Eqlima
Happiness in the midst of sadness

After Eqlima arrived at his inn hotel, Eqlima immediately slammed his body into the mattress and immediately cursed on the bed blanket while crying sobbing in the blanket.

Moments later, Rita rang the bell near the door of Eqlima's room while calling Eqlima, but Eqlima who was sad was still able to respond even at the door knock the third time.

"Geez, what's the matter with you? Tell me, you think I'm a sister." Said Rita who saw Eqlima's face that was filled with tears and was still crying remembering before.

The two went into the room and sat down on the bed to tell them what had happened.

"Yes, so I feel guilty about my competitors in the training session, I had a chance to turn, but I did not realize that behind there were other drivers" said Eqlima who was still carried away in a sad atmosphere.

"Oh so, I understand how you feel, the name is also a race, sometimes there are unexpected things" said Rita who hugged and rubbed it from the side.

Shortly after, Fadil came to Eqlima's room while they were still chatting, when he saw Eqlima was sad, Fadil also sat on his mattress.

"Hey Eqlima, I know how you feel right now, but I have to apologize to you before" said Fadil, who is on the left side of Eqlima, while Rita is on the right.

"Why?"

"Yes, because after this, we can't keep you here anymore, because we have other activities outside of this"

Hearing that, Rita immediately hugged him so that Eqlima could calm down.

"Tomorrow we'll go home to the family, but don't worry about the money, we can transfer if you need, just contact". Said Fadil to Eqlima who was being embraced by Rita.

Some time later, Rita ended her embrace and held Eqlima's face while saying "Strong yes without us, we will support you wherever I am".

Eqlima also tried to smile again after crying before her, as Rita who gave a smile to Eqlima.

The clock shows at 9 pm, but the state of the hotel is still as crowded as the afternoon hours, when Eqlima watching television to unwind his fatigue, he said, he changed channels and found news of their Team Principal's resignation as a result of the incident.

Eqlima also tried to contact Emina to discuss this, and sure enough, there were a lot of miss calls from Emina who might ask her news after the incident.

Finally Eqlima contacted him using a video call, and after that the call was received.

"Hello Emina, is this really the news about our Team Principal resigning?" Tanya Eqlima opened the conversation

"Whoa whoa.... Don't rush Eqlima too much, I know you want to say you're sorry, right?" emina replied seeing that something was wrong with Eqlima.

"Maybe, but what I'm asking is, what about McLaren? Why isn't the team principal backing out?"

"Don't you know, don't think about anything that's none of our business, for sure, you've got something that calms you down after the incident?"

"Yes, I've started forgetting that and trying to forgive him"

Emina was shocked when she saw her friend like this, another thing with her friend who was difficult to forgive people.

"Okay, so you want to forget about the incident?" Emina asked with her eyebrows raised next to her

Eqlima replied with a nod.

"Well then, I hope you can impress tomorrow, see you." Said Emina who closed the conversation.

Eqlima can only give greetings and thumbs after, he smiled even though his heart did not come with a smile.

Eqlima was back on his bed and thinking about what his tomorrow was like, but when he was relaxed, suddenly there was a letter in front of his room

THE HUT!

While Istighfar, Eqlima immediately opened the door of his room and found there was a man with a wheelchair who was carrying out his duties as an Online food deliveryman

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to help, by the way, is the food broken?" Eqlima said in English to the man while taking care of the dropped order, also helping the man get back into the wheelchair.

The man slightly sighed while saying "Well, thank you son for helping me, but I'm fine"

While looking at the order, it was in Eqlima's mind to help him.

"Eeemmm, I'm sorry sir, has he paid for this online?" Ask Eqlima to the man

"Oh yeah, he's already paying her" the man replied with a slight smile

"Alright if so, I will bring it, so that the father can be faster to rest" said Eqlima while carrying the order.

"Thank you, oiya, the room she's in is room 321, on the 3rd floor." Said the man while turning towards the elevator.

Eqlima also followed the man, although when he went up, the elevator door was different, the man went to the left which was heading down, while Eqlima went to the right which was towards the top.

Arriving in front of room 321, he rang the bell near the door and said "Reservations for room 321!".

The occupants of the room also said

"Go in, I'll open the door."

The woman who was the occupant of the room opened it and then went into the bathroom again to finish her bath.

Eqlima put the order on the hotel desk, but when she finished, the woman who was the occupant of the room came out of the bathroom and put on the post-bath clothes.

Eqlima spontaneously shouted because he was a bit surprised to see the woman in the room, even so it only briefly happened.

"Hey why? Relax, I'm fine with you!" Said the woman.

While Eqlima tried to calm himself, the woman again asked why he was the one who dropped off his food

"What brought you here? I guess I ordered the guy instead of you."

"Oh, no, I don't have any bad intentions, I just want to help the guy in the wheelchair who delivered your food here, so he can take a break" answer Eqlima with a little laugh.

The woman stared cynically at him as she said "OK, I can still accept that" while shrugging her shoulders.

The woman tried to open the food she ordered while Eqlima was still staying at the place, but after feeling okay order, Eqlima was saying goodbye and trying to get out of the room.

But the woman told him to come back by saying "Hey son, did you leave the room with an empty stomach and heart? It's illegal for me!" With implied meaning he wanted to take Eqlima to dinner together.

(Illustration of Kotoha Okazaki, Team principal replacement for the Nissan BWT team)

After that Eqlima did not come out of the room and he went straight to the dining table and dinner with the woman.

While opening one of the lunch boxes that he was about to eat, Eqlima asked the woman something

"Oiya, why did you buy 4 boxes? Will it be kept until tomorrow?"

The woman replied with her flat face like it was seriously impressed "No, if I can share it with you, why should it be kept?"

Eqlima was downcast and went back to take care of his food again and tried to eat it, but because he was hesitant, he tried to find the halal logo on the box, lucky he found it, the logo, and the, he opened and ate the food in the box.

"You know about the Nissan BWT?" The woman opened the conversation while having dinner together at the table

"Yes, what's wrong?" Ask Eqlima who was in front of the woman.

"Then tomorrow I was told to replace their Team Principal who had resigned due to an unexpected incident at the pitstop"

Eqlima who knows exactly what happened also paused his dinner and was confused about what to do, because he knew it was his team principal for tomorrow, and Emina did not tell him that before, he was immediately agitated and wanted to get out, but he could not because if he went out of the room, he would leave his food behind.

"What's wrong? Are you afraid of something?" Said the woman who approached Eqlima who was standing near the door.

Eqlima immediately faced back and immediately hugged her while saying in a sad tone "Please madam, don't punish me, I know it wasn't my fault yesterday, maybe I was teledor, maybe I'm teledor, but I'm trying to fix it tomorrow!"

The woman was prejudiced strangely by him, but he tried to understand her words

"Oh you're one of those drivers? Okay okay, I understand you, but remember don't do anything no longer!" He hugged Eqlima who was afraid to be punished.

"Oiya, whose Madam's name?" Eqlima asked as she took off her embrace to the woman

"Kotoha Okazaki, I'm now your team principal, I used to work as Team Principal as well as in Super Formula Nippon in 2010". Kotoha replied with his serious attitude but his manner was relaxed.

Because Eqlima already knew if he was his team principal, Eqlima was back in the chair and again ate his food again without feeling the burden.

Even at the meal, Eqlima was still confused by how he could be directly hired even though his Team Principal had only submitted his resignation at this time.

"Oiya Mrs Kotoha, about your signing, how can you be recruited directly?" Eqlima said curiously

"Hmmm, I'll tell you, but remember not to other than the drivers at BWT ya." Kotoha replied while asking that it be kept a secret.

Kotoha whispered that the signing was done digitally, which he did by scanning a contract that had been sent by BWT, then signed it and it was scanned and sent via email to be inaugurated tomorrow.

...****************...

The next day Eqlima returned to Paddock again preparing for his debut race, shortly after he met with Emina and chatted with her in the paddock.

"Have you heard that our TP will be replaced?" Emina asked while removing the accessories on her head after removing the helmet.

"Kotoha Okazaki? I just met him yesterday." Answer Eqlima with confidence

"Huh seriously? How do you know that? even he hasn't pressed his contract." Asked Emina who was surprised by that

"I just met him at the hotel, he's rooming with me"

But Eqlima just shrugged his shoulders in response to that.

Kotoha, which has completed its inauguration as a replacement for the old TP, has finally started working and started to blend in with all the crew and staff at BWT.

Before the race, Eqlima and Emina gathered with the crew and staff to plan the race in the Berlin E-prix.

"Okay everyone, good morning" Kotoha said as he waved his hand

All the crew and staff were also Eqlima and Emina responded by replying to that answer and waving.

"Well, introduce me to Kotoha Okazaki, I'm your Team Principal now, so in the future, are you ready to get better?" Ask Kotoha with enthusiasm

One team including Eqlima and Emina agreed with passion.

After the introduction, they finally prepared to face the qualifying session at the race, minus Eqlima who did not participate in qualifying after the incident yesterday.

When Eqlima walked in front of the paddock, Eqlima was approached by Haz behind him.

"Oi slave, are you recruiting Siti Badriah for your current race?" Haz spoke Malay with pride.

"You think?" Answer Eqlima in his medium tone.

"Heheheh, how dare you yes, where do you speak Malay?." Reply Haz while patting Eqlima on the shoulder

"Kurase you're going to study it in cartoons to refute me." Haz continues while leaving Eqlima back to Paddock.

Shortly after, Emina who had just finished her qualification just got out of her car and immediately caught Haz who happened to be mocking Eqlima.

"Woi, what are you doing again?" Gertak Emina with her English while nudging her front body.

The confused Haz simply replied, "It's none of your business this time, you just arrived!" Walking to the Paddock again

Emina who was a bit upset told Haz just said out loud "Well, if you're macem-macem with her, I'll blow your face!" right behind Haz when Haz cuekin he's.

Then Emina asked Eqlima to go to Paddock only and do not serve Haz who mocked him.

After that, everyone gathered in the paddock, the crew, staff, Eqlima, Emina and Team Principal gathered to negotiate the strategy of the car to be used

"Of my friends, I think this car is quite good in qualifying, I was able to be in the leading position and win the duel" said Emina with her English to open the conversation in the Paddock.

"I hope my car and Eqlima are equated with the strategy, so that we both do not need to think about what the strategy is right." Emina continued with confidence.

But when Emina finished with her statement, Eqlima was surprised by it.

"Why should it be the same? Don't you have a champion's target? You're the ultimate driver." Say Eqlima straightforwardly.

Emina laughed, saying "I want to win by myself? Who me?" With gestures pointed at him.

"I know I'm a talented driver, I'm a great driver indeed, but I'm not selfish, I also think about how the team is." Emina answered Eqlima's question

Holding both sides of Eqlima's shoulder, Emina said "You think, if I win by myself when the team doesn't feel that, what can you feel? Ain't ya?"

Eqlima nodded while others saw Emina's behavior as something else, even Team Principal did not believe in finding a typical driver like this.

"So, we fight together and produce something together! That's why I should be the main driver!" Said Emina to the others out loud

"And I have to be honest, Eqlima, I also want to make you luckier than before, I know you are like this because almost all drivers have been like this" Said Emina who again spoke to Eqlima.

Eqlima was confused how he could tell if he was so unlucky in the previous competition that eventually made him move to Formula E, then he asked "Eh, by the way, by the way, Who's the example you know?" with his plain face.

"Jean Eric Vergne, Sebastian Buemi, and Nelson Piquet **. Are some that belong like you." Emina answered confidently.

"Vergne, he's very good at F1, but he can prove a lot here, 2x Formula E world champion is not easy, Eqlima!"

"Then what about Buemi and Piquet?" Ask Eqlima innocently

"Buemi also did not lose his apes in F1, but he won the world champion in the second season of FE, more so the Piquet, know Crashgate?"

Eqlima shook his head because he was just a teenager in the period after Crashgate.

"He was sacrificed so that Fernando Alonso who was a partner with him could win the 2008 Singapore season in F1."

Eqlima was surprised by this, then he asked "So, what's after? Is he racing here his escape?"

Emina stroked Eqlima's head and said, "It's not that bad, he can finally win the first season of Formula E"

Emina then went back a bit seriously and walked a bit in front of Eqlima while saying "So, why can't you be as good as them? You should be able to and I'm trying to help you right now"

Eqlima actually understood, but he had never seen one of these figures.

"But I've never seen one of them." Eqlima said after Emina finished speaking

"You'll see, someday." Emina answered like giving up on Eqlima.

...***************...

After they finished assembling the car, they prepared for the race and were in the starting grid respectively, Emina in first position, Burhan in 7th position, and also in the starting grid respectively, while Eqlima is in 19th position before Haz who is in 22nd position.

Everyone was ready and waiting for the green light to come on.

The green light was on and all the cars took positions in this Berlin E-prix.

Because of playing with battery strategy, it seems that Eqlima is like being benefited here because he uses the bottom setting in his battery settings for the first few laps, he said, however, he did divebomb in several corners so that makes the opponent rather fooled and Eqlima able to catch several racers at once.

Although he nudged several riders, in fact there was no one to crash, therefore Eqlima was not subject to a penalty despite the frequent maneuvering.

Not to be outdone, Haz also immediately tried in the medium battery settings in order to catch more drivers.

Unwanted things happened, as Emina and Haz caught up with each other on lap 20, the yellow flag fluttered due to an incident at turn 12 involving several riders, even so Emina still leads the race and followed by Burhan behind him, Eqlima is actually in the 10th position, but because 3 riders in front of her accident, so she moved to the 7th position, so she moved to the 7th position, haz is in 11th place.

Shortly thereafter, on lap 23 the flag returned green, Eqlima immediately changed back the setting to medium considering the round left 17 laps to go.

All is normal for Eqlima, especially because other than he is very easy to overtake and is in position 5, he still has a battery of about 52% for about 16 rounds remaining.

But he just has to be careful because the driver behind him, Haz, is already in position 6, and he has a 50% battery%.

The action between the two was very fierce, not only because they were fighting for the leading position, because they also still had a personal grudge about the incident.

"Ok team, what position is Eqlima now? I was worried about her" asked Emina over her radio team who broke the silence after a few rounds of not speaking at all

"Position 4, and the distance with Haz is very close at position 5" Kotoha told his radio team.

"Please tell Eqlima, make as many divebomb as possible so that we can both be on the podium"

"Well, we'll report this to Eqlima"

After that, in the remaining 11 laps, Eqlima was instructed by Kotoha through his radio

"Eqlima, do you hear us?" Kotoha asked starting her instructions

"Capture the podium as much as possible, but do not force it until the first, because your battery is not necessarily enough." Kotoha continued to give her instructions

"Well, I will try" Reply Eqlima while taking a marginal bend close to the next turn.

Round left 4 more rounds, Eqlima battery began to leave 2% again after he used the medium setting for almost 12 rounds.

Inevitably, Eqlima had to return to his low setting if he did not want to run out of battery before the finish.

Eqlima was lucky because Burhan was slightly widened, so he could climb to 2nd position which previously Eqlima was in 3rd position in the 38th round.

Unfortunately, Burhan's widening did not mean to prevent Haz from being behind Eqlima, he was immediately in third place after he used the same driving style as Eqlima, that is, the turn is always on the edge and of course, the divebomb.

"Tell Eqlima, he must be careful, because Haz is behind him!" Said Emina through her radio team back.

"Well, we will convey" Reply Kotoha while directly contacting Eqlima.

"Eqlima, behind you is Haz, be careful because you will be overtaken." Kotoha's instructions to Eqlima are keeping its position from being overtaken, given the remaining Eqlima batteries are only 1%.

In one final lap, Eqlima could have ended the race in second place, unfortunately because there was a lap bonus and the remaining battery Eqlima was only 0.7%, he said%, Haz immediately changed the mode to low and immediately followed with Haz battery remaining about 0.4%

And because of that, even though Emina was able to win in this first race, the painful thing was felt by Eqlima when he had to feel third position because he had to keep his battery in order not to run out, and ironically he was overtaken by Haz in the final round.

"Guys, I'm sorry for this" Eqlima said in a soft voice after failing to get second place.

"It's okay son, at least it's good for a rookie like you" Kotoha said in a soft voice.

But responding to the position of Eqlima who was in the third position, Emina was surprised to hear this

"What's? He's in third? He should have been in second place, I felt sorry for Eqlima because he must have been cheated by the rancid four-headed man!" Eqlima replied with a slight sigh of annoyance with Haz.

Arriving at the pitstop, Eqlima and Emina immediately approached the team and celebrated their position on the podium, another thing with Haz who celebrated himself.

Although Emina was still sulking with the results, Emina still encouraged her and said "Thususaha worried, the next race might be your windfall" while smiling so that Eqlima did not frown.