Do I know you?

Chapter twenty

Valerias sight

I am sitting in my bed when I hear the doorbell ring. I choose to ignore it, just like I did the last days but today the person doesn't go away. After 10 minutes of doorbell ringing I get up and walk towards the door. „Finally, I need to talk." Lily is standing in front of my door and is putting her foot between the door to stop me from closing it again. „I accepted your behaviour for the last week but it is enough now. I let you take the time you needed but you have to stop to feel sorry for yourself and get back out again. You haven't talked to anybody these last days. Now I force you to talk to me." She looks at me very concerned and pushes me in my living room. I am ashamed of how dirty and how much of a chaos my flat is. „Do you want to drink something?" „No, thank you." I sit down beside her and we sit there in silence. „Start talking girl." Lily says and pushes me a little.

After I told her what my parents did, after I came back from Spain and found the courage to ask them about my childhood, she looks at me and pats my shoulder. She knows I don't really like to be hugged so she keeps the distance. Hugging Lando is an other thing. „I actually thought you meant Lando, when you said you needed to talk to somebody but after he showed up several times at the shop I knew something was off." „He was there?" „Yes five or six times these last weeks but you always were at a shooting or haven't even been at the shop by then. I could never tell him where you were because I wasn't even knowing sometimes." I look down at my hands in my lap. I made a promise but I broke it. „Valeria, you really need to talk to him. He was more worried than the last time, whenever he entered the shop and I shook my head."

After my talk with Lily I was sitting at my balcony for a long time just staring out in the nothingness thinking about nothing. Maybe she was right, maybe I should talk to him. I get my laptop and search for flights to Spa. I book one for Saturday and start packing my bags already. It is Friday today and I can't wait to fly to Belgium. The whole day I walk through my flat. I take my keys and drive to my shop. „Lily, everything alright here?" „Valeria, hey, good to see you. Yes, everything is alright." I nod and sit down at my desk. I was teaching Lily how to photoshop the pictures and make them look better. Which is a good thing for me because I have less to do and also a good thing for her because she can learn and improve her skills. I check the new appointments and look through the pictures I took this week. „Valeria, I see that you are somewhere else with your thoughts so stop avoiding those with being here." „Are you throwing me out of my own shop?" „If you want to call it that way, then yes. You can sit down on our sofa and just read a book but stop working now." I nod defeated. She is younger than me but tells me what to do, what a bizarre situation.

Saturday, finally. I am sitting in my car driving to the airport. There is nothing stopping me from being excited anymore. I park my car and walk in the hall. I check in and quickly go through the controls. Luckily the time goes by pretty quickly and I am sitting in my seat short after. I put in my headphones and start my music. It is a short flight and a few minutes before we land the pilot tells us that it is raining and that some turbulences could occur. I stay calm and just think about the fact that I will meet Lando soon. I get out of the plane and walk to the luggage claim. I wait for my bag and get out of the airport. It is 12am right now and I walk to a taxi. „Can you please drive me to the Spa track." „Of course." the taxi driver says and I get in. We chat a little and we arrive quickly. It started raining a lot more the last ten minutes and I hate getting out of the warm taxi right now. I thought it would be sunny and now it is raining and I only have a thin jacket with me. I get out of the taxi and pay the driver.

And now. I am standing here in the rain not knowing where Lando could be and my phone is dead as well. I wait next to the entrance in hopes that I see somebody I know. I probably wait her for more than a half hour, already soaking wet, when I see Max coming towards me. „Hey, what are you doing here?" I look up at him. „I wanted to see Lando but I couldn't call him because my phone died. So I hoped that somebody, I know, would come by." „Seems to be your lucky day. I will call him quickly and tell him to come here. Take my umbrella." Max hands me his umbrella and then takes out his phone to call Lando. He hangs up and says „He will be here shortly. May I ask how you two met?" I smile because it's not the most common way we met. „Thank you, well we met when I had to take photos of the boys and their cars for some magazines, We got along pretty well. He then showed up in my shop a few times and we became good friends. But we also have met before I was at the MTC because I took a walk in their park and Carlos and him were on a run. They ran towards me and I panicked and run away. Actually that's the funny part of the story." „Sounds pretty interesting, maybe because it wasn't the daily way you met, that you brought you together a lot more." I smile. Maybe but I think it was the way he cared about me and protected me from the very first second. I felt and feel welcome and at home around him.