𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐗

𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘐𝘛𝘠 𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘌

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Just when she thought she was done pulling all-nighters for a while, she did it again. This time, however, it was not because of work, everything was already done and ready for the event, but because she hasn't been able to get a hold of Min. Their apartment felt empty without him and their bed felt cold.

She knew she has been neglecting him and his needs since she was put in charge of this project, but she couldn't find a way to balance her work and her personal life. She barely sent everything that needed to be sent before the deadlines and she only focused on work, how was she supposed to do this perfectly and be a good girlfriend at the same time?

This charity race was important to her and she wouldn't have done things differently. But if there was one thing she wanted to change if she could do it was remembering Min's birthday. She knew when his birthday was, but she didn't realize today was the day, and she wasn't going to forgive herself for that.

If it had been the other way around, she would have felt broken-hearted. And he probably did too. She tried calling him again, but his phone was still turned off.

Hyeri sat on the bed. All the lights were turned off and the lively buzz of the city felt like a distant sound, a memory. But this silence was overwhelming. She was so used to have Min as her roommate that she couldn't rest whenever he wasn't at home.

They moved together after she turned eighteen, his father bought them an apartment near the Eiffel Tower and even if she did have her own rented place in a beautiful neighborhood, she was happy to move out and move in with him. And even before that, they would often sleep at each other's places. Hyeri could never live by herself, that much she already figured out. She was afraid of the silence and the loneliness of an empty house.

She checked her phone every two minutes, hoping he'd call. Or text. All she wanted was to see his name popping on the screen. She wanted to know he was okay.

She had no idea where he could go and as long as his phone was turned off, she had no chance to find out. She couldn't contact his friends either, she lost their phone numbers a couple of years ago and she didn't bother to ask for them again. She never thought she needed them, since Min had the numbers in his phone and they were always together.

But not now.

The night went by painfully slow. Her heart grew heavier with every minute that passed and her thoughts were put under siege by her demons and replaced with dark ones. When the first ray of sunlight passed through the window and laid on her tired face, she felt it burning. But at least she felt something.

She took her time to get out of bed and she went straight to the bathroom. Hyeri turned on the water and undressed, then stepped in the shower. The steamy water ran down her hair and her face, washing away the make-up she didn't take off last night. She reached for the shampoo bottle and lazily massaged her scalp, then rinsed her hair, applied some conditioner and rinsed it again. Usually, pampering her body by using vanilla scented body wash and body scrub would make her feel better. But today, it just felt like routine.

She turned off the water and got out of the shower, then wrapped a towel around her body, letting small water droplets roll down her shoulders. Even after she brushed her teeth, the mirror was still steamed, so she wiped it with one of her hands and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

What a disastrous beauty.

She didn't feel like putting on effort today, but it was not up for debate. She couldn't show up at the race looking anything else than perfect. She wiped her mascara stains and splashed her face with cold, refreshing water. She wrapped her hair in a towel and grabbed her makeup bag, then applied sunscreen to her face and tapped it with her fingertips until it disappeared onto her skin. Then, she drew some lines underneath her eyes with concealer and dabbed on them with a beauty blender. To make sure her skin looked glowy and even, Hyeri applied a generous layer of foundation all over her face. The black circles under her eyes were still visible, a little more concealer was needed on top of her foundation. After she blended everything in, she set her face with powder, then slightly contoured her cheeks. She went for a peachy blush today and combined it with a little bit of red to bring life back to her cheeks. For her eyes, she chose light brown and nude shades and she finished her look with brown mascara and a cherry-shade lip tint.

She looked back at herself in the mirror and she thanked the power of makeup for saving her today. There were going to be cameras everywhere and even though there was an immense hole in her soul, she looked picture ready.

She took off the hair towel and hanged it back in its place, then put on a pair of slippers and headed to her walk-through dressing room. Empowering but feminine, that's the look she was going for today. She needed something that screamed Girl Boss and a light blue two-pieced suit was the safest option. The color matched BMW Group's logo. She paired it with an impeccable white shirt and some matching stilettos.

She was starting to look less like a disaster and more like the future Managing Director of BMW Group Asia. Now it was time for her to do her hair. She took a seat in front of the beauty mirror and blow dried her hair, then straightened it perfectly. She combed her bangs with her fingertips, then rose from her seat and looked through her perfumes, choosing one with vanilla and wooden notes.

Her phone buzzed. When she heard it, Hyeri rushed to check it. It wasn't Min this time either. It was her driver, who texted her to announce that the car was ready. It was time to go.

She grabbed a pair of big, classy sunglasses and a black designer bag, then left her apartment. She got in the car with her driver's help and put her seat belt on, then unlocked her phone and dialed her father's number.

"Mm, I'm on the way," she hummed, then waited for him to hang up.

The rest of the drive to the circuit was silent. Hyeri absentmindedly stared out the window, made up scenarios of Min showing up in the middle of the street playing in her head. Oh, how lovely it would be if any of them came true.

She still hoped he would show his face to the race, even though she didn't deserve to have it this easy. His absence was a consequence of her selfishness. It was her fault, but she still dreamed of the easy way out.

"Miss Yoon, we're here," her driver announced, stopping the car right next to her father's. The man opened her door and helped her out the car, then bowed his head and returned to the vehicle.

"Good morning, Appa."

"Good morning, Hyeri. Is something troubling you? You don't look well."

"We should go see the drivers before the race. I think it will be good publicity to check up on them with so many cameras around."

"Yes, that's protocol," he agreed, a hint of suspicion in his tone.

Her father respected her privacy enough to let her get away with this. He led her all the way to the pit and introduced himself to the drivers that were going to compete today. He wished them the best of luck, then moved on to the next person.

Before they reached Kim Taehyung, Director Yoon's phone rang. He glanced at his daughter and she just nodded. Can you take care of this? he meant to ask, but Hyeri knew her father like the back of her hand and she was able to provide an answer even without him voicing his question.

"Good morning, is everything alright so far?" She greeted Taehyung and bowed her head to the staff member that brought her an energy drink. A lifesaver.

Taehyung hummed in agreement. "Yeah, everything's fine. They checked my car and said it's safe to drive. I just gotta warm up and I'm good to go. Wasn't your father with you only a few seconds ago?"

"He's always busy," she explained. "I thought I told you already: win the race and he'll introduce himself to you. Are you trying to cheat and skip some steps?"

"What? No." Taehyung chuckled, shaking his head as if to prove a stronger point. "I'll win this race, I have the perfect strategy."

"Good." She nodded. "That's good for you. Alright, I'll let you warm up. Best of luck to you."

"—Wait," he said, reaching one of his hands out to grab her wrist and stop her. "Are you alright? You looked quite low yesterday and now," he glanced down at her drink, "how many of those did you have since the last time you slept? And when was the last time you slept?" He asked, then he was quick to come up with an explanation. "You did a pretty good job with the makeup, but your eyes betray you."

Hyeri pressed her lips together and politely pulled her wrist out of his grip. "Focus on winning the race if you want that sponsorship, not on me." With that, she moved onto the next driver, not even bothering to look back at Taehyung.

He had a bad feeling about this, but saying it out loud didn't seem to make a difference.

Aaaaaaand Kim wins with an advantage of 0.2 seconds! Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the BMW Group Asia 2020 Seoul Charity Race is none other than the rising star driver, Kim Taehyung, who added this to his promising win strike, marking 5 races won out of 5 this season!

Hell, this was close. His opponent almost got him, but he still managed to go faster than him in the last seconds. Who would have thought being 0.2 seconds ahead of someone was that much of a big deal? Taehyung surely did.

Time was everything. He calculated every possibility and still got them wrong, but even so, he pushed himself further and won this race. And what made him even more excited was that he could rub this into Hyeri's face again. Even though he wasn't competing against any of their drivers, he still told her he was going to win and he did. Truth to be told, he was never sure if he was going to win or not, but he genuinely believed that positive energy and mindset attracted better results and it worked out just fine until now.

He knew he wasn't always going to win, but what he considered most important was to develop a strategy that would help him outsmart the other drivers and secure him the first place. His current strategy was working fine, but it was far from being complete and the only way to do that was to keep winning and to keep studying drivers' behaviors and patterns.

He pressed the brakes, his vehicle eventually coming to a stop. He was immediately surrounded by photographers and reporters, so Taehyung took off his helmet and panted. While he was trying to catch his breath, he flashed a charming smile to the cameras.

Director Yoon approached the winner and the reporters and photographers stepped aside, creating him a path to Taehyung's car. The driver hopped out of the vehicle and gave a firm shake to Hyeri's father's hand. He couldn't help but notice she wasn't here. Maybe she didn't want to congratulate him.

"That's was a great race, Mr. Taehyung. You did a great job," Director Yoon confessed, still shaking his hand.

Taehyung had both of his hands pressed against Director Yoon's as a sign of respect. "Thank you, Sir. It's an honor to meet you."

"Ah, you're a very popular driver this season. The pleasure is all mine. I wanted to congratulate you for your performance in person."

"Thank you, Sir. I am doing my best." One more time, Taehyung bowed. "Pardon me for asking, Sir, but is Mrs. Yoon Hyeri still here?"

Director Yoon arched one of his eyebrows in slight suspicion, but still replied honestly. "No, I'n afraid she's no longer here. My daughter had some urgent matters to take care of."

He was disappointed by the answer he got from Hyeri's father. Did she even see me winning? Taehyung wondered. His gut feeling was right, something did happen to her, but it was not his place to pry into her private life like that.

Hyeri's father gestured for the reporters to leave. When he finally got a moment of privacy with the winner, he asked: "How would you feel about signing a sponsorship contract with BMW Group, Mr. Taehyung?"

When he heard the question, a grateful and impressed smile grew on his lips. "It would be an honor, Sir!"

"That's what I like to hear. Last season, you won fifteen out of sixteen races you signed up for. I'm not going to ask you to win all of this season's upcoming races, neither to win fifteen races again, but I want you to double your podiums. I want to see consistency, so there has to be no race without a podium in between these. Do that and the sponsorship is yours. You'll be BMW's driver next season."

Five more races. Five more podiums. According to his calculations, this meant about seven or eight weeks. Even though there were less wins than last season, the pressure was bigger. Last year, he had nothing to lose, but this time, a big sponsorship was at stake.

"I know this is a tough challenge," Director Yoon continued, "but we don't offer sponsorships to anyone. You have potential. But first, I would like to make sure you didn't win all these races out of pure luck."

Come on, Taehyung. Say something. He was caught off guard by this proposal. He wanted to be the one to ask for a sponsorship from BMW Group, but he didn't think the direction himself would come to him with a proposal.

"I will do my best, Sir!" He finally breathed out, agreeing to this.

"Ah, yes! I love to hear that! There's something about young people and their ambitions, I find this to be lovely!" He took out a business card and offered it to him.

"Oh, I already have one of those, Sir," Taehyung explained. "Your daughter gave it to me when her car collided with mine in the parking lot."

"You're right, you're right." He nodded and put the business card back in its place. "I blame the age for forgetting about this," he replied, laughing.

Director Yoon and Taehyung chatted for a while. Then, Hyeri's father left, advising the champion to get ready for the press conference as well.

While he was on his way there, Taehyung asked for his phone and typed a text to Hyeri.

Send a message to: Yoon Hyeri.

Kim Taehyung
Did you see me winning?
Sent at 11:45 AM.
Unread.

Kim Taehyung
Are you alright?
Your father told me you left.
Sent at: 12:00 PM.
Unread.

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my heart breaks for hyeri 😭

where do you think min is? do you think he'll come back!

i hope you guys enjoyed this update! i'd love to hear what your favorite part was!

also ariana released positions and killed me today tyvm miss run for president now