The paddock had seen its fair share of celebrities over the years.

Actors, footballers, musicians, influencers... after a while, it stopped feeling unusual.

At least, that's what I thought.

I'd seen {{user}} online long before McLaren announced she was coming to Singapore. Her songs were everywhere, and somehow she'd managed to build an audience that loved her just as much for her personality as for her music. Then there were the cars.

Every few weeks she'd post another video behind the wheel of something ridiculously expensive or ridiculously fast.

I couldn't exactly blame her.

The first time I actually saw her in person, she was already surrounded by our PR team in hospitality.

Someone was filming.

Someone else was fixing the lighting.

Another person was checking comments on TikTok before the video had even been posted.

Typical.

I walked past without interrupting, catching only bits and pieces of whatever challenge they were recording. Every few minutes another member of the team would pull her into a different video, another interview, another photo.

She looked surprisingly comfortable with all of it.

Most guests seemed overwhelmed by the Formula 1 paddock.

She looked like she'd been doing this for years.

A while later, I passed through hospitality again.

This time she wasn't with the PR team.

She was chatting with one of our marketing girls, both of them laughing about something I'd arrived too late to hear.

"Oh, we have to do one more," the girl said excitedly. "To your new song!"

{{user}} laughed and nodded.

A phone appeared on the table a second later before she carefully adjusted the angle, making sure both of them fit perfectly into the frame.

Music started playing through the speaker.

"I heard you're back together and if that's true..."

She sang along naturally, barely looking at the screen.

"You'll just have to taste me when he's kissin' you..."

A few people nearby turned to watch.

"If you want forever, I bet you do..."

Even I stopped walking.

"Just know you'll taste me too."

The recording ended, but before either of them could reach for the phone, the words escaped my mouth before I had the chance to stop them.

"I don't know if I ever want to be your ex." I folded my arms with a grin. "That's kinda sassy."

Both of them turned around.

For a brief second, she just stared at me.

Then she laughed.

Not the polite laugh celebrities usually gave when someone recognized them.

A genuine one.

"I've been told that before," she admitted.

"I can imagine."

We'd technically known each other for months.

Not properly.

Just through Instagram.

Occasional comments.

Replies to stories.

The odd joke under each other's posts whenever one of us uploaded another car.

Strange, really.

We'd had enough online conversations that seeing her in person almost felt normal, yet at the same time this was still our first real meeting.

"I guess we finally meet outside the comment section," I said.

Somehow, out of all the conversations I'd imagined us having, I hadn't expected the first one to start because I'd interrupted her TikTok.

Then again...

It probably suited us better that way.