Hour Before Dawn

Chapter 3

"Hey, man, how's it going?"

Bin shook hands with Ye-jin's team when he walked into what is referred to as the box, a designated area off the side of the track where the driver's crew gather together.

"She's still out there," Aaron, her crew chief, said. "She should be pulling in pretty soon."

"Is it okay if I wait for her here?"

"Come on, man, do you really need to ask that every time you come visit? To us, you're like her husband who comes and picks her up after a run on the track. You're basically part of us," Aaron said with a chuckle.

Bin shook his head with a smile. "Just making sure I'm not in your guys' way."

"No worries, man. By the way," the crew chief said in a more serious tone. "How has she been lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"It just seems like she's been preoccupied with something in her mind this past few weeks."

"She has her moments of being tired out but other than that, she hasn't really said anything to me," Bin replied after thinking about the past few weeks. "Is she having problems on the track?"

"No, no. Still drives like there's no tomorrow," Aaron answered. "Just wondering because I noticed she's been a bit off lately. She was unusually quiet when she came this morning."

"I'll keep an eye on her."

"I know you will," the chief replied and gave Bin a pat on the shoulder. He has been a part of Ye-jin's crew since she started racing professionally almost two decades ago, so she was like his own younger sister. "Thanks, Bin."

The track was her safe zone. It was where she released unattended emotions without thinking about anything else but driving. She leaves everything out of the car and only brings the race car driver in her while she's in it, but that morning was different. No matter how hard she tried to leave everything out of her mind when she went for laps, one thing kept popping up in her head. It wasn't that long ago when she was told she needed to consider stopping racing. That morning, she was told that racing wasn't even an option at that point; she needed to quit.

"Beanie." She was completely preoccupied by her thoughts that she didn't see him standing by the fence until they were just a few feet apart. She was surprised to see him there in the middle of the day on a weekday when he was supposed to be at work.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked as she walked towards him and gave him a hug. He hugged her back the way he usually does but this time, it brought her a strong sense of comfort. It was exactly who she needed.

"Did you miss me?" She asked while trying to be in high spirits.

Bin smiled and put his arm across her back while they walked towards where the rest of her crew are. "Yeah, I actually did."

"No denying this time? Odd," Ye-jin teased. "You must really miss me."

"Why do you seem surprised? Do you not ever miss me?"

"I do," she replied casually. "Actually, I was gonna call you to ask if you wanted to hang out at your place today. I have nothing else to do today."

"Sure. I was gonna ask if you wanna have a late lunch out but we can go home instead. Wanna just get take out?"

"Let's get Thai food."

"Anything you want, Yejie. Your request is my command," Bin said while his arm was still across her shoulders and upper back.

She took a deep breath as they walked because she felt that she was where she needed to be. Right beside him.

Ye-jin talked to her crew for a little bit before they convoyed to their favourite Thai place and headed to Bin's condo. He paid extra attention to her and he did noticed that she was unusually quiet that day. They watched a movie together but he knew her mind was somewhere else.