Italics: Finnish
●▬▬▬▬▬ ⋆🧊🇫🇮 ⋆ ▬▬▬▬▬●
ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Sweet little lies
"... But I couldn't find a way
So I'll settle for one day"
Sometimes, Anneli Räikkönen got scared and just didn't tell anyone. It wasn't because she was embarrassed or didn't have anyone to tell, it was just because she thought it was her problem and no one else (unless she was in real danger). However, Anneli was scared that her father would kill her ex.
So, how did she deal with that?
Distraction.
Maybe a bad distraction but a distraction all in itself...
"Anneli, what has gotten into you?" Minttu questioned as she sipped on her drink.
All of the Räikkönen's were sat on a yacht, waiting on the docks for the rest of their party to show up. They were expecting a small range of people.
Sebastian Vettel was first invited when Kimi found out he was in Monaco and the ex-driver then brought along Mick Schumacher and Robyn Saunders. Kimi had yet to meet Sebastian's honorary daughter.
Next up was Antonio Giovinazzi, who had half-chosen to fly out just to see them all as well as hide under his Ferrari reserve driver title. He would be racing for Ferrari in the Le Mans 24-hour race in June, which Anneli was planning on visiting.
Anneli's friends were there too: Joel, Levi, Felipe and Jack. It was the first time Felipe and Jack had met the others but they were getting along quite well.
Anneli might have invited Max without telling anyone but Robyn. She'd yet to tell her dad that she was actually with him because Kimi had been so stern that he didn't think Anneli should get with someone too soon...but that had been months ago.
Every time Kimi questioned what Anneli was doing, she answered honestly but just left out that she was with Max. If her dad was worried she was alone, she would just reply she was with 'someone from Red Bull' which didn't always put her dad at ease. He didn't like the atmosphere in the Red Bull family of people being disposable.
While Anneli knew Kimi wouldn't have a problem with Max, or she hoped, she also didn't want Max to feel unwelcomed in her family and friendship group. She didn't want another Elijah.
"Where is nELI?" Kimi's voice sounded.
Everyone that he'd planned to be there had arrived apart from his daughter, which was slightly annoying when her friends were all there waiting for her. Luckily, Kimi liked all of Anneli's friends and most of them had already been in his company.
Robyn Saunders knew where she was but she wasn't going to tell.
"I'm sure she just got side-tracked, Kimi," Sebastian assured.
"Anneli doesn't get side-tracked," Kimi replied.
"We don't even know what hotel she's staying in," Minttu added.
"She's not staying in a hotel," Felipe whispered to Jack.
"What was that?" Levi questioned, his Swiss accent standing out.
Felipe hesitated. While he knew Jack was always okay to know about Anneli's life because they were her friends, he didn't know what the woman was comfortable telling her other friends. Other than Mick, Felipe and Jack both knew that Anneli told Mick everything.
Why hasn't she told Sebastian? Perhaps it was because she hadn't told her dad.
"Hello!" Anneli called brightly.
Kimi immediately turned towards her, surprised at her cheerful tone. Anneli wasn't an unhappy person but her tone was never particularly telling of how happy she was.
"Neli, you weren't answering your phone," Kimi scolded. "Were you driving?"
"No, I was just talking to Max," said Anneli smoothly before moving out of the way so Max could step onto the yacht.
Sebastian beamed from behind Kimi, quickly understanding just what this meant. In fact, the only person who seemed a little slow to understand the situation was Anneli's siblings, because they were young, and Kimi.
Kimi stared at Max.
"Hi," Max greeted kindly.
"Hi," Kimi replied.
"I have been meaning to tell you that I have been dating Max," said Anneli in Finnish so it was a little more private.
"You have been dating Max Verstappen," Kimi said slowly. "For how long?"
"Nothing was fully official for a bit, we didn't want the media to find out and I wanted to make sure it was serious before I told you," Anneli replied trustfully.
"Anneli...are you sure about this?" Kimi asked carefully. "You know I don't like you having boyfriends but you are an adult with your own decisions."
"We understand each other, dad," said Anneli. "But we aren't ready to tell the media yet."
Kimi nodded before turning and shaking Max's hand with a small nod. Max's smiled politely as Antonio patted him on the back.
"Do we give him the talk?" Kimi whispered to Sebastian.
"No, Max is a good kid," Sebastian replied in the same whisper. "And there is plenty of people looking out for Anneli."
Kimi nodded as he watched Robyn teaching Anneli how to do cute hairstyles with Rianna's hair. It gave Kimi a fond feeling as he had never really seen his eldest daughter bond with anyone growing up and she'd never shown quite as much emotion until recently.
"I don't want her to get hurt again," said Kimi to his two best friends and wife.
"You can't stop that, she is twenty-three and she's her own person," Sebastian assured.
"It is natural to worry over her," Antonio reasoned.
"I cannot believe I will have this all over again when Rianna is grown," Kimi mumbled to his wife.
"You will have experience," Minttu smiled.
Anneli didn't even notice her father looking at them, she was far too happy spending time with her friend group. After Robyn had taught Anneli how to French plait Rianna's hair, Anneli's sister began to run around with Robin.
Having Robyn and Robin was going to get very confusing. Anneli was just thankful Robyn was happy to be called Bryn.
"Okay so let me repeat that," Robyn began. "Felipe is from Brazil, Jack is from Australia. Levi and Joel are brothers from Switzerland. Okay got it."
"For someone who has so many friends, you aren't very sociable," Max joked.
"Has she dragged you snowboarding yet?" Mick questioned.
"She keeps trying—"
"You don't need to make it sound like you hate it when you have never been," Anneli scolded, playfully glaring at Max.
Levi and Joel were finding this talkative Anneli incredibly weird and they didn't know how they felt about it. For as long as they'd known her, Anneli had only ever spoken in short statements or questions, now this?
"Snowboarding is...I do not know the English word," Levi trailed off. "Nicht unterhaltsam."
"Not entertaining," Joel translated. "The two of us prefer skiing."
"I don't mix well with the snow," said Robyn. "I'm a Tennis gal."
Just as Max went to reply to her, he was forced to answer his ringing phone. Anneli briefly saw 'Lando' flash across the screen as he held his phone to his ear. It was a short call with Max grinning and saying "Congrats mate."
"What is it?" Jack asked intrigued.
"Mira had a boy, they've called him Theo," Max announced.
"That's so cute!" Robyn squealed.
Anneli smiled at Max, who seemed happy for his best friend. Anneli knew that Max had always been someone who interacted well with kids and would likely make a great dad...she just didn't see that any time in the near future.
"Enough talk, I'm jumping in the sea!"
As soon as Robyn had jumped up, so had everyone else around them. Rianna and Robin both begged to join the group, who were all jumping in but they were a little too young. Instead, they cheered everyone who was attempting to push their friends into the water.
Robyn had jumped in before anyone could try. Mick successfully pushed Jack into the water as Joel pushed Levi in. Felipe dived in very dramatically while Joel did a canon ball. The only ones left were Max and Anneli...Max was attempting to push Anneli in.
Sadly for Max, Anneli turned. She wrapped her arms around his waist and through them both into the Monaco waters.