Brute

28. Kalki

The weekend had been great so far, no hiccups. Max won in Singapore, the team was ecstatic. Everyone was still riding on the high since Friday, when everyone celebrated Max's birthday. What Kalki was dreading now was the hours after the race, all the fun she had cramming event after event on his schedule had backfired badly.

She was supposed to enjoy a bubble bath while Max and his date went around town from one lounge or restaurant to another, pleasing his sponsors and all that. But since the news he broke, things changed. Kalki still hoped he'd take his father, but he was very adamant about having his manager by his side.

Kalki waited with the marketing team while Max was in the post race debrief, she hoped it wasn't going to be too long considering how smooth this weekend had gone by. They had nailed the set up of the and tyre strategy.

Maybe it was the heat, but Kalki felt exhausted. She found herself slowly drifting to sleep on the chair. At some point she remembered Anna offering her a jacket so she could rest her head properly.

She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, it was once again Anna. Kalki rubbed her eyes and sat up straight.

"Max wanted me to tell you that you can go rest in his room, he'll tell you when it's time to head back."

"No I'm fine." Kalki stretched her arms.

"No he insists! Apparently being able to see you fall asleep just like that is making him very sleepy." She laughed.

Of course his interests were invested, so Kalki took the offer. Kalki climbed the stairs up to where the driver rooms were. His stuff was all over the couch, she placed it all on the massage bed and got comfortable on the couch. There was no lying, this felt much more comfortable than a plastic chair. She drifted to sleep in no time.

"Burman, it's time to go." She heard a voice very gently waking her up.

"How long was I out for?" She yawned.

"Long enough for me to tell you we shouldn't attend any sponsor events." He laughed.

"Oh gosh! How many hours has it been?"

"I'm kidding! Honestly I'm tired and I want to bale on dinner and networking." He sighed.

"Done then. Everyone shall get a Mister Verstappen is feeling sick email." Kalki said getting up to follow him.

"Perfect. Now I get to do whatever I want!"

"Just don't go clubbing we can't have a supposedly sick person be photographed downing one gin and tonic after another."

"Fine." He grumbled.

The drive back was nice, the street were still filled with people celebrating what a race it had been. Some going into nightclubs, others coming out of them, but one look could tell you Singapore wasn't sleeping tonight.

"What are you smiling at?" Max snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing." She shook her head.

"Are you insane? Only insane people smile when they have nothing to smile about."

"Can't stand to see me happy can you?" She rolled her eyes.

"No." He smiled, looking ahead at the road he continued, "so what are you going to do now? Once we're back?"

"It's too late to eat a full meal, so I'll probably drink some tea, pack my bags and get things ready for Japan." She said.

"Too late to eat? Burman, tea isn't a meal." He shook his head.

She didn't bother giving him an answer, he'd be horrified if he heard about her days and evenings during fashion weeks. Kalki thanked him for the ride and headed to her hotel room, craving to just fall asleep.

But time was not on her side, she took a shower, did her night routine and got to packing. Sorting things through clean, can wear once more and needs to be cleaned ASAP. She still had to send back a report about this weekend to Raymond, call up Kai and tell her about the good news and schedule Max's weekend commitments. Now that they were off to Japan, the officials at Honda would definitely want one on one time to discuss things with him.

Kalki got to work right away, typing up a report for Raymond to read. She started the kettle for her tea, her stomach grumbled. Truth be told she was very hungry right now, but she didn't want to have anything this late, afraid it would make her sick.

She was almost done typing the report when she heard knocks on her door, it was room service. She didn't remember ordering anything, but the waiter assured her it had already been taken care of. She thanked him and decided to peek below the cloches placed in front of her.

A pleasant mix of aromas fragranced the air as she lifted them, food from multiple cuisines waited to be devoured by her. That's when she knew exactly who was to thank for it. Kalki decided she could thank him after eating to her fill.

It hadn't even been that long when she heard loud bangs at her door, the intensity was scary to say the least. She looked through the peephole to find Max, who looked sloshed. She didn't open the door.

"Have you lost your way?" She asked.

"Oh my! I CANT SEE YOU!" He rubbed his eyes. "But I can hear you!"

"Max. Why are you here? In this state?" She sighed.

"I was celebrating! Singapore BABY!" He hiccuped.

"Now, tell me why are you here? You didn't answer that."

"Because my dad is looking for me and the last place he'll look is here." He giggled.

"Why is he looking for you?"

"Because I cancelled on all the sponsor events, saying I was sick." His words were slurring together, "but then we ran into each other at the same bar." He giggled.

"So you're in danger. Why didn't you start with that?" She opened the door to let him in.

"Oh hi!" He waved. "Can I come in?" He asked waking into the room. "Love what you've done with the place-" his head jerked to the trays of food.

"I wanted to thank you for getting me all of that food. But you're in no state-"

"Fried rice." He intensely looked at the plate stumbling towards it. "Can I eat some?"

"Of course you can, all of this is way too much for me to eat by myself." Kalki said, setting up a plate for him.

She knew it was a little twisted but she hoped that with every morsel he ate, he would sober up a little more and then have a horrible realisation of how he had embarrassed himself so far.