The perfect match

“And you think it’s a good idea to introduce an update without real track testing?” Lando asked.
“Well, it’s not ideal, but we think it is a huge benefit for this track.” One of the engineers said. They stood in the garage in Singapore on Wednesday, the car being put together.
“Alright, I trust you guys. You know more about engineering and programming than I do.” Lando said and saw the PR team coming in, getting him for the next interview.
The update was a software update, as well as an adjustment at the nose and floorboard. Lando asked for some changes during the first training, feeling the car’s behaviour change.
Singapore was a night race, but definitely not a chilly one. This wasn’t like Las Vegas is predicted. It was humid, warm and made you feel uncomfortable quickly if you’re sitting in your racing suit, sweating in the car like a pig. Still, they loved this race for whatever reason.
He came back from second practice, finding Oscar asleep on the couch in his driver’s room, laying down, some documents pulled up on his laptop on his lap. Lando took a quick shower and changed before kneeling down next to Oscar, stroking his cheek. Oscar woke up slowly, looking at Lando before suddenly sitting up.
“Why are you changed? And you showered? How late is it? Did I miss second practice?” Oscar shot out.
“Yes, you did and it’s okay. It’s the middle of the night, let’s go back. The travel nest is way more comfortable than this little couch.” Lando smiled.
“I didn’t even realize I fell asleep … or was tired.” Oscar said while closing the documents on his computer, packing his things. They made their way into the car and to the hotel, Oscar falling asleep again as soon as he was in the nest. Lando wondered for a minute, but then just laid down, pulling Oscar into his arms, breathing in his sweet raspberry and cinnamon scent, he was very sweet. He thought while falling asleep.
They woke up around lunchtime the next day, Lando making his way towards the track a couple hours later while Oscar started an online meeting to talk about the new products for Eighty1.
He came to the track just in time for third practice and a good luck kiss. Third training went well, the update now well adjusted with the car.
The qualifying went well for them as well, not as good as the last, but Lando qualified in 5th, something they could definitely turn into something. Max was on pole, followed by Charles, Carlos, Logan, then Lando, George, Lance, Ollie, Yuki and Esteban. Lewis started in 12th, Daniel 14th, followed by Pierre.

The start on Saturday evening was crazy. Lando could see Max further to the front. The lights went out, he pushed the gas and then Carlos did a sudden jerk to the left. Out of some weird instinct, Lando just followed him, speeding past Max, who’s tires just rotated, barely speeding up the car, burning through the tires. Max fell from first to sixteenth before the first corner.
“Okay it is Logan, Charles .8 in front, you and Carlos .7 behind, keep the pace we want the DRS.” He heard his engineer five turns later.
“Got it. How is Daniel?”
“He’s in 11th at the moment.”
“What happened to Max?”
“Apparently a wet spot or something, he fell back to sixteenth.”
The race went well after that, two yellow flags. One little collision between Zhou and Daniel, taking them out, but there were no injuries, and another one from Logan touching the wall and some advertisement falling off and landing on the track. Logan lost some speed and needed an extra pit stop, pushing him back to 8th. Ten laps before the finish, Charles blew a tire, adding an extra pit stop and setting him back, Lando was now first, Carlos directly behind him. Lando misjudged a corner two laps later, letting Carlos speed past him. He used the next five rounds to get back on his tail, and the last two laps they fought tooth and nail for the win. In the end, Carlos had worked his tires too much and lost a little speed. An additional over breaking cost him the lead, and Lando won again, Carlos less than a second behind him.

George arrived at the convent on Monday in the late morning, getting out of a taxi with his suitcase. He stepped up to the door and it was already opened by one of the monks, greeting him with a smile and a little bow, which George reciprocated. He stepped inside and sent one last text to Toto, informing him that he arrived, before turning off his phone and gave it away, together with most of his things, receiving the traditional clothing from the monk.
“Would you like a snack before moving into your room?” the monk asked.
“That won’t be necessary, thank you very much. I will join everyone for the mid-day meal if that is convenient.” George said. He already felt calmer. The influence of the area, the temple and the monks calming him.
“We would be very happy to see you for the lunch ceremony and lunch. Would you like to work in the garden again?”
“I will work wherever I’m needed the most.”
“We could use some help with the carpets.”
“I never made carpets before.”
“We will teach you.” The monk said and brought him to the room where they made the carpets.
“Hello, George, we heard you were coming.” Another monk said, greeting him.
“I’m very happy that you are receiving me back.” George said to him.
“Come along, I will show you the area.” The monk said and he showed him around the room, as well as the place he would work at. He started working after the ceremony and lunch, a monk sitting next to him, showing him the right way. It had something soothing to it. Weaving the carpets made out of thin bamboo strings. The silence and calmness over the next days gave him the chance to reflect on everything. He had the time to come to terms with everything, accepting the break-up and the heartbreak, all the stress from the last weeks. The two weeks in the convent flew by in no time.

“Why would we make it pink? Nobody wants it pink. We need to use green.” Chloe said in the paint aisle, shocking Daniel, who looked at Nicole confused.
“It started a week ago.” She explained, trying to hold back a laugh “Pink is out now. It’s green, sometimes yellow now.”
“You ladies are killing me.” Daniel mumbled and then followed Chloe down the aisle to the green colours. He stood in Chloe’s room an hour later, rolling the paint on the wall, while Chloe did what she called help. Sitting in a chair and telling him all the things he apparently did wrong.
“With that bossyness and stuff, she could easily be a beta or alpha.” Daniel said when they got to Nicole’s nest in the evening.
“Or a really bossy omega.” Nicole said, hugging him closely.
“Yeah, or that.” Daniel said and hugged her back, falling asleep. At one am, like clockwork, he got a big push against his chest. Chloe. Climbing into the nest and pushing her way into her mother’s arms. Daniel slid back, loosening his arms from Nicole and letting Chloe slip in between them.
Nicole woke up the next morning, seeing Daniel next to her, Chloe on his chest, hair all over the place and drooling, showing a wet spot on Daniel’s t-shirt. She smiled happily. Daniel won’t mind. He is so different from her ex-husband. He never would have let one of their kids sleep on his chest, definitely not drool on him, either. She went downstairs, starting breakfast and Daniel came down just ten minutes later.
“Oh no, I hoped you were still in the bathroom.” He said, kissing her.
“Well, I’m not. Is Chloe up?”
“Yes, she stumbled towards their bathroom, Julia’s door was open and she said good morning.”
“That sounds good. I’ll take a look.”
“Alright. Should I get started on their lunch?”
“That would be great, thank you. Just remember, no more pink sprinkles.” Nicole smiled and gave him a kiss before she went back upstairs. Daniel finished setting the breakfast table and started toasting bread while he heard the girls roam around upstairs. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a yoghurt, apple slices for Chloe and a mandarin orange for Julia. He just filled their juice bottles when they came back down.
“Good morning, everyone, breakfast is on the table, see you in a minute.” He smiled at them and went upstairs, getting ready himself before sitting down with them.
“But why will you go?” Chloe asked on their way to school fifteen minutes later, Julia walking in front of them while Chloe held Daniels hand on their way to school and daycare.
“Because I have to work and my work makes me travel a lot.” Daniel explained.
“Can’t you get a job here? Where you don’t have to travel so far?”
“Not really, Chloe. It doesn’t matter who I’m driving for, there will always be travel with it. But hey, I’ll be here for more than two weeks, that’s worth something, isn’t it?”
“Okay” Chloe said, not really convinced, when they stepped in front of the daycare.
“Bye Danny!” Julia yelled and ran away, seeing her friends.
“Bye Julia!” Daniel yelled back and kneeled down in front of Chloe. The daycare was directly next to the school. “Look, Chloe, I have a meeting today, but I will be back tomorrow to go to the beach with all of you, okay?”
“Okay. Here, take Joey, he will protect you while you’re alone.” Chloe said, pushing her meerkat stuffie into Daniel’s arms.
“Aaw, thank you, that’s so sweet of you! Are you sure you’re okay giving him to me?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah, I still have Johnny.” Chloe said, talking about Joey’s brother, an identical meerkat stuffy.
“Well then, I trust Joey that he will do an amazing job protecting me.” Daniel said, hugging the meerkat close.
“Okay, bye Danny!” Chloe said, running off towards the daycare.
“Bye Chloe, have a nice day!” Daniel yelled after her and just wanted to leave.
“Excuse me, sorry for holding you up.” A lady said, coming out of the daycare. “Do you have a moment to come to my office? It’s about Chloe, you are her guardian, right?”
“Well, I’m her mother’s partner.” Daniel said honestly.
“May I ask you to accompany me?” she asked again and they went to her office.
“You’re the owner, right?” Daniel asked when they were inside.
“Yes, I am. I’m sorry, sir, but there seems to be an issue with the payment.” She said, a little bit uncomfortable.
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked.
“Well, two months ago the payment account was changed to Ms. Piastri’s, but we weren’t able to deduct the monthly fee. We tried multiple times. Payment is due on the first and we already have the sixth, I need to insist on payment, otherwise I can’t let Chloe come to daycare anymore.”
“I understand, of course. Can I like, just change the payment info or stuff?”
“Well, Ms. Piastri put you down as one of the emergency contacts, so yes, you can.”
“I’m an emergency contact?” Daniel asked surprised.
“The third, she and her son are the first two.”
“Of course, what do you need from me?”
“We need a valid bank account with enough money in it. You can either do this one time payment or set up another account for continuous payment.”
“Let’s just do the continuous thing.” Daniel said and the lady gave him a form he filled in with his information and bank details.
“I have to ask you to stay and wait for the first payment for this month to go through.” She said and started typing on her computer.
“Of course, however long it takes.” Daniel said and waited. A minute later he was good to leave, getting a copy of the changed info. He walked out and stopped at a store on his way to his appartement, getting some groceries.
“Hey” Max greeted him, pushing a cart, P sitting in the children’s seat.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Daniel asked and Max raised an eyebrow “Sorry, instinct.”
“And you are into stuffies, now?” Max asked, nodding to the meerkat in the Children’s seat of Daniel’s cart.
“No, this is Joey, Chloe gave him to me to protect me, as I’m going to be alone tonight.” Daniel said and Max laughed.
“You are so whipped, man.”
“Hey Daniel! No, Max not those, they are getting you constipated!” Charles said and took the bag of crisps out of the cart, replacing them with another brand. “I’ll go to the dairy aisle, see you, Daniel.”
“See you!” Daniel called after him.
“I’m whipped, huh? At least I can eat my favourite crisps.” Daniel said and demonstratively put two bags of the potato crisps Charles took from Max into his own cart while smiling widely. “See you, Maxie!”

Results of the Singapore GP and the total driver's championship points:
18-Singapore
NOR342
SAI215
LEC198
RUS71
BEA56
TSU80
OCO39
SAR201
STR59
VER289
HAM32
GAS3
HUL5
LAW4
MAG6
ALB42
BOT12
LAT0
RIC120
ZHO2