The Bull Prince | Max Verstappen

SEQUEL - Chapter 22

So, this one is terribly long. Just saying. I felt like we all deserved that even though it's not very much happening. There are always a million things I want to write in my note but once I actually have to write one I never know what I wanted to say. I would love some messages if you're in the mood. Hope you're all well. I'm definitely not but I'm also a drama queen. Anyways. Enjoy Reding. Cheers! 

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"We all love the high performance we see from the two of you, but now we have a problem. For whom should the Austrians root? The Austrian team or the Austrian driver?" The interview asked, Joanna knew the man, he had also interviewed her many times when she was a guest at the talk in the Hanger 7 but she couldn't put her finger on what the name of the man was. Even though she tried, Joanna was always terrible with names.

"Well..." Joanna started to speak before anyone else could lift the microphone they had thrust into their hands, but she knew that Max wouldn't, the Dutchman was blankly staring at something in the crowd, while Joanna tried her best to pull all the attention from him to her. She understood that Max wasn't in the mood for this interview now, so she would cover for him.

"The Red Bull facility is located in the UK, so not original Austrian, just saying." She joked which caused the crowd to laugh even though Joanna didn't think it was funny at all. Rather a playful half-jab at Red Bull which would have caused every other driver to face a big outfall, saying something against Red Bull at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, but Joanna was something like a national hero. She had brought the Austrian glamour back into F1, a nostalgic feeling of a better but long-lost time. Joanna was the daughter of her father after all, and she reminded the fans of the great time of Niki Lauda.

"Original Austrian," Max said with a cheeky huff after the cheers of the crowd had died down, causing Joanna to look over at him surprised. His expression had something from five weeks of rain, but now a natural expression had bloomed on his face. Sometimes Joanna wondered what it was that was going on in the head of the father of her son.

"But you are? Miss half Austrian half French." Max asked her with a mocking glance, which caused Joanna to lose her smile for a moment so small, that nobody would have normally noticed, but Max knew her too well to not be able to see it, still, he couldn't put the finger on the reason why the Austrian suddenly looked taken back. It must have been the mentioning of her mother. Joanna was used to jabs.

All Max wanted was to hold her in his arms and go home with her, but their teams wouldn't have allowed them to leave without giving this interview after pushing it back for hours already but after Joanna had gone onto the stage and claimed everything the blogger had said was wrong and people finally calmed down, the anger in Max's veins still hasn't subsided. No, with every word the Austrian said, with every word of denial, he grew angrier. Not understanding how inconsiderate she could be of herself.

The fans had believed Joanna. Of course, they have. Every word which had left her lips, they were ready to soak up like a sponge and the Austrian seemed to love every moment of it.

He knew that the Austrian Mercedes driver always had a tendency towards megalomania, feeling untouchable, invincible, but Max knew how easily she broke. He knew her better than all these people cheering for someone whose favourite thing to do was to destroy herself. Piece by piece until nothing was left of her.

Looking at her, her fake smile Max was angry at her for doing this to the woman he loved. They applauded her for making herself hallow. Was this what she wanted? Was she so desperate to be seen that she risked losing herself? Why weren't his tries to stop her working?

"Yeah, I would say so. Born in Austria and raised by Niki Lauda. You can't get more Austrian than that." That was a well-spoken lie with so many layers. Max wanted to call her out for it, in front of all of them. Firing up the rumours about their rivalry even more.