Maybe launching a gossip bomb like our relationship the day just before the race in Barcelona wasn't really the best idea we could have come up with.
Last night, after posting our favorite photos of ourselves on our Instagram accounts, we decided to at least silence our phones, completely ignoring the upcoming reactions from the world, to be able to enjoy our time in peace. Maybe the main reason for it was also the fact that we weren't that ready to face the consequences, to discover what the people will think about it all.
The morning started with both our phones vibrating on our nightstands, fortunately not for the sea of notifications but for our alarms, set on the same hour. We planned to head quite early to the track to avoid getting in the middle of a media storm outside the paddock but also in front of the hotel.
"Hmm... please, five more minutes."
It was more than clear after have spent a few nights together, that Lando wasn't the morning person of the couple. Chuckling about his grunt when he turned around in the duvet to let his face hide into the soft pillows of my bed, I sat up. After stretched a bit up my muscles, I picked my phone and turned it off, soon did the same with his, bending over his back to reach the small table next to his side. While I was still over his body, he quickly turned around, closing his arms around my torso and pulling me even closer to him.
"Good morning, love." A little peck caressed my lips in a way that gentle that my brain was already a melting mess.
"Good morning, Norris." Engulfed in his arms, I rested my head on his bare chest, hugging his side even tighter and enjoying the warm he was spreading under the duvets.
"Don't call me like that too, please. I'm just Lando to you. I can get over the fact that you don't have cute nicknames for me as I do for you, but at least call me by my name."
I knew how much he was annoyed by the fact that people were used to call him just by his surname, almost as if Norris was just the F1 driver and not the normal 23 years old guy under that name. However it was just a way to tease him a bit and I was more than glad to see that it was working on his nerves.
"Well, my little bear, I think it's time for us to finally get up. Honey, do you need to take a shower? Because I need it as well and honestly I don't want to be late."
He chuckled at my words, caressing gently my head still laid on his muscled chest.
"You're exaggerating now."
"Doing what, sweetie? Anyway, let's get up, C'mon. Love, today we're gonna challenge the lions out there, are you ready?" I asked him with a big smile plastered on my face, pulling myself a bit upper on my forearms.
"I'll be more than ready after a quick shower with my gorgeous girlfriend and a breakfast gently offered by the hotel room service. What do you think?"
"I think that I'm craving a toast right now, darling."
"Ok, this is going way too far. Get in the shower, I'll call the lobby for the breakfast and I'll reach you." He said laughing at my silliness and pulling me in for another long kiss that was about to turn into a real make out session, if only my phone didn't interrupt us.
Sat on his lap, I bend again over my empty side of the bed and grabbed the phone who was pinging non-stop.
"My Lord, who's assaulting you like this, this early?" He asked, genuinely curios and totally annoyed for the interruption. He pulled his head into the crook of my neck, hugging the side of my body in a tight hug, looking like a cute koala around a tree.
"Ohh, what the hell is going on?" I unlocked it and spotted more than thousands notifications on Instagram and Twitter. My phone was going absolutely crazy, as if the world just got awaken with our news.
Without even thinking, my fingers pressed the socials' icon and I got overwhelmed by comments, tags and likes from hundred and hundred of accounts. Fan-pages reposting our photos and new ones with sweet captions, gossip magazines publishing fresh articles on the new "it-couple of the F1 world", a sea of comments consisted in opinions, congratulations and heated up words, mostly against me.
In just a minute of scrolling down the many notifications, I noticed how interested people were in all of this. After months of speculations, spots and gossips they got finally what they wanted to know, as if the whole planet was depending on it. So this means that we'll be able to finally enjoy it freely, no?
Of course no. People weren't satisfied with it. They wanted to know every little detail of the story and obviously everyone was ready to express their doubts and dislikes about it, not pondering neither a second on which words they were using to do it. We live in a world where fortunately everyone is free to express their opinions about everything, but people should know that there are limits.
"That explains her seat in Formula 1."
"Lando deserves better."
"She of course needed a good media story to come back after the huge mess she did in F2."
"Horner and Brown really matched them well."
Without even noticing it, my eyes started to tear up. The phone was stuck between both my hands while the fingers were brushing again the display to have it more.
As soon as Lando spotted a tear going down my cheek, he broke the hug and gently grabbed my face in his big hands.
"Hey, hey, hey. Love, whatever you've seen, just turn it off."
A sob escape my lips, echoing in the silent room, making me realize how stupid I was in that moment.
"Oh my goodness. Lan, I'm sorry. I didn't want to- oh, fuck. I'm so sorry, really. It's just that I didn't expect all of this. I was ready for the storm that was coming and I knew what would have been. It has just caught me by surprise."
His worried eyes, scanned mine, as if he was trying to understand if I was really alright after this eventful good morning.
"I'm more than ok, believe me. I don't care what people say. I want you, I don't matter about the rest. And if this means that I have to deal with tons of hate or bad comments, then I'll do it." I leaned more in his hands still cupping by cheeks.
"You don't have to deal all of this alone. We're in this together, ok? I'm pretty sure that this kind of reactions are also on my socials as well. The secret to deal with it is not giving a damn fuck, got it? I want you too, I don't care what people, I don't even know, think. But please, Kiara, if it'll ever became too much for you, just tell me, ok? Promise me again that the media reaction won't touch us neither with a finger."
"I've already promised you this, Lan." My hands closed around the back of his neck, pulling his head closer to mine so our foreheads were touching.
"I love you, Norris."
"I love you more, Bianchi."
We shared another long breathtaking kiss, this time ignoring the thousands notifications that were bombarding my phone.
"I think I should turn off all the notifications from Instagram." I murmured against his lips while recovering my breathe.
"I think we really should." He said chuckling and caressing again my jaw with his index. "Are you still up for a quick shower together?" He whispered in my ear with his usual low voice that always manage to fuck up my mind even more.
"And what about my toast?" I asked, feeling my stomach aching for the hungriness. I pulled out my lower lip, trying to let him fall for my puppy eyes.
"First shower, then breakfast, ok?"
Hearing his amazing plan I jumped off the bed full of excitement, and leaving all the madness about the moment before, completely behind.
"Yes! I'll turn the shower on, are you coming?" This time, I asked him with a smirk.
"Coming!"
***
"Buenos dias, equipo! Ready for today?" I asked entering the garage where most of the team was, already dive in duties for the upcoming race.
"Good morning to you too." Fred greeted me with a small pat on the back and a weird grin printed on his face. I got confused about his actions and furrowed my brows as to ask him about it.
"You look different today. You got any good news?" He asked in a mocking voice.
Oh, now it was obvious. He was trying to smack my head with the lovey-dovey thing.
"Good news you said? Ehm, not really. All the same." I replied, genuinely entertained by the conversation.
"So anything has changed in these past days?" He tried again but I was more determined than him.
"Now that you make me think about it, yes, something has changed. I've lost a few pounds. Mike has changed my diet again and with the new workout plan I'm following that's the result! What do you think, huh?" I asked him, making a twirl in front of him and almost falling behind against the car.
"Oh, I see. You really don't want to spill the tea. Well, what a shame then that my daughter sent me a cute post of a new couple on Instagram..."
"Uh! New couple? Who is it? Zendaya and Tom Holland? Rihanna and ASAP Rocky? Oh, wait. Don't tell me that Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron are finally back together?" If I ever failed in racing, I think I would be a perfect actress.
"C'mon, I'll just give up. My daughter sent me the photos of you and Norris. So you're a couple, I guess." He sighed loudly, pulling his hands on his hips and looking at me with wide eyes, not hiding his curiousness at all.
"Well, what can I say... Yes, we've been together for a while now." I said, slightly embarrassed to talk about it with my race engineer, above all because he was around the same age of my father.
"Congratulations! He seems a good guy. I wish you the best. Enjoy every minute of it, young love is the best you'll ever experience." His eyes fall on the ring on his left hand, making me smile at his cute reaction remembering his wife who was back home waiting for him every weekend.
I posed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Hey, I'm gonna tell you something but it has to stay between us, ok?"
His nostalgic eyes turned into seriousness in a matter of second.
"I'll always love racing more than anything or anyone else." I whispered in his ear before completely broke into a loud laugh.
"Every time. You make me fail for your jokes every damn time. Go away! Leave me a bit in peace, you little devil!" He poked my side and pulled me away so I waved him with a big smile and blowing him a kiss, before spreading in my driver's room to get change into my team wear.
Now in my suit, I got downstairs again, getting ready for the race. Susanne helped me a lot in these few hours, keeping the journalists and photographers away to let me focused on the race, as it was the only thing important. After have taken home some good point for the team, I'll be handle all of this story with the media, but right now my mind had to be stuck only on the car and driving faster than the others.
***
The race went quite well. Pierre finished in a very good sixth position while I ended up in tenth, due some struggles with the grip in the last lap. We opted for not come for a second pit-stops before the end, but the tires got soon exhausted and it was pretty difficult to handle it in the right way.
I was a bit disappointed about the result, mostly because I recognized that a higher positions could have been possible with a better strategy, but after the usual post-race debrief with the team, where every single member celebrated the new gained points with proudness and joy, my bad humour got soon taken away.
Before finally going back to the hotel and get some rest, I had the lovely interviews at the media pen, so I was walking up there with Susanne on my side, while chit-chatting about randomly topics.
"Buenas tardes, Kiara. How do you feel about today's result?"
"Hola. Well, the strategy wasn't the best one but we know we tried our best and we're happy to have taken the risk of staying out, so considering all of this, we're very content with it."
"For the little that it counts, I'm quite astonished by your performance. You did some great overtakes on driver like Alonso in such a way that you make everyone think that it's so easy! You and your team really need to celebrate the latest improvements tonight. What are your plans?"
"Well, as always I don't really have plans. I think I'll spend the last hours here in Barcelona with some friends, before heading home."
"You said friends, but what about your boyfriend? With a very cute post on Instagram yesterday night, you finally turned off all the gossip about it."
"Before being my boyfriend is my friend too." I replied drily, trying at the same time to cut the tension that inevitably fell around me for the hot topic.
"Care to say something more about your relationship?"
"There's so much to say but honestly I don't think that the National Spanish TV is the best place to do it." I chuckled and the reporter soon followed me. "By the way, all I'm gonna say is that I'm really happy where I am. I've found a person that makes me feel good and that's all that matters."
Talking about his in such an easy way made me feel guilty, because that's such a little crumb of all the good feelings he makes me feel everyday.
Thinking of him, I felt the blush adorned my cheeks uncontrollably, so I tried to avoid the camera in every way possible, looking around me non-stopping. It took a few seconds to meet his breathtaking eyes. Our little lock-eyed didn't get unnoticed as I saw the cameraman focusing his big lent on me and then on the McLaren driver who was standing in the back, a few steps behind.
Lando understood the situation, sending me an encouraging smile and a little thumb up that made me giggle like a kid.
Suz, who was still on my right with her phone recording my words, coughed a little, trying to catch my attention back. Slightly embarrassed for being caught and even more redder than before, I said my goodbyes to them and walked towards the next interview, calmer than before, just thanks to him.
By mutual accord we decided to live out relationship in public following the lead of "private but not secret", this also and above all in the paddock. We both work here so we don't want more rumours about us than necessary. In other words we won't be all touchy and clingy but just normal co-workers that are also friends on track and lovers off it.
Maybe, after all, dealing with the media won't be that difficult.