Just Him ❤

117. After the high....

....of their Vegas wedding came intense media interest after her new husband's wedding ring was quickly noticed. Social media had been flooded with various images of Seb throughout the weekend, all of them showing his left hand and the shiny, new gold band glimmering on his finger. Hashtags #ringofvettel, #vettelwedding and #sebandchloe had been trending and poor Britta had been inundated with requests for interviews and photo shoots, comments from Seb himself or a statement from the couple confirming their marriage. All had been declined and Britta had had to constantly remind any journalist or tv presenter Seb spoke to, to not ask him about his marriage. Of course, they all ignored her and tried to get around it by cheekily congratulating him and Chloe on their wedding, to which Seb had nodded, smiled and replied with a simple 'thank you' before falling silent and waiting for them to start asking about the actual reason they were there, the US Grand Prix. And so after the high of their wedding, the low of his early retirement due to a suspension failure had been particularly crushing, ending the weekend on a sour note. Chloe, who still disliked her husband's friend, had wanted to leave the circuit early, not caring one bit that Lewis was on course to win his sixth world title, but Seb had insisted on sticking around and had been there at the end to congratulate the Brit before heading to Ferrari's press conference. This had caused their first marital disagreement, resulting in Chloe storming off, taking their rented Ferrari Lusso and leaving Seb to hitch a lift back with his team boss. Both of them had been had happy to get back home to Switzerland, and after making up on the flight home, peace and happiness had been restored. Right now, after waking up to an empty bed, Chloe had trudged lazily down the stairs and was now standing in the kitchen of their empty house. After spending what was left of Monday when they'd arrived back getting over jet lag and sleeping, Seb was already out training with Antti, leaving her alone with her precious coffee machine and just her own thoughts for company - thoughts that rapidly turned to Stephen. He'd been absent from Mexico and Austin and she had no doubt in her mind that once they got to São Paulo in Brazil, he would be there and he would be calling for her. Unplugging her phone from its charger and picking up her mug of coffee she walked into the lounge and sat down in her favourite chair, by the window. She took a sip of her coffee before placing the mug down on the small side table and gazed out at the view in front of her. It looked vastly different to how it had just a few weeks ago. Autumn had well and truly taken over, turning the leaves of the trees into a painters dream with shades of gold and dark, rich reds that stood out against the backdrop of the lake and snow dusted mountains beyond it. Looking at her phone in her hands she found herself thinking about Michael, would it be risking too much to call him and tell him about Stephen? She sighed to herself, of course it would. He probably wouldn't be able to help her, or even want to if she did call him. She still brought up his number in her contacts and then sat there staring at it, wondering what he'd say if she did actually tell him what she was faced with putting herself through. Shaking her head, she put her phone down. She shouldn't even be thinking about telling Michael, it should be Seb she goes to for help, her husband, the man she should always talk to first, who she shouldn't be keeping secrets from. What a way to start married life. But then what would she tell him? That she was going to sleep with another man because she had no other choice? That if she didn't go through with it then the scandal that followed would probably split them up anyway because he'd be confronted with the viral, explicit images of his wife having sex with formula one's most famous multiple world champion? That she'd single handedly wreck another man's marriage and subject him and her husband to intense media scrutiny for months afterwards, bringing Seb's and her own reputation down to the gutter? And then there'd be Seb's reaction to consider, there's no way he'd sit back and do nothing. Would he understand the position she was in? Or would he just think that she was going to betray him by sleeping with another man, the man who had put her through hell all those years ago? He'd go after Stephen for sure and then everything she feared would happen would become a reality. She looked at her phone again and then picked it up, her stomach twisted with anxiety as she scrolled through the contacts until she found the initials, MS, again.
"There's my beautiful wife." Seb walked in, startling her and making her drop her phone onto the wooden floor.