What happened today was aweful. I hope Romain has a quick recovery!
You were looking at your boyfriend, Daniel Ricciardo, with a smile. It was Saturday which meant the last free practice and qualifying. You were sitting with Charlotte, Charles, his girlfriend, in the common lounge area.
You have been dating Daniel Ricciardo for almost a year now. You were 20 when you met Daniel, him being 30. There was an age difference of 10 years, which wasn't really that big of a deal to you. Daniel didn't felt like he was 30, he felt younger, and you didn't feel 20, you felt older. You two had talked about your age difference a lot when you started dating, and you both decided that it didn't mean much to you. Age was just a number. But not everyone around you had the same feeling of that. They thought Daniel was taking advantage of a young girl like you. Yes, you were both in a different stage of life, but it clicked between the two of you, and you couldn't go around that. On the grid, there was a lot of talking about it at first. But things settled down, and you felt more welcome on the grid. Charlotte, being your age, you hung out with her a lot when you were both at the track.
'So, how is everything going? I've seen the stuff they put online,' Charlotte asked you. Honestly, you didn't want to talk about. You've tried to put it aside as best as you could, but other people did see it and wanted to talk about it.
'It sucks. Why can't people just see that none of us is using the other? People judge so much, and I hate it. Why can't they just keep the comments to themself? Why can't they just let us live our lives?'
Charlotte nodded understandingly. 'Have you talked to Daniel about it?'
You shook your head. 'I've been trying to ignore it as much as I can, but more recently people have been commenting hateful things about us again. Whenever I post a photo with him or even when it's just me, they all say the same: "you should break up with him. Just leave him already, he's using you. I bet she's using him for his money or fame. It's disgusting". I can go on for hours,' you sighed.
'Is that why you've been acting distant?'
You turned around and saw Charles and Daniel standing behind you.
'I'm going to leave you two to talk,' Charlotte said and quickly walked away with Charles.
Daniel sat down across from you. 'Why didn't you tell me that the comments got bad again?'
'I didn't want to give it attention again. I'm getting tired of it. I just didn't want to think about it or make a big deal out of it,' you sighed.
'But it is a big deal. My fans, or haters, are making you upset. You promised me to talk to me whenever they started talking again.'
You looked at Daniel. He was disappointed that you didn't tell him what was happening. 'I know, and I'm sorry. But I don't want to let it bother me. People are always going to have opinions. No matter what. I didn't tell you because I've tried to ignore it.'
'I'm going to put an end to this,' Daniel said, and before you could say anything, he had his phone out, and he was live on Instagram.
'Hi guys, I just wanted to pop on here real quick to talk to you about something. I've seen that people are starting to making a problem with me and Y/N again. She's not with me because she wants to use me for the money or fame. I'm not with her because I want to take advantage of her. Yes, we have a big age difference, but so have other people. Of all the people who are in a relationship, 8% has an age gap of 10 years or more. What would you do if you fall in love with someone who's younger or older then you? Would you ignore it? Probably not, because we can't. If you love someone, you want to be with them. You don't care that they're 10 years younger than you or not. Y/N is now 21, 20 when we met. But mentally, she is so much older and wiser. And I, on the other hand, am 31 years old, but I don't feel 31. I still feel like I'm 20 or something. I enjoy having fun, and sometimes I act like a kid who's 3 years old. Age is just a number. If you don't support my relationship with Y/N, then that's fine. But don't put it on online. You hurt me, and you hurt her. So please, just stop. We love sharing the things that we do with you, but if the comments keep coming, then we're going to go offline and keep our relationship private because this is going too far. I just wanted you to say that. I'm going to have to qualify soon, so bye.' Daniel waved to the camera, and that stopped the live. He saved the live and posted it on his feed and story. Daniel put his phone down and looked at you. 'I'm sorry. I had to say that. They're unfair, and I meant what I said. If they keep coming for us, we'll go private. We don't share what we're doing, or we're going to turn our comments of under posts and make sure that they can't send us a dm. Because I hate seeing you upset over this.'
You sighed but nodded. You loved sharing pictures of the two of you, but Daniel was right. Maybe it was for the better. 'Maybe that's for the best. But we'll see how this goes.'
Daniel nodded. He looked at the clock and sighed. 'I have to go. I'll see you after qualification, okay?'
'Yeah.'
Daniel pressed a kiss on your head and walked out.
You grabbed your phone and started to look through the comments of his post. It had the opposite effect of what you wanted.
She's such a cry baby
You should dump her
She's not worth it
She probably made you say this
Daniel is so stupid
They say love makes you blind, IT DOES. YOU FOOL.
The tears welled up in your eyes. You tossed your phone to the other end of the table and buried your face in your hands.
Y/N? What happened?' you heard Charlotte ask.
You looked up. 'They hate me. After everything that we do to make it better, they just go on. The hate just keeps coming, and I'm so tired of it.' You completely broke down in tears.
Charlotte took you in her arms and suited you until you calmed down.
'I saw the live. We're just going to do what Daniel said. We're going to make a private account where you post all your pics with Daniel and other things that you want to share with people you know. I have an account like that, and it's so much better to just post what you want and not worry about what people might think. And if they're not nice, you just block them.'
You nodded and wiped away the tears from your face. You grabbed your phone again. Every picture that was up on your account from you and Daniel, you put in your archive. With the help of Charlotte, you made another private account. You already felt more relieved. How much as you loved Twitter, you decided to delete it. You cleared your whole social media, and it felt good. It felt like a weight was off your shoulders.
Both Charles and Daniel made it to Q3. Charles is starting P8 tomorrow and Daniel P6. You and Charlotte had said your goodbyes, and you made your way to the Renault facility. You went into Daniel his room.
Shortly after you arrived, he walked into the room. As soon as he saw your face, he knew something was wrong. 'The comments didn't stop, did they?' he asked right away.
You shook your head. 'I took every picture of us down, and I now have a private Instagram where I'm going to share pictures of us and other stuff. I'm just so done with it, Dan.'
He sat down next to you. 'And that's okay. We'll just keep things to ourselves, friends and family. It's their loss because I can still look at you how much as I want,' Daniel smiled.
'Me too,' you smiled and kissed him.