LDR Ch 22

A light kiss that brushed against his cheek was gone, and the door closed. Leo watched Harrison’s back for a short while as he disappeared into the airport with his luggage. Still, he would get to see him all dressed up after a long time, so there was that one good thing.

He’s handsome. Leo looked at Harrison standing with Anna on the screen. He would be handsome in any form to him, so it would be fine even if he looked ugly in others’ eyes, but it was clear he would look handsome in others’ eyes too.

Since everyone else knew anyway, he wanted to see him moving a bit more, but despite his dedication in turning on the over 2-hour broadcast just in case, Harrison appeared on screen for what felt like about 3 seconds. Thinking of how he briefly went on stage for the 3rd place award, only received the trophy, and then left again, he did not even feel a sense of emptiness.

Do 3rd place winners not normally give an acceptance speech? Leo had, of course, only ever watched the awards ceremony when Harrison was on, and this was his first time placing 3rd, so he had no way of knowing if this was how it always was.

Leo rummaged through some more news photos, then checked the time. By now, it was time he would have left the awards venue. Then people who had filmed him leaving would surely have uploaded videos. Leo contemplated just calling Harrison. But seeing as there was no contact from Christopher either, he was surely discussing terms right now.

As he was contemplating, his phone alarm suddenly went off. Since it was the awards ceremony, he wanted to see all the photos of Harrison dressed up for the first time in a while, so he had set an alarm to go off whenever news with the keywords Harrison and FIA Awards Ceremony came up, and it seemed something else had popped up.

Checking it, he saw it was an interview on his way to the hotel after the awards ceremony, which he had been curious about. However, Leo’s expression hardened the moment he clicked on the video within it.

— Harry!

— Harrison Turner!

It was a common occurrence for them, whether paparazzi or reporters, to shout to get attention and take a frontal photograph. However, it always felt strange when he saw such a raw, unmuted scene.

— What is your relationship with Jude Turner? Did he congratulate you?

Leo did the exact same thing as the Harrison in the video. Leo, and the Harrison in the video, simply stared straight ahead. They do not just call out names to get attention. They swear and they mock. After all, getting a frontal photo is good, and if it’s an angry photo, even better.

After the accident, Jude had fallen into a coma where no one could be sure of his survival, and though he woke up, he did not fully recover, he could never ride a motorcycle again, he left racing, he left the UK, and he refused all interviews.

At the time, Harrison had not even entered F1, whereas Jude was already a MotoGP champion. Naturally, everyone asked Harrison about Jude, asked about Harrison’s feelings, and asked about his family’s support.

At first, the reporters focused on Jude and expressed their sorrow. But as time passed, and Harrison entered F1 and began to receive attention, the questions changed their course. Just to elicit a reaction from Harrison. And the Harrison in the video got into the car without saying a word.

Leo read the article after that. The article criticized the rude question, but in reality, it was not so. It attached the raw video, and after that, it detailed Jude’s accident, and wrote that Harrison had shown no reaction to it.

It was a familiar occurrence, but perhaps because it had been a while, that expressionless face kept lingering in his mind.

Leo contemplated whether to call Harrison or not, assuming he would have returned to the hotel by now since it was late at night. He could call. However, he could not pretend he did not see what he had just seen. And Leo had never once, not ever, talked about Jude with Harrison. Of course, Leo meets Jude, and Harrison also meets Jude, though less frequently. But they have never talked about Jude’s accident.

So in the end, they would end up talking about something else. Harrison would know why Leo called but would avoid the topic, and Leo would not be able to delve into it. He would surely talk about the transfer. But Leo did not want to talk about that with Harrison right now.

“Chris, are you back at the hotel?”

[Yeah.]

In the end, instead of calling Harrison, Leo called Christopher to ask about the situation.

“And Harry?”

[He’s an ABW Racing driver next year too.]

“What went wrong? Because of the first driver position?”

[That, and also because they said he couldn’t bring Morris.]

At those words, Leo checked the time for a moment. When Harrison came to ABW, he had insisted on bringing his race engineer, Manuel, with him no matter what. So it was natural for him to set conditions while negotiating a transfer, but was it time to discuss that already?

“Did they talk to the person himself?”

Manuel is British, has lived in the UK his whole life, and his family is all in the UK. If they transferred together, Manuel would have to go to Italy, so had he decided that in such a short time. But contrary to Leo’s question, Christopher’s voice was concise.

[No.]

“But he said he would bring him?”

[Pretty much.]

But like Christopher’s unenthusiastic voice, Leo was not surprised either. He had no intention of going in the first place.

“Did they say they’d raise his salary?”

[I can’t tell you that.]

The sudden professional tone gave him certainty. Although ABW Racing’s financial situation had improved after Leo’s maternal grandmother acquired it, it was no match for Ferrari.

[Ah, and can you cut back on the sponsor events a bit? Don’t you think it’s a bit much now too? I’m confident I can make as big of a fuss as I did back then.]

When Harrison was constantly being called out to sponsor events at his previous team, everyone knew that Christopher’s persistent protests had reduced the number of events because the process had been so tenacious. But Leo was not the person in charge, so there was no point in him saying anything.

“Discuss it with Heather first, then talk to the person in charge. Not me.”

Leo was silent for a moment after those words, then he suddenly asked.

“Did you meet Harry at the hotel?”

[No. I went to pick him up as he was leaving the awards ceremony. The reporters were particularly aggressive today.]

“I saw the video too. How’s Harry?”

[He’s fine.]

To the answer that could be nothing other than that, Leo also gave an obvious reply.

“Okay. Thanks.”

After hanging up, Leo looked at the picture frame on the living room table for a while. The man with no expression in the video was, in the small frame, sitting cozily with Leo’s younger siblings, looking at the fireplace. With a very comfortable expression.

That day, they did not contact each other at all. The next morning, they talked about ordinary things. Harrison said he woke up and found himself in Monaco, and Leo replied that he had expected as much and had booked the return flight from there in the first place. The conversation, with the previous day deleted, was smooth as always.

Before he knew it, it was the day of Harrison’s arrival, and as he was waiting in front of the airport gate, Harrison soon came out. At the same time, two or three paparazzi popped out as if they had been hiding somewhere. This season’s transfer period had passed quietly without much talk, which he thought was a bit of a relief, but now that the season was all over, the biggest transfer had begun, causing all this fuss. Still, at least these paparazzi seemed to be the type to only follow and take pictures, and did not try to draw Harrison’s attention.

“Were you waiting?”

Without even giving the paparazzi a glance, he came straight over and asked, and Leo shook his head.

“I just got here too.”

In reality, he had barely waited. Leo reached out and pressed down once on the head of Harrison, who was putting a bag into the trunk.

“I told you not to go to Monaco.”

“I opened my eyes and I was in Monaco.”

At any other time, he would have said it was nonsense, but this time, it was quite believable. He must have had a little to drink at the awards ceremony, then a few more drinks while discussing terms, and a few more drinks at the hotel, and then went when Lorenzo or Stefan or some other Monaco resident called him out.

Usually for these events, the people living in Monaco arrange for a private jet, so it was not hard to imagine that they had taken Harrison along on it. It was not the first time either.

“Did you get on a yacht?”

“Yeah. But they said I just slept there the whole time. What did you do?”

“I was at your parents’ place until a little while ago. Because of Lizzie.”

“Who did she fight with this time?”

“Carl.”

“Anyway, my mom and dad must have liked it. Saying the princess has arrived.”

With those words, Harrison closed the trunk and opened the driver’s side door. The conversation, exchanging daily routines, was smooth.

“Here, our prince, too.”

He did not seem to think it was paradoxical to make a prince drive. But when Leo did not refuse and got into the driver’s seat, Harrison, feigning politeness, even closed the door for him and then got into the passenger seat himself.

“We played a picture guessing game, but no one could guess mine.”

“You should have taken me.”

Leo glanced at Harrison, who was fastening his seatbelt. Leo had always been bad at drawing, but for some reason, Harrison always guessed Leo’s drawings in one go. Even Leo himself could not recognize what he had drawn after some time had passed.

“How was the awards ceremony?”

As he asked while driving home, Harrison answered naturally.

“It was crazy because of Renzo. Everyone kept asking me about that too. I don’t know when the rumor started spreading.”

“There are almost no drivers to replace Renzo right now, so it’s easy to guess. The paparazzi will be all over you until the announcement.”

With those words, Leo subtly checked his side and behind him. A paparazzi on a motorcycle was following at a certain distance from behind. When it was severe, they would stick right next to the car and take pictures, but it was not that bad right now.

“Should I make another announcement?”

Harrison had already announced that he would be with ABW next season, but people were thinking that Harrison would join another team as early as tomorrow. Of course, as Harrison said, he could once again state that he would continue to be with ABW next year.

“You stay put.”

Even so, you never know what will happen in the future, and there was nothing to be gained from solidifying an image as a driver who does not accept other offers. You never know what the future holds, and the more options, the better.

“But the announcement won’t take long, right? Since there’s not much time left until the start of the season.”

Leo did not consciously notice that their conversation was proceeding naturally.

“They’ll probably announce it by the end of this month at the latest.”

“I hope they do it soon. They’ll kill me if word gets out that I rejected them first.”

“Who will?”

“I don’t know. But there’s a whole bunch of people who would say, ‘How dare you reject them.’ I’ll have to pretend I was never even offered.”

Like that, until the car finally arrived home, the smooth conversation, without a trace of being deleted, continued endlessly.

Not long after the awards ceremony ended, the year-end party was held at the headquarters. It was a party that handled the year-end, Christmas, New Year, and Harrison’s birthday all at once, but in reality, it was just used to get the drivers to come to the headquarters and make them sign as many autographs as possible.

After that, there were really no particular schedules until the New Year, so Leo came to the farm with his whole family, and Harrison was also with his family.

[Happy Birthday]

Waking up to a sudden vibration, Leo checked the time. He smiled naturally at the message from Harrison that had arrived exactly at midnight and sent a reply.

[Happy birthday to you too]

Leo and Harrison had the same birthday, and on Leo’s birthday, his long-divorced parents would gather in one place in commemoration. Of course, with the whole family too. One year, his dad’s family came to the UK, and one year, his mom’s family went to Switzerland, and this time, Johann and his younger siblings came to the UK.

Leo checked that Adam and Finn, who had insisted on sleeping with the dogs, were sleeping well, and then carefully left the room.

“What were you doing?”

Then he called Harrison, and a slight noise could be heard from the other side.

[I’m watching old home videos.]

“Until this hour?”

[As I was watching, I found some older ones. You’re in them a lot too. What were you doing?]

“I just put Finn and Adam to sleep and came out.”

[How were they awake until this hour?]

“No. I put them to bed at 9, but I think I fell asleep with them.”

With those words, Leo looked out the window at the garden. Below, his parents were talking while drinking wine. There was a time when it was four people, including their respective partners, who would talk there at night, but since Victoria broke up first and then Johann got divorced, it had been just the two of them for a few years now.

While this sight was not unfamiliar to Leo, he sometimes found its naturalness strange. Although everyone has their own circumstances, his parents had never seemed to have a bad relationship even before they divorced. And their relationship was not bad after the divorce either.

Around the time he started dating Harrison, he had once asked the reason for their divorce, and when he asked them together, he heard the answer that they did not want their child to grow up under parents who disliked each other. When he asked them separately, he heard that they had to separate when they could still wish for each other’s happiness.

[What about Nora?]

“She’s probably sleeping?”

When Leo went to put Finn and Adam to bed, Nora was in the living room with the family. Still, it was midnight now, so she would be sleeping. But he had not seen her go to bed, so Leo walked towards the room where Nora was supposed to be staying.

At first, the door was slightly ajar, so he wondered if she had not come back to her room yet, but when he checked, Nora was sleeping inside. But she’s sleeping without even closing the door. Leo carefully closed the door and continued speaking.

“She’s sleeping.”

[You should go to sleep now too.]

“I should. When are you planning to sleep?”

At Leo’s question, an unconcealed sigh escaped from Harrison.

[There’s still a lot left to watch.]

“Watch a reasonable amount and go to sleep.”

As soon as he said that, the sound of light pattering feet could be heard from somewhere. The dogs, their fur all matted from being half-asleep, came out slowly, shook their fur once, and walked down the hallway as if on patrol, then saw Nora’s closed door and started scratching at the gap. So that’s why she left the door open. Leo had forgotten for a moment too.

“By the way, the kids are on patrol now.”

[Oh, is it patrol time?]

Leo opened the closed doors along the dogs’ path and replied.

“Yeah.”

[Aren’t there a lot of rooms there?]

“They’re sleepy now, so I think they’ll just pretend to do it and go back to sleep. Ah, they’re turning back now.”

Sure enough, as he relayed how they were just pretending to look into a few rooms before turning back, Harrison’s laughter could be heard.

“And the kids say happy birthday to you.”

[How?]

“What do you mean how….”

Leo, who had asked back reflexively, realized that he had meant Finn and Adam, but Harrison had heard it as the dogs.

“No. Not the dogs, Adam and Finn.”

Nora would contact him directly, but Adam and Finn did not have phones yet, so they had asked Leo to pass on the message.

[Ah, the human babies. Tell them thank you.]

“Okay.”

Replying with a smile, Leo followed the dogs as they went downstairs and continued.

“Harry. Happy birthday.”

[Happy birthday to you too.]

Then he hung up and lifted one of the dogs, and even though it must have known he was following it all this time, the dog was startled. You’re so warm.

“You’re still awake?”

He had wondered where they were going, but when he followed where the dogs were headed, he saw his maternal grandmother, who had not yet gone to bed, in the living room.

“What are we to do with these little ones who love human touch so much.”

At her words, as she petted the dogs that had jumped onto the sofa and settled on either side of her and on her lap, Leo sat down opposite her.

“There always needs to be someone to pet them.”

“That’s why they only stay in places where there’s someone to look after them all day.”

That is why they were always moving between Leo’s family home, Leo’s house, and Harrison’s family home. Always going back and forth to places full of people who doted on them, it seemed the dogs probably did not even know which was their real home.

“Leo, it would have been nice if you had raised at least one when you were young.”

“I would have been too lonely then.”

Leo brought one over, held it up, and looked into its eyes. The dog, unconcerned about being suddenly grabbed, licked his cheek as if it was just happy to be held. He was not confident he would have raised an animal well back then. Of course, the staff would have raised it, but it would not have progressed beyond the feeling of just having a dog in the house. In the first place, he was rarely at home.

“How is work? You can stay on-site if you want.”

“It’s fine. I’ve already played for a long time.”

In truth, although his grandmother had entrusted him with the practical work because it was an industry Leo knew well, he was not unaware that it was more like a gift given to her grandson to let him do what he loved.

On top of that, the period Leo had intended to travel with the team to every race and observe the situation on-site was one year. The reason it was extended to two years was purely because Leo wanted to. Now it was time to do what needed to be done. He could still watch the European races on weekends anyway.

“So, was it fun?”