Minefield of Mirrors

-38-

Five paintings, three books, two therapy sessions and seven days later, Iris was walking back from the hobby store where she had gotten some new paint supplies and a new book she was dying to read a bit later on. Since Christian had stopped by with the contract offer, Iris had thrown herself on her painting and reading. She loved every little part of it, but deep down she knew that she was just trying to escape from deciding whether to stay at her current company or take the big gamble and start at the Red Bull team full-time. The team's therapist, Jules, had told her the exact same thing. According to him, she had to process everything bit by bit and definitely not try to escape it all.

Iris glanced into the tote bag in her hands and saw the brand-new bottle of green paint. She had painted so many different landscapes, that she had completely run out of colour and made a stop at the hobby store necessary. It also had given her a reason to get out of the house in the morning. These last two weeks, she always took a long stroll somewhere in the afternoon to get some fresh air and to empty her mind. It was crazy how much those little things had already helped her mental state and the condition of her body. She was halfway through her period off from work and could already tell that it was exactly what she needed. Iris still couldn't understand how Christian had noticed this.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, making it clear that the rain was coming in earlier today than expected. Iris realised she didn't bring an umbrella, but kept on walking slowly anyways. If the raindrops decided to fall down, then they would simply fall down. She wasn't going to walk any quicker because of it. Besides, Iris had always loved to walk in the rain. When she was a little kid, she actually loved to take a long walk around the house when it started to rain. Even when people had made comments about it, Iris didn't care. She did whatever she wanted to.

The weight of the tote bag became a bit too much for her right hand, so switched it to her left hand. Her mind easily travelled back to the Red Bull team. Linsey's letter had been filled with updates on what had happened after she had left for her period off. Overall, her direct colleagues were sad that she had to leave for a so-called project. There only had been one member who had walked away from that particular meeting in the motorhome. The one and only Dutch driver; Max Verstappen... According to Linsey, he had been tensed all weekend long. If he didn't have to be at a meeting or the track, he had locked himself up in his driver's room until he had to be present at another event. Even though it should be easy to picture it in her head, Iris just couldn't. She couldn't see Max storming off and not showing himself until he had no choice anymore.

On the other hand, Mick had taken it quite well that Iris had to leave. He was definitely bumped by it, but he completely understood that she had to go to another project. Especially if they needed her that badly up there. It was just incredible how understanding he had been all this time. When she didn't feel fine, he let her be while just being next to her. Mick wasn't a person who kept on asking what was going on. He was the kind of guy who would wait until she would tell it herself. Like the story wouldn't be genuine if he had pushed her to tell it. There was just one thing about this whole situation that kept pecking Iris. He was so thoughtful and sweet, and literally anything a girl could dream of. Then why was it that during the time she had been home, she had only thought about him thrice...?

Iris walked around the corner and took a deep breath of the fresh air that was coming off the trees that were standing in her street. She knew it wasn't fair to Mick that he hadn't crossed her mind much. Yes, she had to focus on her own thoughts and her own feelings, yet she couldn't deny that the feelings for Mick were just slowly fading away. Had she gotten those feelings just because of the moment? Was it the way they had met? Or was it because Mick exactly gave her what she so desperately needed at that time? Maybe it was because of the sessions with Jules that she understood her own feelings better and better. Maybe she knew that Mick's personality was way too sweet for her. She had found out that she wasn't a person who would tell stuff if no one asked her about it. Then Iris would keep everything to herself. She needed someone who would drag information out of her and would push her to tell her feelings. Someone who would oppose. Someone like-