CHAPTER 129: AN INVITATION

With a decision already made on the direction they wanted to take, Fatih’s daily life once again returned to the way it was before his mother’s return. The only difference was that it was now his mother who sent him to school instead of his grandmother, who only did that on rare occasions.

"Are you free this weekend?" Seraphina asked during lunchtime when they were the only ones left in the class, having both brought their food instead of going to the dining room.

For the past month, the walls between him and Seraphina had slowly been chipping away. It had finally led to her making the first move and asking about his weekend schedule, clearly intending to make plans.

"This weekend? Do you have something planned?" Fatih asked, caught by surprise at the leap. He knew they had been getting friendlier with each passing week, but he was confident they were still far from the level of friendliness normal kids usually achieve by the end of the first week.

"My mom said to bring my friend to visit us when I told her I have a friend," Seraphina said, avoiding eye contact.

As someone whose shyness bordered on chronic, she had very little experience in situations like this. Many people usually gave up and ignored her after a short while, so she had rarely had a friendship progress as far as it had with Fatih, who seemed intent on becoming her friend. Although it was difficult for her to acknowledge, she liked that someone at least had the patience to let her move within her comfort zone. Unsurprisingly, this change was noticed by her mother, who asked her what the cause was. Seraphina ended up telling her everything, and in response, her mother told her to invite Fatih over so they could spend time together during the weekends, which she usually spent playing video games, with her toys, or with her parents if they were home.

So, although her mother had suggested it, she wanted to invite him too. She used her mother’s words as the final encouragement to finally ask him on Wednesday, taking a full three days to build up the courage since her mother first mentioned it on Sunday.

"Unfortunately, I can’t," Fatih said. Knowing how shy Seraphina was, he knew if he left it there, she would feel even shier and interpret the situation in the worst possible way. He immediately explained without stopping, making sure she heard everything before she could form her own thoughts. "I have a competition this weekend and I have to travel to Italy for the whole weekend, so don’t think that I’m denying your offer because I don’t want to come to your home or something like that."

"Competition?" Seraphina asked, as the blush rising on her cheeks paused in surprise at the information she hadn’t heard from Fatih all month.

"Yes, I have to go to Italy tomorrow for the WSK Final that starts on Friday and ends on Sunday," Fatih said, removing his phone from his pocket and showing her the timetable on his calendar.

"You drive karts?" she asked in surprise, as this was the first time she had heard the word "kart" from Fatih.

"Yes, when I said my dream is to become a Formula 1 driver, I meant it. But it’s something you can’t just study for; you have to start competing in low-level competitions and rise from there all the way to F1," Fatih explained, as it was the first time he was discussing it. During the last month, although the number of their conversations had increased, the total amount of communication didn’t even match what normal friends their age talked about in a week.

"Oh, good luck then," she said, making a fist and pumping it to show her support, but she quickly lowered it, feeling shy that she had even done that.

"How about next week?" Fatih asked, suggesting a reschedule. He knew that if he didn’t, she would be too shy to suggest it again after her first-ever invitation was denied, despite the valid reason.

"I will ask my mom and tell you," she said. A moment of silence passed as they ate their packed lunches before she asked, "Can you tell me about karting?"

It wasn’t that she had only just gained an interest now; she just felt like she finally had the green light to ask him about it. After a small internal back-and-forth, she had decided to go for it.

"I can give you a short explanation, but you should watch my YouTube channel for a more in-depth breakdown," Fatih said, knowing that a full explanation would take more than just a lunch break.

"You have a YouTube channel?" she asked, once again surprised by the information she was receiving. With each answer he gave, she kept learning new things about him, making her realize how little she actually knew.

"Yes, it’s under my name. You can check it when you have time," Fatih said before starting to explain what karting was, the requirements, the categories, and the recreational and professional sides of it. By the time he finished what he called a basic explanation, the lunch break was over, and classes were about to start.

Had it been someone else sitting there listening, they might have felt uninvolved in the one-sided conversation. But for Seraphina, this was the best outcome. She could participate in a conversation without having to cover half of the talking, content for the moment with asking the rare question for context or clarification. Unknowingly, she started showing a genuine interest in the sport. She made a mental note to check his YouTube channel the moment she got home. She wanted to see what additional in-depth explanation it could have, but was also just curious about what the channel was about. After all, for someone who spent a lot of time at home by herself, watching videos on YouTube was one of her most frequent activities, second only to gaming.

"Good luck in your competition."

"Thanks."