Keep Going Crazy – Chapter 9

Author: nicotine

It had been a while since he’d seen Noah, and he was full of affection. Ryeoun didn’t come to Melbourne often. But since he and Noah communicated quite well and he was a partner with good bedroom manners, Ryeoun tended to be rather kind to him.

Whenever Noah rubbed his head like a big dog, pecked his cheek, and acted cute, Ryeoun would become fairly generous.

‘Ding—’

The elevator doors opened. Noah smiled and wrapped his arm around Ryeoun’s shoulder. Ryeoun, who had been answering Noah’s trivial questions one by one, turned his head as the doors opened.

“…?”

And the two of them—no, the three of them—simultaneously met each other’s eyes.

‘Is this a dream?’

Ryeoun genuinely thought so.

Because if it wasn’t a dream, an unbelievable situation was unfolding right before his eyes.

“…Aiden Carter?”

Noah’s voice came from right beside him.

It was possible to run into someone in the VIP elevator. But did it have to be Aiden Seunghyun Carter of all people…? Especially while he was on his way up to his room with a sexual partner!

Ryeoun couldn’t even think to greet him and just stared blankly at Aiden.

“….”

Aiden stood still in front of the elevator. His cold gaze swept over Ryeoun and Noah.

Since he’d been clinging to Ryeoun and acting cute until just a moment ago, Noah’s body was pressed close to Ryeoun. He even had his arm wrapped around Ryeoun’s shoulder. In other words, the two of them were practically embracing.

Aiden’s gaze swept over Ryeoun’s shoulder, where Noah’s arm was wrapped, then moved to Noah. And then back to Ryeoun.

Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, Ryeoun unconsciously nudged Noah aside. Noah, who had been frozen in surprise, staggered back half a step.

“…Friend?”

It was Aiden who broke the silence. He murmured the word ‘friend?’ absently, then quickly let out a chuckle.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

While Ryeoun was just gaping, not knowing what to say, the clueless Noah covered his mouth and tried to ingratiate himself with Ed.

“Mr. Carter, I’m a huge fan!”

This is insane. Ryeoun genuinely almost facepalmed at that moment. What on earth was he supposed to do with this clueless puppy?

Though he’d started watching F1 because of Ryeoun, Noah was truly, sincerely a fan of Aiden Carter.

Whenever he met Ryeoun, Noah would rave about how artistic Aiden’s driving was, how thrilling the timing of his braking before corners was, and how daring his wheel-to-wheel battles with other drivers were.

So Ryeoun couldn’t bring himself to blame this clueless puppy. Even his joking requests to be taken to the paddock were probably more than 80% because he wanted to meet Aiden.

Ryeoun patted Noah on the back.

“Go on in first.”

“Uh… Even just an autograph…?”

“I’ll get it for you, so go on in.”

“Ah, okay.”

Only after looking at Ryeoun’s completely stiff expression did the guy seem to come to his senses. After glancing back and forth between Ryeoun and Aiden a few times, Noah hurriedly walked away.

The sound of the elevator doors closing was heard, and silence fell between the two of them. As soon as he saw Noah turn the corner and disappear, Ryeoun let out the sigh he’d been holding.

“Get in.”

Pretending nothing happened seemed like the best course of action. Ryeoun naturally took a step back from the elevator. After brushing past Aiden and taking another two steps away, Ryeoun turned around and looked at Aiden.

He must have been waiting for the elevator to go somewhere, but Aiden showed no sign of moving at all. He had also turned around and was looking at Ryeoun.

In the end, it was Ryeoun who couldn’t bear the silence.

“Do you have something to say?”

He didn’t want to be polite when they were alone. At Ryeoun’s mannerless attitude, Aiden raised an eyebrow.

Under the bright lights of the hotel corridor, his light brown eyes glinted. Ryeoun stared intently into those eyes.

“…Isn’t Qualifying tomorrow?”

Aiden’s question was completely out of the blue. And his tone wasn’t particularly formal either. Ryeoun let out a small snort.

‘Now that we’re alone, you’re finally showing your true colors, is that it?’

He felt like kicking Aiden’s well-shaped shins and screaming at him—what exactly didn’t he like, why was he being so rude to a second driver he barely knew?

But Ryeoun tried to exercise as much patience as he could.

“Is there a driver who doesn’t know the Qualifying schedule?”

“So what?”

“…?”

He had no idea what kind of conversation this was. Ryeoun blinked like an idiot.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I believe the accommodation the team booked for you is on a different floor.”

“That’s that, and I have my own business. Do I have to report every detail of my personal life to you? Is there a rule at Helix that teammates have to share their personal schedules? Was it written in the contract and I just missed it because my eyes are so bad?”

Once he started talking, the words just poured out like a fountain. Emotions that hadn’t been good to begin with began to surge like a tidal wave.

“There’s no such rule.”

“Then what does it matter to you which floor I got off on? Why are you here?”

“I had a meeting.”

“Oh, is that so? Well then, goodbye~ I also have business with my friend, so I’ll be going now~”

What a bizarre driver.

Sneering inwardly like that, he was just about to turn around.

“I didn’t know you had a hobby of hooking up with men.”

…? Is this guy insane?

Ryeoun genuinely thought so.

Aiden’s words went beyond being ill-mannered—they were extremely rude.

The anger he’d held back and held back again boiled over like a volcano. Ryeoun pointed a finger at Aiden. And unconsciously, he snapped in Korean.

[What the hell are you saying to me?!]

[…What?]

“….”

He’d forgotten that Aiden could speak Korean. The word ‘what’ flowing from his lips snapped Ryeoun back to his senses.

After rubbing his face dry a couple of times, Ryeoun shot back at him, enunciating clearly.

“Why are you being so rude? Whether I hook up with men or not, what does that have to do with you? Did I ask you to sleep with me? Are you homophobic? Or did Australia suddenly become a massive homophobic country? Right now, from this very moment?”

“….”

Aiden silently pursed his lips. Ryeoun suppressed the urge to reach out, grab Aiden by the collar, and shake him, then spoke again.

“Since when have you been so interested in me that you care whether I hook up with men or not? Are you crazy? Why are you treating me like this? We’re nothing to each other!”

“…Why are we nothing to each other?”

Aiden slowly asked back. Ryeoun, who had been firing off words recklessly, was struck speechless. Wasn’t it Aiden Carter who had wanted them to be ‘nothing’ this whole time? His train of thought ground to a halt.

The guy who wouldn’t even treat him like a driver, who wouldn’t even look at him… was now asking ‘Why are we nothing to each other?’ Was he really insane?

A hollow laugh just kept escaping him at the absurdity. As Ryeoun let out ‘Ha, ha’ sounds in disbelief, Aiden spoke again.

“Because you’re my teammate.”

That made him twice as dumbfounded.

The guy who hadn’t even treated him with a fraction of the consideration due to a teammate was now claiming with his own mouth that that’s what they were. He had no idea what beat to dance to.

“Are we… teammates, or something?”

“Yeah. Because you’re Helix’s second driver.”

“…So what you’re saying is, you just want to state the fact that I’m Helix’s second driver?”

“Yeah.”

“And you were aware of that? That I’m Helix’s second driver and your teammate, you were aware of that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ha!”

At a loss for words, Ryeoun ended up messing up his own hair completely. And then he answered, as if yelling.

“What driver treats their teammate like this?! And even if I am your teammate, so what! Does that mean I can’t roll around with a guy here? Huh?”

“Of course.”

“Of… what?”

“Because you’re my teammate, I’m saying it’s problematic for you to be having sex with a man at this hour.”