The race weekend was over and I was finally back home, little did I know the surprises were only starting. People were recognising who I was, I got more smiles and stares than usual.

My social media too, was starting to blow up. Fan pages I used to stalk for endless hours were now following me and making edits of me, sending me follow requests. It felt weird and almost wrong, to let these people believe we were in love.

But then that was the whole idea right? It felt so weird, I was now a "public figure". I texted him about how weird it felt, all he did was laugh and tell me this was my life now.

🤐

😂

😂😂

With that deal set in place I wished him all the best for the British Grand Prix and went about with the rest of my day. With Mia gone there wasn't much for me to do, I was bored out of my senses.

My phone rang, I was surprised to see who's name it was. It was my mum, she hadn't talked to me ever since the move. I told her I had reached safely and she replied with okay.

"Hello?"

"Do you know how embarrassing it is to find out your daughter is seeing someone through other people?"

"I'm doing good! Monaco is wonderful how are you doing?" I asked trying to indicate that greetings were important.

"Could you not tell me? Aunty Mei showed me pictures, I am ashamed." She chided.

"Ashamed? Of what? He's a great guy and we literally just started dating. I was going to tell you once things actually got serious." I lied.

"Waltzing away with him looks serious enough to me. I'm embarrassed."

"Will you tell me why?" I shot back.

"I expected better from you, not to sell yourself to some rich man."

"He's not my sugar daddy! What are you even thinking mum?" I fumed.

"I just expected that my daughter would tell me who her boyfriend is."

"Mum, it all happened way too fast. I'm not sure if we're even going to last." I sighed.

"Why are you wasting your time with him then? Come back to Singapore, Darren is a nice boy-"

"Mum! This is good, my career crashed and burned so now you want to use me as a pawn to support your business and you just shamed me for selling myself to a rich man." I laughed sarcastically.

"Tara, that's not what I mean-"

"I don't care about what you mean. I'm seeing Charles and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life and you're not going to stop me." I ended the call.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my parents. I've lived a very comfortable life thanks to them, I was able to live without having a job thanks to them.

There was one thing she did that ticked me off, it was trying to set me up with sons of random people in the business world. I understand you need wealth to help expand your business but why are you using me?

That call ruined my day, I was in an awful mood the whole day because of it. Harriet came home so happy, seeing me with a frown wiped the smile off her face.

"What happened Tara?" She asked me.

"Mum happened." I sighed.

"Some gossip I'm guessing?" She handed me the bag of groceries.

"Aunty Mei probably found pictures of me and Charles, she told mum and now mum's yelling at me."

"I thought she'll be happy Tara has roped in a wealthy man-"

"Charles is not my sugar daddy!" I yelled at her.

I stormed to my room, she stood by the door and asked me what I was doing. I told her that I had to see if I had enough warm clothes.

"For what?"

"Austria, I'll be attending the Grand Prix." I smiled.

"He sure sounds like your sugar daddy." She smirked.

"I'm going to kill you!" I threw a pillow at her.

"Be honest Tara, do you really like him?"

"Since I was small! You know I've always liked him." I smiled.

"That's different, you were a fan. Now he's someone else, do you still like him?"

Her question got me thinking, about things and feelings I wasn't quite ready to address. Did I find him hot? Yes, very much. Did I like him for who he was?

That was a question I still had to answer, that was something that was going to keep me awake tonight. I snapped back to reality, he wasn't looking for a relationship.

Even if I did like him for who he was, he didn't have time for it. There was no point looking for love somewhere it didn't exist.

My mother's words rung in my head, I was wasting time after something that wasn't going to be fruitful at all. It wasn't completely useless though! I had met some incredible people, I got to know Charles, I met wonderful little Mia and Charlotte.

I pushed my doubts aside and drifted to sleep, only to be awoken by my phone. Someone was spamming my phone with texts, I looked for my glasses to put them on and see who it was.

🤦🏻‍♀️

😂😂

Maybe this was it! I wouldn't be "wasting" my life if I worked with her, I couldn't make decisions like this in the middle of the night.