Driven by Love by Marian Tee Page A

took control of his bike, allowing his instincts to take over.  
    Every obstacle in Helios’ ever-changing racecourse was designed with safety nets. If the rope bridge had given out, Leandro knew it didn’t mean the end.
    His gaze quickly scanned the land below him, sizing up his options and he immediately saw the best safety net to take advantage of. He turned his bike towards the sharply inclined ramp. It would mean careful balancing to prevent him from driving down at a vertical angle, but it was better than a head-on collision with the ground.
    The moment his beast’s wheels hit the ramp, Leandro focused on his balance, making sure not to lean too forward or back. Just the slightest change in his position could prevent his beast from safely traversing the ramp.  
    The crowd cheered as he successfully rode out of the ramp, which placed him just a few feet ahead of Sabastian. He heard Sabastian revving his engine, gearing for a full blast to the finish line, and Leandro leaned forward, giving it everything he had.  
    He broke through the finish line just a second before Sabastian did, and triumph burst inside him. But more than that, an overwhelming sense of relief had surged into him.
    Finally.
    Finally, he had a chance to make Bobby truly listen.
    Finally, he had a chance to make Bobby understand that he had always, always, always loved her. And he had never stopped.

Chapter Eight
     
    Bobby didn’t know when she started to cry. Maybe it was when she had realized the rope was truly giving out, leaving Leandro with nothing to drive on. Maybe it was when she saw that Leandro had miraculously found a way out of it, when she had almost been convinced he was driving to his death. Or maybe it was when the entire crowd of bikers roared in approval as Leandro finished first, winning the race – and her.
    All she knew was that she had to cry. She didn’t even understand why and was too tired to bother figuring it out. She just needed to cry, feeling like she would explode if she didn’t.
    “Bobby, it’s time.” It was Sabastian.
    She wished she could be childish and cry harder at Sabastian’s words. “I don’t want this,” she told him hoarsely as she forced herself to open her eyes, her blurry gaze finding him dusty and disheveled, his hair plastered to his head after having been kept inside the helmet throughout the race.
    In the background, she saw Leandro walking away from the crowd of well-wishers that had gathered around him with tear-blurred eyes. He was taking off his helmet as he headed her way and in minutes, he would be next to her. In minutes, he would be taking her away. In minutes, he might discover the truth.
    The months where she had nearly withered away in her pain came back to Bobby. She whitened, not realizing how the tears were falling faster on her face as she lost herself in her memories.
    Everyone spoke of breakups so casually, of divorce and of separation like they were common. But they weren’t. When you were the one breaking up, when you were the one dumped, abandoned, and betrayed, it was the most terrible kind of death – a private hell that no one could see and rescue you from.  
    Everyone had seen her smiling face and thought she was okay. Everyone had seen her helping the kids at the foundation, studying in school, doing what everyone did, and they all thought she had moved on.
    But she had not been okay. She had not moved on.
    Leandro Christopoulos had made her believe in herself, in him, in love, and in just one night, he had destroyed her when it turned out that everything she believed in was so damn fake.
    No one knew how hard it was to just sleep when she knew only nightmares waited for her, bad dreams where a sea of faces would laugh at her for daring to believe that Leandro Christopoulos loved her.
    No one knew how hard it was to just breathe the same air he was breathing, to pretend that she didn’t feel like shit, that she felt like she deserved to be human because he