Joohyun lay on her bed after looking over the balcony of her hotel room. She grabs her phone from the night stand and checks her notification. Family and friends back at home have started greeting her a happy birthday since Korea is six hours ahead of Bahrain. That’s right, she’s currently staying in a hotel in Bahrain near the Bahrain International Circuit which was booked by Seulgi so that they could stay at the same place.

Another notification pops up from her phone and looks to see it was from Sooyoung. She plans on replying to them tomorrow when she wakes up then checks the time. 

A minute before her birthday. 

After the talk between Seulgi and Joohyun on the veranda of the latter’s sister’s house during Jaehyun’s birthday. They started talking and seeing each other once again, only as friends, the both of them finding peace with each other despite how things became for them before Seulgi flew to the United Kingdom for her work.

Joohyun initially thought that it would be hard to contact each other once again like when they were together with how Seulgi would be busy with her new team but the F1 driver managed to still stay in touch despite the eight hours time difference between South Korea and the United Kingdom. Seulgi even calls Joohyun through facetime and tells her how things went in the Red Bull Racing Team’s headquarter, how she managed to beat her teammate’s lap record in the simulator and the latter would do the same. Seulgi had a fit of laughter when Joohyun told her that Sooyoung was mad that she was left out about the news of the  F1 driver signing a contract with Red Bull Racing Team.

And so, a month before the race and Seulgi’s official debut as a Red Bull Driver, Joohyun called the latter to tell her that she’s coming to watch the race next month. She can never get over how thrilled the F1 driver was out of her mind as it turns out her family couldn’t come because of a conflict in schedule with Seungmin’s graduation which turned out to be on the same exact day of Seulgi’s race debut with Red Bull. His younger brother suggested skipping his graduation which their mom was against and had to miss out on their other child’s important day but it didn’t bother Seulgi as she understood the situation that fell upon them. There are still twenty-three races that they can come to after this one is what Seulgi said to her family when they were on a call.

When Joohyun arrived on the night of 25th, she really didn’t have time to explore because of jetlag and Seulgi was busy preparing for the race weekend. So they only got to meet when she was in the paddock on friday. She watched and supported Seulgi in the Red Bull garage all through the weekend and shared the same emotion like other fans. 

The first free practice which marked Seulgi’s debut as a Red Bull driver was a disappointment for her and the team as she didn’t get enough lap time to test the car’s condition after she reported a gearbox issue which resulted in a swift end for Seulgi.

Thankfully, the team managed to fix the issue before the second free practice and Seulgi was back on track making up for the lost time she had during the first practice and resulted in her as the 5th fastest on track. On Saturday’s third free practice, the car was so smooth sailing that she had no problem placing 4th fastest. 

After finishing the third free practice, it was now time to determine the order of the cars for the next day. For the drivers, qualifying is a rollercoaster ride of emotion where they are supercharged and focus on getting the best performance they can get from their car.

Qualifying was tricky for Seulgi and even if Red Bull is the sister team to Alpha Tauri, she still has lots of adjustments to do in driving the car. Which resulted in an unpredictable qualifying for the Korean Driver placing 13th during Q1, she was at risk during Q2 and was almost knocked out from joining Q3, but in a turn of events, she managed find the right pace of the car and came home to place 5th for the race which gives her a good position to start ahead of a Mercedes, her teammate, and both Ferrari with a front row lock out. This just shows how tricky it is still for Seulgi despite it being her fifth year as an F1 Driver.

Joohyun flinches as a knock from the hotel door breaks her reverie. She checks the time on her phone, 15 minutes past midnight. Has she been spacing out for that long? She stood up from her bed when the knocking didn’t stop and hurried to open the door only to face Seulgi with a party hat almost falling off her head and holding out a cake. 

“Uhh, I’d sing you a ‘happy birthday’ but my hat is falling off and blocking my view.” Seulgi embarrassingly says whilst Joohyun giggles at her situation. The F1 driver stood still until she hears a camera shutter, “are you really taking a picture right now, instead of helping me out?” She says in disbelief and fakes that she was hurt by the action which made Joohyun laugh.

“It’s too cute to not take one.” She says as she takes the cake to help as the F1 driver immediately takes off the party hat with her now free hands. “Well, that was a failure.” She huffs as she enters the hotel room when Joohyun gestures for her who starts making her way to a table. 

“Do you want a slice?” Joohyun offers as she places the cake on the table only for Seulgi to shake her head, “I’m all good, I just came here to greet you and I’d head off soon to rest. A big day today.” The F1 driver observes the room as it’s her first time entering inside the room she booked, “you got a nice room.” She compliments as she sits in front of Joohyun who scoffs. “I’m pretty sure your room is much nicer than mine.” Seulgi chuckles and raises both her hands as if she's caught something illegal. “You caught me.” She arrogantly says making Joohyun roll her eyes. 

“You’re cocky. Is that how Red Bull’s treating you?” She mocks and they both laugh before falling into a comfortable silence with the two of them only gazing at one another.

“I can't believe it's the first race of the season already." Seulgi sighed softly, as she played with Joohyun’s fingers; reminiscent about the winter break where she spent nearly every day with Joohyun before she had to leave for the United Kingdom. “Why? Are you nervous?” Joohyun's eyes with a smile which quickly erased when she saw the look on her face. 

“What’s wrong?” Joohyun worriedly asks, making Seulgi sigh as stops playing with the former’s fingers and lays her back on the chair, deeply thinking, “I’m just— what if I don’t impress the team? What if I don’t give them the result they want from me and they demote me back to Alpha Tauri?” Seulgi reveals her worries as Joohyun bit her bottom lip, reaching out for the driver’s hand. 

“That’s not going to happen. They won’t do that to you” Joohyun comforts but Seulgi only shakes her head, “they did it with Pierre though, it’s most likely to happen to—“ the driver was unable to finish when Joohyun tugs her hand, “hey, don’t doubt yourself. If you keep on thinking that way then it will lead you to no good. Red Bull saw a potential in you and you’re now driving for one of the top teams. I’ll be by your side okay?” Joohyun says making Seulgi smile and mutters a small, “thank you.” Feeling a bit better and relieved from the pressure.

The oldest among them clears as she fixes her posture, “well, as much as I’d like for you to stay, I think it’s best if you take a rest.” Joohyun says which caught Seulgi off guard but agreed to the thought, “I should get going then,” the F1 driver stands up and heads to the door with Joohyun following in suit.

Before opening the door, Seulgi turns her back to face her. “Happy birthday.” She greets again then leaned down to give Joohyun a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.” She whispers after, she smiles at Joohyun's state of shock and leaves the room without waiting for any other reaction from her. As she watches the door shut, Joohyun blinks and tries holding off a smile as heads to lay on the bed. 

She placed a pillow on her face and started to squeal like a teenager, remembering the time when Seulgi did exactly the same thing after they both confessed their feelings for one another. 

The next morning, when Joohyun got into the paddock entrance she saw Seulgi heading towards her way wearing a Red Bull polo and jeans to match up. She arrived earlier than her considering that she had some pre-race interviews to attend to and some briefing of strategies that will be done for the race. 

“Hey, you.” Seulgi says as gestures for Joohyun to make her way when all of a sudden fans started rushing towards the driver asking for her autograph. Some even exclaimed when they recognized who Seulgi is with. Joohyun ob