"Well, if it wasn't my second best."
Era rubbed her forehead and looked up. Her stomach went into overdrive when her gaze landed on the face of the man that was standing in front of her.
"You're only good at the racetrack?" He asked, mocking her when she didn't say a thing.
She was in utter shock at the nervousness she felt with him, smirking at her.
"It seems that you're not only good at driving," she replied in a mocking tone as well.
"Well, I'm good-looking too."
He bent down and stared at her face.
"Why did you hide your face from the photographers? You aren't that ugly, well," he shrugged his shoulders, " you aren't that pretty but good enough not to hide your face, especially after winning second place."
Era gritted her teeth in annoyance. She could not believe the words that this jerk was spouting.
"Huh?! Who are you calling, not pretty?"
"I'm not calling you not pretty. What I said was, you're not ugly."
Her jaws dropped in exasperation, leaving her speechless. She could not believe this man who was acting like an intolerable toddler when he was clearly in his early thirties already.
With no words to express her bafflement, she ended up just staring at him which did not escape him.
"Am I that handsome for you to look at me as though you could not have enough of my looks?"
He straightened his back and shoved his hands in his faded jeans that seemed to love his thighs too much, they were clinging to them like a second skin.
Era exhaled a deep breath and shook her head.
"I don't understand this delusion you're having. I cannot fathom where this confidence you have but it's nice," she said, nodding as if she was tolerating a child, throwing a tantrum.
"It's nice to know yourself on a deeper level. Good luck with it. Excuse me."
He roared with laughter, throwing his head back.
"Hey, my name is Seven. Or do you already know?" He shouted behind her back as she escaped him like he was the plague.
Era gritted her teeth with so much force that she heard her teeth grinding. She could not believe that she would meet Seven—of course, she knew his name. How could she not?
Female fans were screaming his name as soon as his car crossed the finish line. And she had read files of all the other racers in that recently concluded race.
She knew him. She knew that he was good and considered a demigod not only because he was a good racer but mostly because of his looks. Well, for the female fans that were.
And he wasn't the type to hang around after a race. She had heard from females who kept on talking about him as though he was the most interesting topic they could have any time of the day, that Seven liked to have private parties after every race. And at those parties, very few people got invited. And those women who got lucky to receive an invite could not stop bragging about how awesome he was and how the parties and the people there were so great.
Era believed that those stories were nothing but an exaggeration. How they described the party seemed to be a lot of waste of money for a racer. Hence, another side of the story talked about how Seven wasn't just a racer but a rich heir. And those who were whispering the ridiculous story would point out Seven's car not having any sponsor to make a point of his secret identity.
She didn't really care about those stories. She listened to them as she could not really escape the talks but her main concern was to earn some cash to pay her family's piling debt. She had no time for rumors of anyone's secret identity.
She heaved a deep sigh, shaking her head as she entered the shower area. She took the end cubicle and stripped.
While she was under the cascading warm water of the shower, her head was full of thoughts on what other side hustle she could do to help her family. She knew that her winning money wasn't going to be enough. Her father had been in and out of the hospital for about a year.
And their debt wasn't just adding up but the interest on those debts was piling up. And not everyone was understanding of their circumstances to wait to get paid.
A solitary tear escaped her eye that she quickly hid by splashing water on her face. She could not afford to be weak and crying at this time.
She quickly finished her shower. She put on a white shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans. She wore her old Converse sneakers and dried her short hair as best as she could then put on her wig. She tied it in a high ponytail.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided to wear black eyeglasses with a thick frame. It added age to her looks especially when she had decided to put down her hair and put an oversized wool jacket over her white shirt.
Satisfied with her looks which were far from her usual looks, she got out of the shower area with her head down, walking briskly to the agreed place where Trez and the others were probably waiting for her.
Her head was hanging down so she didn't notice a man loitering in the corner outside the shower area.
She was walking with spring in her heels, excited to find out how much money was her share and excited to go home to be with her family.
She has promised her younger brother that she would take her to the new burger joint near his school after her race. Her brother wanted to eat the burger all his friends and classmates were raving about.
She felt a pang of pain in her chest for her younger brother. When she was young, despite their parents not having a lot, her father would always make sure that she ate delicious food. She felt bad that her brother couldn't experience that.
Their parents are now old and their father is sick. If only she had a lot of money.