malicious | max verstappen

twenty four.

ELYSE's POV

Being in Brazil never failed to bring a smile on my face. Simply breathing it's air filled me with serotonin. It also happened to contain my happiest moments in life; summer break, family gatherings and my first Formula One win.

Just being here felt like reliving all these wonderful moments. But now, sitting in a hospital waiting for time to run out, Brazil wasn't my favorite place at the moment.

Once I got there, I was met with a hug by my mom's sister who arrived a few days ago. Then, she hit me with news that my mother has been sleeping for 3 days ever since they gave her some new meds. I tried not to let that affect me but once I was given permission to enter her room I broke down.

"It's so hard, Mama. This is so hard. Everything is so hard and you're not even gone yet. It feels like you are, though." I went on, "I miss you so much."

There were so many words I wanted to say but couldn't. Not even the whole dictionary could describe how I was feeling, what I wanted to say. Nothing.

Some time later, I left her room, with no signs of her waking up. I sat down on the basic hospital seats and Lewis stood up, entering my mother's room since it was his turn to sit with her.

I played some games on my phone to pass the time, I was bored out of my mind. And quite hungry. So I got up and went to the first vending machine I found, inserted a few coins and chose Twinkies.

"Would you mind sharing some of that with me?" The voice behind me spoke up. I'm pretty sure my mind was playing tricks on me from the lack of sleep and obsessing over this certain voice.

Before turning around, I hid the smile that suddenly appeared on my face, replacing it with a blank stare.

"No. Get your own, I'm hungry." I walked past him.

The sound of his footsteps was close by, "C'mon not even a bite?"

"Not even a lick of the wrapper." I shook my head as I opened, more like tried to open, the Twinkies. A look of amusement was plastered on Max's face which made my fingers sweat, making it nearly impossible to open the damn thing.

"Want help?" That bastard was practically grinning.

I huffed, handing him the wrapper in frustration.

He slowly opened it, making it look like an effortless job. But before handing it to me, he made sure to take a big bite of the little cake.

"Hey! I told you to get your own!" I snatched the cake from his hands.

"And I told you, multiple times, that I don't take no for an answer." He matched my tone, adding a playful tint to it.

I scoffed, "Is that why you're here after I told you that you can't come?"

"No, of course not. I don't come to places uninvited, I'm here to visit Talia." He seemed so innocent. But I knew he had other plans. I took a bite of the remaining cake and watched as his eyebrows scrunched up, his eyes focused on my lips.

"Are you okay?" I snapped my fingers in-front of his eyes to snap him out of it. Is this normal behavior for him or was it the jet-lag?

"Yeah— It's just—" He interrupted himself, quitting explaining and reaching out, wiping some frosting off the edge of my mouth with a single finger. Then, he took that finger to his mouth and sucked on it, making the frosting disappear.

It was all oddly attractive. I looked away to prevent showing him my red face. "Thanks, I guess." I started walking back to the waiting area in front of my mom's room, hoping Lewis was done so I wouldn't have to stay with Max alone for long.