Italics: Finnish
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ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Grenade
"Yes, I would die for you, baby.
But you won't do the same"
Anneli Raikonnon was a believer in hard work and she didn't believe in luck. She believed in understandable mistakes and small errors, all the way to a fluke or fortunate result but luck? Luck was a way of avoiding admittance to error or avoiding taking credit.
"I was lucky, that's why I won." or "It was just unlucky that the tyres did not last long enough."
No. Anneli just believed that you should be prepared for the unprepared and if you weren't, admit in. She knew people thought her harsh for it but it was the reason Anneli owned up to her mistakes and the reason people liked working with her despite her blunt nature. She never blamed anyone else and she always let people know they were doing a good job.
Wishing for luck brought unhappiness and Anneli didn't need that in her life.
It was not 'lucky' that Max Verstappen had chosen Anneli to like. It was simply a fact and Anneli hadn't worked out what she had done to cause it.
She wasn't interesting or fun; she wasn't even creative or exciting. Not to her...she was just Anneli; the most exciting thing about her was her father.
Max didn't think so.
Perhaps that's why he invited her to fly with him to Jeddah. Not only that, he wanted her to go to Paul Ricard Circuit with him to wish one of the Verstappen.Com Junior racers good luck.
She wasn't sure why she said yes.
That was a lie.
She said yes because she felt something was pulling her to say so. Felipe encouraged Anneli to try to make friends and Jack said Max was a good person. After all, Jack was friends with Mick and Mick trusted Max.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Anneli said in Finnish, glaring at her dad.
They were standing by the two places waiting for them. Max was stood by one and Antoine by the other. Anneli didn't take private planes when she travelled to races without her dad so it was odd.
"Max Verstappen..." Kimi began."It's odd."
"Do you care?"
"Not really," Kimi shrugged. "It's just...odd. I want to make sure you are safe."
"I am," Anneli assured. "So, I will see you in April after Australia. Bye dad."
"Bye Anneli, I love you," Kimi smiled.
"I love you too," Anneli replied.
Kimi gave her one final hug, something Anneli only really did with family, and headed towards the separate planes. Max's plane was matte black with orange markings, looking very Verstappen-worthy in Anneli's opinion.
"Hey, Anneli!" Max beamed.
"Hi Max," Anneli replied with a final wave to her dad and Antoine. "Thank you for inviting me. I don't know why you did but thank you."
"You are good company," Max shrugged honestly.
"So are your friends," Anneli pointed out.
"I didn't ask them, I asked you," Max replied honestly. "You didn't have to come if you didn't want to."
"No, I did," Anneli added. "It was just an observation. I don't get invited places...ever...unless it's Felipe and Jack, or Mick and Seb."
"People should ask you more often," Max said with a smile. "You're interesting, I'm surprised I never met you before."
"Feel lucky, I don't like meeting people usually let alone travelling over the world with them," Anneli joked.
"I'm so lucky," Max returned, playfully placing a hand on his heart.
There it was again; the stare.
The unbreakable stare where neither side said anything and locked eyes in an understanding manner. A stare that showed that there was something else there but neither side knew what to do about it.
Anneli had gotten out of a bad relationship barely a couple of months ago and Max had ended a long relationship with his girlfriend. They were both in the public eye, both racers. Surely, that couldn't work.
"Anneli—"
"No...I know what you are thinking," Anneli whispered. "We cannot. You are Max Verstappen."
"Just a name," Max shrugged honestly. "I could say the same about you being a Raikonnen."
"You are not the one that would be obliterated by the media, I am."
"You don't care about the media."
"True, I don't."
The stare again. This was a different stare.
This was a stare of possibility, one of hope for one side and one of conflict for another. There were certain lines that were not meant to be crossed and Anneli was sure this was one of them.
"Why am I not allowed to have feelings for you?" Max questioned openly. "I knew there was something about you. The understanding and the similarity...Abu Dhabi and then Monaco."
"I can't be one of these 'Girls', Max," Anneli argued. "I can't just be a trophy girlfriend who goes to the beach in Bikinis and kisses you when you win a race. I can't do it."
"I'm not asking you too—"
"And I'm not the type to stop racing because you want a little family or—"
"Anneli, I'm not asking that of you!" Max raised his voice. "I'm just asking you to try to make this work if you like me back. I don't expect you to do anything you don't want to."
"Fine," Anneli pursed her lips. "But if you pull an Elijah move at any point, You might have two world champions knocking at your house to murder you."
"Noted," Max grinned. "Elijah was a dick."
"He was."
Max Verstappen and Anneli Raikonnen. People could go from just being part of the same team to being on a private jet together admitting feelings in a very unique way. The guy who had it all in the world of Motorsports and the woman who was just trying to prove herself.
Anneli wondered how her father would take it.
"Robyn told me she added you to her little group," Max commented as he watched Anneli scribbling away.
She seemed to be drawing snowboard designs.
"She did," Anneli nodded. "It's a very...unique group."
"Mira says Robyn collects female racers and girlfriends like Thanos collects infinity stones," Max grinned. "Mira is obsessed with Marvel. Since Lando and I are friends, I'm around her a lot."
"I have never seen any marvel movie before—"
"Seriously?"
"I have refined hobbies and likes," Anneli admitted. "I have never been a movie person."
"Don't tell Mira that, she named her cats after movie characters," Max laughed. "So you just snowboard?"
"I love snowboarding, it's a way of being free outside of racing," Anneli smiled softly. "You should join me some time...if you're 'super star' contract allows it."
"Even if it was in my contract, I don't care," Max admitted.
"I don't know whether that's bravery, stupidity or both."
"Probably both," Max joked. "WIll it be worth it?"
"Everything that includes me is worth it, Verstappen."