Round 03
Malaysia

Warnings: none

Length: 1.3k words

Sunmi’s gritting her teeth, turning the steering wheel as she makes her way around Turn 1. It’s difficult, the front wheels of her car barely accommodating for the move. The track’s wet. Sky’s gray. Rain’s falling. Her eyes scan the side mirrors, trying to determine whether or not Baekhyun is still behind her. A flash of red confirms her suspicions. The Ferrari is still close, and she curses inside her helmet.

“Rain is not expected to stop until the end of the race, but we don’t expect it to get heavier,” Trish—Sunmi’s race engineer—calls in from the radio. Her voice is accompanied by the sound of cars running in the background. “Reports of some aquaplaning at Turn 15.”

Sunmi doesn’t reply yet, intent on keeping Baekhyun’s Ferrari behind her.

“Byun is 0.3 behind.”

For a brief moment, a dash of red fills Sunmi’s left side mirror, and her heart races a little more. Heading into the braking zone for Turn 4, she’s on the limits, trying to brave it out, but the rears are sliding now. There’s just no grip out on the wet track. And the rain has changed where the braking point is.

Sunmi gets on the throttle early, trying to accelerate through Turns 5 and 6 quickly, trying to leave Baekhyun in the spray. But despite her best efforts, she still catches a glimpse of the Ferrari’s red bodywork through her visors.

“We are boxing this lap,” Trish says over the radio.

“For what?” Sunmi asks through a clenched jaw.

“Full wets.”

“But the inters are fine!” Sunmi argues. “We’ll lose more time pitting.”

“Copy, Sunmi. Byun is 0.2 behind.”

Raindrops fall onto Sunmi’s visor, and she’s vaguely aware of her damp shoulders, but as she picks up speed—third, fourth, fifth gear—into Turn 9, her visor is clear again. The rain swept away by the sheer speed of her Porsche. These cars are like roller coasters with jet engines attached to them. Going fast isn’t a problem; keeping control is.

Jostling with the steering wheel, Sunmi compromises the ideal racing line, misses the apex of Turn 10 to block Baekhyun. Her race suit is wet from the shoulders to the chest area, but Malaysia brings its humidity, so Sunmi can’t tell sweat from rain. Only thing on her mind is the Ferrari. It’s so close to her now that she worries that they may have touched. She brakes, downshifts into Turn 11, eyes still on the mirrors, expecting the red Ferrari to stay where it is: behind her.

But it disappears from the mirror, slips away until it’s by her side…and then in front of her.

, , ! Sunmi is yelling inside her head as she loses control of her car and slides into the gravel trap.

It takes a moment—precious seconds—to get back on the track, and when Sunmi rejoins, she does so behind the black and gold car of her teammate’s Porsche. The sight of it causes Sunmi’s heart to fall. She had passed Sebastian a while ago.

“Box this lap!” Sunmi yells into her radio.

“Copy,” Trish responds quickly. “Is there damage to the car?”

“No, car feels fine.