyes because of him.

"So, we are friends again?"

"Isn't that something that you want?"

"It's something that we want," Seb emphasized his tone.

Both of them smiled. They felt relieved as they had started their friendship again. But suddenly, Gia thought about Seb's relationship with Bernadette. It still hurt her knowing that he was dating someone.

"Seb, may I ask you about... your girlfriend?"

"What do you want to ask?"

She was a little surprised as his expression suddenly changed. She cursed herself for asking about Bernadette when they were about to start repairing their friendship. She hoped that he wasn't angry at her. "Erm nothing. Seems like you don't want to talk about her."

"It's fine, Gia. Just fire it away."

"Erm, how could you know her until... you date her?"

"As I said, we met in 2014. Bernadette is a fashion designer and she's from Hannover. At the German GP race in that year, Mercedes team invited her as a VIP guest. Then, she requested to have some photos with all German drivers, including myself. I got acquainted with her and even exchanged our phone numbers. When she knew that I was facing a tough season, she texted me, almost every day. She gave me the support that I really needed. I was touched with that. And... we finally dated in 2015."

Gia felt sad. If Seb didn't move and try to forget her, maybe she was the first woman, or probably second after his mother, who would give him the support he needed at the time. She would always be by his side, no matter what.

"Does she live with you?"

Seb felt heavy to answer that. But he had to be honest to her. "Yes, she does. Two months after dating her, she wanted to move in with me."

"Oh..."

"But we are often in a row now."

Another fact that made Gia surprised. "Why?"

Seb sighed. "Last year was the first year for me to have a chance to fight for the title since I moved to Ferrari. That was why I spent more time in Maranello, Ferrari's headquarter, than at home. And she complains about that. She can't understand that I'm very busy."

"Seb, I'm sorry to interfere but, can't you just talk about it with her? I think-"

"I've talked about this many times with her but she never changes. She keeps promising that she will figure out what's wrong on her. She promises to be a better person, but she's still the same. I feel that she is too possessive over me. She doesn't like whenever I talk to female crews in my team or female fans. To be honest, I'm considering to break up with her. I don't feel comfortable with her anymore. She's not the same as Bernadette that I knew for the first time."