Chapter 18 – The Mechanic

Editor: Sammy
Proofreader: Bubbles

McGrady angrily glared at Hunter. “What do you mean by I’ll stab you with a dining knife?!”

“It’s for the best! I don’t want to hear the media comment that there’s inner strife between my drivers and that we’re inharmonious as a team.”

“That won’t happen, we’re very cordial.” Hunter smirked as he looked at McGrady.

“Ahh!!” McGrady suddenly yelled.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hunter Evan! You dare to kick my ankles!”

“Ah, sorry! It wasn’t on purpose! I just have a habit of needing to stretch my two legs!”

It can’t be helped! Who told me to have long legs!

McGrady threw his tableware aside, furiously stood up and left.

Hunter’s heart secretly felt refreshed.

But because of this, he must be prudent.

From free practice to qualifying, and finally the main race, every step required discrete caution.

But after feeling rejuvenated, his mood became heavy once again.

The team set off for the UK and it was already early morning by the time they reached London.

Hunter, who’d slept on the plane, didn’t feel sleepy at all at the moment.

Hiding in his hotel room, Hunter sighed as he gazed at the ceiling.

Even playing Anipop for ten minutes only made him feel more awake than drowsy.

How about… looking for a movie to watch?

Ah, right, what movie had Winston imitated previously when he’d scared me in the Ferrari?

“I think it’s called ‘The Mechanic’?”

Hunter leaned against the bedhead and began searching.

He didn’t expect this movie to have some prestige with a few independent film awards under its belt. Furthermore, not only were the protagonists two professional racers, one of them was even surprisingly named Hunter.

“Well, it seems interesting.”

The story was about two racers who’d been rivals for more than ten years, but they were also the only ones who understood each other the most in the world. They’d encourage each other during the season, and even fish, travel and train together during their off-season. The scenes at the beginning of the movie were quite bright and gentle.

Hunter couldn’t help but smirk as he watched.

This was what he expected his and Winston’s life to be like together.

But everything changed when Hunter the racer sustained an injury in a racing accident. He had no choice but to withdraw from Formula 1 and planned to move to Iceland with his family to live a life devoid of the outcries of engines; leaving both the race tracks and the loneliness to the other protagonist, Zero.

After that season, as always, Zero brought Hunter to a cottage in the suburbs for a holiday— this would be their last vacation together.

When night descended, Hunter became worried the moment he realised that the route Zero had taken wasn’t the same as usual.

“Do you prefer me to be a little gentle, or a little rough?”

“What kind of material do you like for your handcuffs?”

“Do you want a whip that’s thin or thick?”

Zero’s side profile was gloomy yet insane, and the more Hunter looked, the more he trembled with fear.

It turned out that Zero had been in love with Hunter from the very beginning. He had always endured with years of pent up feelings accumulating; yet to find release. All the way up till when Hunter was really about to leave his side, did his insanity finally explode. He then locked Hunter, who was unable to move freely, in a certain basement.

At first, the movie’s Hunter had thought that as long as he could hold on, Zero would slowly restore his sense of reason. But the man only grew more intense, to the point where Hunter couldn’t bear it anymore and used a paper knife to stab him to death.

His blood flowed incessantly, yet Hunter didn’t escape. Instead, he pressed hard on Zero’s chest.

“This is great… this is great… I can finally stop loving you…”

Zero closed his eyes and Hunter finally understood that this was all his plan to have Hunter kill him.

In the end, Hunter dragged Zero to the car they’d been using to travel, and gently fastened his seat belt. He then charged towards the end of the road at full speed.

Without you, I’m all alone.

If there’s only loneliness, then I’d rather perish.

When the ending credit music sounded, Hunter blinked his eyes.

“WTF! What sort of movie was that!?”

The first part was warm, the middle was frightening, and at the end…

What he had felt was fear.

A genuine fear of loneliness.

Hunter exhaled a breath.

“It’s over. Now it’s even harder to sleep well like this!”

Fortunately, it wasn’t the practice round yet and the team was still preparing on the second day.

After Hunter finished breakfast with a dispirited and listless appearance, he informed Marcus that he needed to catch up on sleep as his jet lag hadn’t regressed yet.

“Ah? Jet lag?” Marcus was in total disbelief. “You’re clearly able to sleep whenever and anywhere, so when has jet lag ever been an issue for you?”

But he could tell that Hunter was indeed tired.

“Then you better have a good rest.”

Hunter returned to his room and collapsed on the bed. Before he could even shut his eyes, his phone rang.

Taking a look, he saw an unknown number. Initially he wanted to decline, but he was curious as to who was exactly calling him.

“Hello, this is Hunter Evan.”

“Which hotel are you at?” A profoundly chilly voice flowed alongside a wave of electricity.

Hunter’s shoulders tensed.

It was Winston!

Hold on, how did Winston get his phone number? He never seemed to have given it to him.

Ah… whatever, my number isn’t anything mysterious. Anyone was able to get it just by randomly asking any staff member from Marcus’ team.

“Hotel Luna. There should be other teams that have also chosen this place.”

“So am I. Do you want to go for a morning run together?”

“Morning run? Forget about it… I want to sleep right now.”

“What were you doing last night?”

Unsure if it was a misconception, Hunter felt that if Winston’s voice from before was considered gentle, then icy cold could be used to describe his current voice.

“I watched the movie that you mentioned before— ‘The Mechanic’! If I’d known the ending was like that, then I wouldn’t have watched it!”

“So you weren’t disgusted by the feelings between the two racers, but rather by the ending.”

“My god… could that really be labeled as feelings? That’s called mutual harm! Also, what the hell did those film critics write?! What poor souls are struggling in reality?! If Zero had told Hunter directly, don’t leave me, please always look at me, I want us to be together, the ending wouldn’t have turned out this way!” Hunter began to roast in a frenzy.

“En,” Winston softly responded.

“But what scares people isn’t the part where Zero had locked Hunter in the basement…”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s of course the main theme— loneliness. Zero needs Hunter because he’s afraid of solitude, but it’s also because of this that Hunter didn’t resist Zero initially, because… he didn’t want to lose him. Furthermore, the most annoying thing was that the protagonist was also named Hunter! It made me dream that I was locked inside a basement again and again all night!”

“It’s only a movie.”

“That’s right… it’s only a movie…” Hunter took a breath. “It feels like a novelty to have these kinds of conversation with you. Do you know what sort of bet I made with McGrady?”

“What bet?”

“I’ll have to get at least sixth place in the British Grand Prix.”

“What’s at stake?”

“Nothing really, just that he won’t talk crap to me ever again. But I feel the difficulty is much higher.”

Hunter didn’t mention that what was at stake actually revolved around Winston.

“Which room are you in?”

“1665. What’s up?”

“Open the door.”

Hunter suddenly stood up from the bed.

Impossible? It couldn’t be that Winston was outside of his room?

Opening the door, he saw Winston standing there in his sportswear. He must’ve just finished his morning run.

Hunter foolishly took half a step back, letting the man in.

The room only had a double bed and a sofa which was cluttered with the clothes he’d changed out of.

Hunter scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed.

If he’d known earlier that Winston would come by, he would’ve packed up at a speed akin to that of the wind.

But thinking about it again… forget about it!

He was precisely this type of a person, so it was better to let others know first.

Winston didn’t criticise Hunter’s disarrayed room, but he sat at the bedside.

“As long as you perform as usual, getting sixth position isn’t that big of a problem.”

“Really?”

“En.” Winston patted the spot beside him, indicating Hunter to sit. “Let’s compare a lap.”

“Okay.”

Hunter knew that Winston wanted to analyse the track and overtaking strategies for him.

He closed his eyes, listening to Winston’s voice just like before. He’d clearly never been to Silverstone, yet he felt particularly familiar with it, as if he’d once countlessly raced on it before.

Not only the track, but for Hunter, Winston even analyzed Enzo from the Lotus team, Duchovny from McLaren, Kelt from Williams, and even the traits of Donald from Sauber’s strategy from when he’d failed to overtake him. All to let Hunter visualize how to overtake at which corner.

“These… experiences, you’ll just teach me them?”

“I’m not teaching you, you’ll eventually get it at the end. So why not save the time I spend waiting for you.”

Winston opened his mouth.

“Ah… it feels like I’ll be the sinner of Formula 1 if I can’t get into the top six positions!”

Winston’s existence made him feel indescribably calm. Hunter squinted his eyes as he yawned.

He leaned backwards, while slowly curling up his body, he carelessly asked, “Winston… say… why are you being so good to me?”

There’s so many people in the world, so many incredible racers, so why would you pick me?

Winston propped himself up on the mattress, leaning towards Hunter little by little, his fingers lightly caressed his eyebrows.

“I’m only here because of you.”

Hunter had already produced a steady breathing pace and fallen fast asleep.

Amongst the haziness, he felt something soft and warm gently sticking to him from the tip of his brows to the corner of his lips— circling him.

The author has something to say:

When frying eggs:

Hunter: Why did you pick me from amongst so many amazing racers?
Winston: Come closer and I’ll tell you.
Hunter: WTF! Where are you touching me?! WTF! Where are you licking me?! Go away!
It’s said that tomorrow is the eve of Chinese New Year and there’s a lot of things to do at home, so I’m not sure if I can update. If there’s no updates after waiting, don’t blame me!
But it’s almost new years, the sisters who’ve never sent out red packets should be sending them out. Fat Melon might even be sending out a string of red packets from its phone while getting bored by distant relatives chatter?

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Notes:

nura: this chapter took me so long for some reason….. yingyingying

3oct friedcheeken edit:

CYNTM’s schedule is delayed atm as I’m really swamped with work, I hope that you would understand and be patient as I sort things out. Im really so sorry about this! I really do wanna jump back on this asap! In the meantime, you can drop by discord for CYNTM updates! (pls dont fry me QAQ)