Repair (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 11: How To Reach Her

Seb turned off the engine of his car as they arrived at a restaurant. Even though he was currently in Germany, but he was craving for sushi, so he browsed on the internet and found Restaurant DEN which only took quarter of an hour from Düsseldorf Airport.

Together with Britta and Antti, Seb got out of the car. The three of them came near the front of the restaurant and a waiter stood there, waiting for the visitors. He gave them a friendly smile and asked where they'd like to have their lunch at, and Seb chose a table in the corner with a big window next to it, so they could admire the beautiful view outside.

After ordering what they wanted to eat, Seb looked around the restaurant. The interior looked modern and stylish and it was dominated with two neutral colours, black and white. Beside offering Japanese cuisines, they also had a bar with a lot of white and red wines. Seb also noticed that the restaurant logo resembled a shape of a fish.

"Seb?"

Seb was a little surprised. "Hmm?"

"You haven't spoken anything to us," Britta said.

He furrowed his brows. "About?"

"That goodie bag," she referred to the goodie bag he brought from Puma Store which contained a cap and an autograph card that had been signed by him there.

"Ah!" Seb laughed softly. "Yeah, I think that you know who that stuff belong to."

Antti who sat beside Britta nudged her elbow with his on the table. "Britta, I feel like we are going to have a long trip to search for her house."

Seb burst into laughter. "No, I don't want to waste our time like that." Then, he turned to his Press Officer. "But Britta, I want you to contact Stefan through his e-mail."

"His e-mail? Do you have it, Seb?"

He nodded. "Yes, I got it from Henry, the supervisor of the store. At first he didn't want to give it to me because he has to maintain the customers' personal data. I got it that he needs to be professional, but I kept persuading him because I want to give it to Samantha by myself."

She nodded as it explained why Seb took time to meet the supervisor first before they left the store. "So, what do you want me to do? I mean, what should I say to Stefan when I contact him?"

Seb had a thought for a moment. "If you can, please ask him where he or Samantha lives at. If he replies while we are still here, we are gonna visit them."

"Are you sure about that, Seb? It's just that you haven't done this before."

"I'm sure, Antti," Seb replied.

"But what if he's late to answer or doesn't even reply? That stuff has been in your hands and it's impossible to give it back to the store."

Seb shrugged. "We'll think about that later."

"Alright. Just send his e-mail address to me."

Without replying her, Seb quickly took his phone, copied Stefan's e-mail address from Notes app, and sent it to Britta. As her phone chimed, she knew what that meant. He wanted her to contact Stefan as soon as she could.

She read it first and then frowned. "Stefan Adler? Doesn't Samantha's name end with... Zimmermann?"

Seb smiled miserably. "She's married, I guess."

There was sound of disappointment from his reply. Britta and Antti knew that. Although he didn't admit that he liked her on their first talks about her, but they felt that he didn't only want to know about her.

"Well, okay, I'm gonna contact him after having lunch and let's see if he replies or not."

"Thanks for helping, Britta," he smiled at her.

"It's my job, Seb. Not the job that I usually do, but I'm always ready to help."

Thinking about the possibility that Samantha had been married made him a bit low. But, he still had a desire to know, even if a little bit, about her. Was it true that she was monophobic, like Antti guessed? Or she had a trauma which made her so panic when she was separated from her parents? Or there was something else? His curiosity made him so desperate to meet her again, someday.

---

Seb walked back to his hotel room, leading Antti and Britta who walked behind him after having dinner together. Instead of choosing a luxury, 5-star hotel, he asked his Press Officer to reserve 3 single rooms at a simple, cozy, and cheaper one. So, she chose KEMPE Komfort Hotel for their overnight stay.

Before Antti and Britta went to their rooms to prepare before they slept, Seb asked them to join him to his own room. After some hours, Stefan hadn't replied her e-mail. Seb hadn't had much time as on the following day, they headed back to Switzerland.

"So, is there a reply from him?" Seb asked right to the point.

Britta sat on the sofa with Antti, while checking the e-mail on her phone. Unfortunately, she hadn't found anything from Stefan. There were only a few e-mails on her inbox regarding her driver's media commitment on next Wednesday, ahead of Monaco GP.

"No, Seb. We can't just rely on his e-mail address, because in my opinion most people don't regularly check on their inbox or they don't even have the notification on."

He plopped down on his bed. "Well, I will still keep that stuff with me. If Stefan still doesn't respond, maybe the idea from Antti earlier can be considered."

She looked at Seb in horror, while Antti just laughed. "Seb, I hope that you are just joking. If you really do that, I don't think that I'll join you. Maybe Antti can keep you company."

Antti's laugh faded away. "We are going to search for the address of a stranger? In a large city like Düsseldorf?"

"She is not a stranger, Antti, watch your mouth!" Seb said with annoyance.

Antti closed his mouth with his fingers. "I'm sorry, Seb."

As he realized that he was a bit harsh to his trainer, he quickly apologized. "No, Antti, I should be the one apologizing. I'm just a little... frustrated? I don't know what I feel, to be honest. When I knew that Samantha and Stefan left, I just thought that I should be the person who gives that cap to them. I didn't even think that it'd be this difficult."

Seeing Seb like that made Antti feel so sorry for him. He knew that he had to offer him some helps. "If you consider to search for Stefan or Samantha's address, I'm gonna help you. We should see when you have some free time, then we can plan on travelling back here."

Antti's offer was such a light in the dark for him. "Thank you, Antti. It means a lot to me. I really appreciate it."

"I'm still not going with you both, but I promise to always check on my e-mail in case he finally replies it. And I'll help to sort out everything, like when you are going to go back here and where you will stay at," Britta added.

Seb could finally smile with relief. "You both are always there for me. Thank you for helping."

It was nice to know that both Britta and Antti were always ready to help. But still, travelling back to Düsseldorf and having a long, long trip around the city until he found where they lived at would be the final option. He still tried to think the other ways he could do to finally get any response, either from Samantha or her father.