"oscar, what does this make us?" she asked the man sitting next to her on his couch.
during their week between the japanese and qatari grands prix, they had returned to woking in england. most of that time had been spent at oscar's house, with ria only going home to get her clothes here and there.
"what do you want us to be?" he asked her.
"i think i'm the last person you should ask about our relationship status." she laughed.
"well, if it's up to me, i'd love to make you my girlfriend. i want to tell the world that you're my girlfriend. the love of my life." he whispered to her.
"then do it. make me your girlfriend." she whispered back.
"ria sandhu, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked her.
"of course i will, oscar." she smiled at him, kissing him.
"finally!" he celebrated.
she laughed at his childish manner. that was her oscar. the man who consumed her every waking thought.
"you're so cute, osc." she watched his face squeeze up as he smiled.
"you're cuter." he kissed her cheek.
in that moment, it was just them. no cameras. no hiding. no work. just them. completely and utterly aligned.
***
since qatar would be the race that verstappen could take the championship lead in, most of the focus was on him. ria and oscar were awaiting a stern talking to from dionne for what they did after singapore, but the mclaren media team had also given the reporters strict rules to not ask about what happened.
they walked down the paddock one after the other, and as they walked into the mclaren hospitality, they held hands, bracing themselves.
"god, do you two not think before you do things?" was what they were met with as they entered the studio. "ria, you already make my job more difficult by cussing out everyone for everything, but now it's both of you? putting up middle fingers at reporters? i understand you were having a moment but the press surrounding us right now is horrible."
"sorry, dionne, i told her to do it." oscar admitted.
that was quite the shock to the older woman.
"don't do it again. please." she pleaded. "we're going to do one of those google autocomplete videos so when people google you thats the first thing that shows up. pushes down all the other stuff."
they sat down and got hooked up to the microphones.
"hey guys! it's ria and oscar and today we're doing the google autocomplete . . . thing. we're answering the most asked questions about us on google, basically." she explained.
"i think i should start today." oscar added.
"go on then, i'm not stopping you, am i?" she jokingly responded.
he laughed, then picked up the first question board.
"what is oscar piastri . . ." he read the prompt, peeling off the rest of the question. " . . .'s full name? oscar jack piastri. pretty basic."
"what is ria sandhu . . ." ria started. "most known for? hopefully my racing career. i don't really do much else in my life that i would want to be known for."
