ONE

Alana Salomon was currently doing a solo travel through multiple European countries.

She was eighteen years old, and had already been backpacking throughout Portugal, Spain, Andorra, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden and she was now heading to Finland , her passport clutched tightly in to her hand.

She was wrapped in slightly warmer clothes than she had been wearing throughout most of her trip, since the southern part of Europe was a lot warmer to where she was now, so she felt like the sweater and sweatpants would be much appreciated by her body and her tanned skin.

Her dark hair was in two braids down her back, residing over her backpack which was a bright red shade with bright blue straps on it which her arms were looped through.

Her red trainers matched her backpack, since before she had left her home she had made sure to buy some really good sneakers so that her feet would not be getting really sore whilst walking.

Her parents had not wanted her to go on the trip in the first place, since they had told her that they had a man who they wanted her to date, but she had packed her bag and caught a flight as soon as she could.

She knew what it meant.

She would be eighteen, married to a man that she had absolutely no interest in and trapped for as long as she remained with him and she refused to give up her life for that life.

She wanted to explore the world, to live her life and get to know people of all different cultures and backgrounds, so it was part of the reason why she had spent the past two months travelling.

She didn't want to go home, because if she did then she would instantly forced to meet a man that her parents wanted her to meet.

If she had to camp in the woods and hunt for food, then she would.

Her dark eyes found a small bar that looked to be quite packed with many people and made her way towards it, excited to see more about Finland as a country and what the people were like.

Her small feet stepped in to the building, causing many sets of eyes to fall upon her very clearly lost frame, watching her closely until she stepped up to the bar counter.

"What can I get you, tourist?"

The man, who must have been in his fifties, spoke in a rough sounding tone, his gravelly voice almost seeming painful to her ears.

"What do you recommend?"

Her voice squeaked, making her grimace at just how high pitched her voice actually sounded. The man eyed her carefully, and Alana was scared for a moment that he was going to kick her out and accuse her of being a child.

She couldn't help being this small.

"I'll get you a vodka."

The man barked at her, seeing the slight fear on her face whenever he spoke to her, grabbing a glass and filling it with a clear liquid before handing it to her.

He noticed with a much more gentle smile on his face that the girl held multiple marka out to him, obviously not knowing how much he would charge for the drink. He just shook his head, refusing her money and walked away.

"He doesn't often let people drink for free."

A male voice sounded to her left, making her turn her head to a man, who looked a similar age to her, with blonde hair and striking blue eyes who was looking at her weirdly.

"How much was the drink? He didn't take my money but I feel like that's kinda stealing..." She trailed off as she spoke to the young man, who just stuck his bottom lip out.

"It's not, so I'm not telling you." The man let a ghost of a smile form on his face, just to let her know what he was a friendly stranger.

"But what if I want to pay for it?" The Salomon girl spoke with her innocent tone, having felt bad that the man behind the bar had not recieved the money for the drink.

"Get over it." The man released a scoff like laugh, noticing how she seemed cautious around him and rolled the blue of his eyes.

"I'm Kimi."

Alana's face filled immediately with surprise, before a bright cheerful and friendly smile erupted on to her face, her dark eyes sparkling.

"I'm Alana, it's nice to meet you Kimi."

Kimi furrowed his eyebrows together as he noticed the way she seemed excited to know his name, her behavior making it look like she was an incredibly friendly person.

She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, her hands clutched together as if she was trying to control the energy inside of her that wanted to explode.

"Why Finland?" The man found himself asking her, watching as she thought for a moment before speaking.

"I haven't heard much about the country so I wanted to check it out and maybe meet some cool new people. Like you." The Salomon girl noticed how he rolled his eyes at her last comment, but let his lips tug upwards in to a small smile.

"There's not much to see." Kimi huffed. "It's cold, we drink, we party and we sleep."

"Then it already sounds amazing to me."

"Where did you come from?" The Finnish man questioned, surprising himself as to why he wanted to know so much about this one woman.

"I'm from Cuba or more specifically Havana." Alana noticed him nodding his head up and down as he took in the information.

"Why leave?" He raised one of his eyebrows, having noticed that her backpack was full which signalled that she had been away for a while.

He also had noticed the sudden look of fear that filled her tanned face at the mere thought, making his stomach turn, an uncomfortable feeling flooding his body.

"I uh- I, needed to get away for a little bit. I want to enjoy my life and travel, not be stuck there unable to do anything." She spoke in a half lie, lifting her hands up so that she could nervously bite her fingernails.

"And of the whole world to choose from, you come to... Finland."

"Uh... yeah."

Kimi began to notice how much more on edge she seemed, more anxious and nervous, shaking hands and biting nails, chewing on her bottom lip, eyes darting around the room as if she was making sure that she didn't know anybody here.

She seemed so lost all of a sudden, and he couldn't quite understand why, so he lightly nudged her arm with his hand, gaining her full attention back and motioned his head towards her half full drink.

"To Finland."

He raised his glass of his own in to the air with her immediately copying, both of them quickly throwing their drinks back and down their throats before slamming the glass back down on to the counter beside them.

Alana grimaced at the after taste of the vodka, but nodded her head as the kind young man offered to buy her another drink, accepting as she knew that alcohol would help her forget why she came here in the first place, making sure that she had a good time.

"To Finland."

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A/N

Short introduction chapter but here we go

What do you think?

I'll start with young Alana and young Kimi before reintroducing them later at a race, but I hope this is good

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this shirt introduction chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY