She deserves it just like everyone else.

~•~

Freya's first match awaited her after her break, which lasted for several weeks during which her opponents were collecting points in the standings. She currently had the fewest points, but if she counted correctly, she could still make it to the top. However, she would have to win all the upcoming tournaments. She would have to become the Max Verstappen of the Badminton world and lead the standings until people started playing the Swedish anthem.

She sat in the car with her mother, who was still angry with her because during the days they spent together on the court and training, she still hadn't told her where she had spent the past weeks. Freya refused to reveal that she had been locked up in Ystad with her father because she knew how much her mother despised him.

The girl couldn't understand how those two could be married and even have two children, because they hated each other from the bottom of their hearts. Or at least her mother hated her father. Her father was so neutral and rather uninterested in her because he no longer needed it - unlike her, he found a new wife with whom he had more children. Her mother invested all her time in her daughter and never found a new husband. Freya didn't even know if her mother had a relationship after their divorce because she was constantly with her, so she guessed not.

The blue McLaren raced through the streets of Austria, where her tournament was supposed to take place. More precisely in Vienna, the capital of this beautiful country. It annoyed her a bit that Max was on the other side of the world because she was currently in the country where Red Bull was based, so she could at least hope that Max might be in this country.

He wasn't. Max was currently in Canada preparing for the race because they had already completed the qualification. Of course, he was in the first place, but whether he would keep it in the race was up to him - after all, after various upgrades, McLaren and Ferrari were quite fast, and they were causing problems for Red Bull. Suddenly Max had more competition, but the races were more interesting because he no longer led by twenty to thirty seconds. He still led by a good seven to ten seconds, but the gap was closing, and in Monaco, he even won by just one second.

In the driver's seat sat no one else but her mother. Of course, she didn't let her daughter sit in the driver's seat because this car could go fast, and she didn't want her daughter to drive fast - however, she didn't know that she often went on trips with Max, who taught her fast driving. He taught her not to be afraid when driving fast and even taught her how to concentrate behind the wheel so she wouldn't get easily distracted because that would be the biggest problem when driving fast.

She loved fast driving. She found out thanks to Max. At first, she was very afraid, but over time she began to enjoy it and understood why Formula One drivers enjoyed that fast driving. Of course, she didn't drive as fast as they did. Her car really couldn't go three hundred kilometers per hour, but she still drove quite fast. For her, it was fast enough.

The adrenaline she felt during fast driving helped her. She felt free and felt like herself. Without Max, who pushed her into it, she would never have discovered this. Without Max, she would still be afraid to drive faster than one hundred twenty kilometers per hour. Without Max, she would still be that timid girl who let herself be controlled by her mother. Without Max, she would still feel like she was in chains and be afraid to assert her own opinion.

She was no longer afraid. She could resist her mother. She could raise her voice to her and stand by her opinion. She even stood by her so much that even her training sessions were shortened, and her extreme diet improved a bit. She still couldn't eat everything in front of her mother, but she didn't have to eat just one meal a day anymore. She ate three courses, but in smaller portions.

Her energy had deteriorated rapidly since she returned home to Monaco, and Max started to notice. He constantly asked her if she was okay. He told her she should eat properly because she looked like she would faint soon - it happened a few times, but she never told the brunet because she knew he would be worried about her. She didn't want him to worry about her. She didn't want him to worry about her when he was literally on the other side of the globe and preparing for a race where he could easily lose his life if he got too distracted.

"I hope you intend to win the tournament because if not, we'll return your training that you had before you disappeared, God knows where," her mother said to her as she parked the car at the stadium where the tournament would take place. It was a two-day tournament, with semifinals and finals on the second day.

Understandingly, the girl nodded and decided to get out. Of course, she was immediately noticed by the cameras, and they had to rush over. Everyone was still asking for information about her relationship with Roberto, but Freya didn't respond. Her mother forbade her, but she didn't need to because the girl wouldn't talk about it anyway. She didn't want to talk about it, especially not in front of the media. She didn't want to say anything out loud until she got evidence.

It took ten minutes to get inside the arena through all those cameras, and even there, she didn't get any peace. Some of them had tickets inside because they were the ones who would broadcast the tournament. They were relentless and urgently needed to know everything about Freya and her life

At this moment, she was grateful for her mother. Normally, she always annoyed her with how she got involved in everything and wouldn't let her handle things on her own, but when it came to journalists, she couldn't be happier. She hated journalists with all her heart and hated answering their stupid questions, which most of the time made absolutely no sense.

Booing was heard. Everyone around looked at Freya with hatred in their eyes. Other players watched her as she entered the gym already dressed in her jersey, with a bag over her shoulder containing all the necessary items. No one looked at Freya the way Max did when they first met. Max never saw her as the one who beats up her boyfriend. He didn't look at her as the one who killed her unborn child by having an abortion. Max believed her, and he didn't know her.

Most of these players who looked at her and nodded knew her. They were her friends, with whom she always had fun, and she laughed with them before every tournament. That wasn't the case this time because they looked like they didn't want anything to do with the girl. Freya remained alone and would have to get used to it because until she provided evidence that she wasn't responsible for anything, these looks would be part of her daily life.

"We'll win, Freya," her mother said to her as they sat together on the bench assigned to them. The bench was located in the farthest corner, away from the others. Freya didn't know if she was assigned there because of what was going on around them, for her safety, or because her mom pulled some strings, but she didn't care at the moment. She was glad she got the bench farthest away because she couldn't sit on a bench in the middle of everyone.

The cameras, of course, were constantly focusing on her. The fans who began to gather in the arena also watched her, and most of them didn't have pleasant looks. Three-quarters of them booed at the girl, and she even saw a few banners asking for Freya to be excluded from this year's season. No one was excited about her return – only she and her team were excited because they could get back to work, otherwise, everyone wished they would leave. No one wanted to play against someone about whom such things were said.

Freya had a day full of matches, and she was doing well. She won every single one. Perhaps she was even fitter than before she was told to take a break. She felt great all day, even though she didn't eat much.

She definitely felt hungry. She felt like she could faint soon because her stomach was making unusual sounds, but despite that, she gave it her all. She tried as best as she could, even though with every point she managed to win, there was even louder booing than before.

She used that booing. She used it to her advantage and turned their booing into her energy. She turned their booing into something that brought energy into her system. Thanks to their hatred, she felt stronger. She wanted to prove to them that they couldn't easily get into her head. She wanted to prove to everyone that she was still the best and could defeat even the older players who had years of experience, and where some of them were world champions. They had experienced days of glory, now it was time for the younger generation, and she was determined to lead that young generation.

It will be her who will lead the standings in badminton. It will be her whom people will talk about as the Max Verstappen in badminton. She will appear on the top spots so much that the Swedish anthem will start to annoy people. She will win so much that people will start saying that badminton is becoming a boring sport.

She can do it. She believed in herself and knew that someone who believed in her was also watching her. She couldn't disappoint the brunet. He had qualifications, and even then, in his free time, he watched the girl as she bounced the shuttlecock from side to side. She had to show him that he wasn't looking at her for no reason. She had to win.

Win it for him.

~•~

And she was successful. She reached the semifinals, which were the next day. She defeated a player from South Korea and advanced to the final, where she played against a Frenchwoman who was currently the world champion. This Frenchwoman had won last year, and that was Freya's biggest motivation – to win against her, because if she beat her, she could prove that she was better than people thought.

And it happened. Freya won, but instead of cheers, she only received booing. She didn't mind because she knew that at this moment, one brunet was watching her, definitely not booing, but cheering with her and her team. Maybe he even forced others to watch. Maybe. Freya wanted to believe in that.

"This is what they call a comeback," said the host, with whom she was supposed to have an interview about her final match. She knew him very well. His name was James Howel, and he liked to point out that she was a blonde. He liked to make stereotypical jokes about how blondes are dumb – he always hinted that Freya applied to university but didn't get in.

That wasn't true. She applied to university and got in. She got into her dream university, but her mother tore up her acceptance letter, saying that the university would distract her, so she never applied. Some guy who worked for the school found out about this story and sold it to the media, but with his fantasy, so some information was a bit distorted.

"How do you feel, Freya?" he asked her.

"I feel amazing," Freya replied with a smile, "didn't you hear how my fans were cheering for me? Nothing compares to knowing that everyone is on your side," Freya laughed. Of course, everyone heard the sarcasm in her voice. The girl wanted to make fun of the haters when she was already here. She won't show them that they got under her skin – Max didn't teach her that.

"Do you think there was at least one person cheering for you?" he asked sarcastically. Of course, James wanted Freya not to rejoice in her victory, but that won't happen. Even if she didn't have any fans here, she knew that she would always have one fan outside, that brunet with blue eyes who spent ninety percent of his time wearing nothing but Red Bull clothes.

"Sure, my mom was here, cheering like crazy," Freya chuckled, "my coach was cheering like crazy too."

"I didn't mean that," James objected.

"I know what you meant, James," Freya told him, "you won't succeed in spoiling my joy of my victory, which I earned here just like the other players. Think whatever you want about me, but I'm not what they say about me," she said with seriousness in her voice, "maybe no one was cheering for me in the arena, but surely a few people were watching on screens."

"And how do you know that? Because you sound pretty confident," James chuckled.

"I'm sure about one person, and the others? There, I just hope and believe because I would be glad if these people watched my first win from many. I don't intend to stop here. I'll win that title and slap it over the heads of all the people who booed here today because they believe everything that appears on the internet. They believe everything that some conceited footballer spouts from his mouth."

With these words, she turned on her heel and walked away to the locker room. She was supposed to have a few more interviews, but she decided to skip them. Her mom can go to them if she wants, but she won't. She doesn't want to listen to more nonsense about how she doesn't deserve it.

She deserves it just like everyone else.

She fought hard to win the tournament.

~•~