Veronica studied the board intently, her sharp eyes tracing each strategic move. A comnt from the crowd caught her attention, sparking a brief flicker of genuine interest across her composed features.
Niall's voice cut through the murmur of spectators. "Mr. Shane Senior, watching your match has itching to try my hand at this. Though honestly, with my skill level, beating Cullen would be quite the uphill battle."
Felix's hearty laughter filled the air. "Co now, it's all friendly competition. I wasn't taking it too seriously either. If you're genuinely interested in playing, by all ans, step right up."
Before Niall could respond, soone from the gathered crowd chuckled knowingly. "Well, if Ms. Crystal decides to join in, this could get very interesting very quickly."
Another voice chid in with obvious amusent. "Absolutely right. Mr. Dennis might be a chess master, but if he actually crushes Ms. Crystal in front of everyone, he'll definitely be sleeping on the couch tonight."
The comnt sent waves of laughter through the small audience.
Felix remained blissfully unaware of the romantic entanglent between Niall and Cullen. Hearing the playful banter, he took a mont to study Niall's poised deanor and natural confidence. She certainly appeared to be an ideal companion for soone of Cullen's caliber.
A mischievous grin spread across Felix's weathered face as he fixed his gaze on Cullen. "Well now, this puts things in a fascinating light. I'm genuinely curious to see if you can maintain that legendary composure of yours when you're playing against your own girlfriend instead of an old man like ."
Niall remained completely unfazed by the sudden spotlight and attention from the crowd. She turned toward Cullen with cool determination. "I'm not the kind of person who throws tantrums when things don't go my way. Let's keep this fair and square."
Cullen's angular features revealed the hint of an amused smile. "Understood."
Soone in the crowd couldn't resist comnting loudly. "The match hasn't even started yet, and these two are already giving us a free show of their relationship dynamics."
"All the flirting aside," another spectator added with genuine respect, "Ms. Crystal earned her PhD from one of the most prestigious universities in the world. If she's this confident about her chances, she must have so serious skills to back it up."
This was the first ti Felix had encountered Niall personally. Upon learning about her impressive academic credentials, he chuckled appreciatively. "A PhD scholar, how impressive." He then shifted his attention back to Cullen with obvious approval. "I have to say, you certainly know how to pick them."
Dario couldn't help but roll his eyes dramatically at the entire spectacle unfolding before them.
Originally, he had intended to ask Veronica if she might be interested in taking a turn at the chess board herself. However, before he could even form the words, Niall had already inserted herself into the situation with her enthusiastic offer.
Observing this developnt, Dario felt the familiar throb of an approaching headache. He scoffed under his breath and muttered with obvious irritation, "What's with all this ridiculous theatrical nonsense?"
Despite his attempt to keep his voice low, both Veronica and Marco managed to catch his whispered complaint.
Veronica responded with a soft, barely audible chuckle of amusent.
Marco took careful note that her facial expression remained as serene and unreadable as always, showing absolutely no trace of jealousy or emotional disturbance. This observation brought him a surprising sense of relief.
At long last, Cullen and Niall settled into their positions and began their highly anticipated chess match.
From her vantage point, Veronica could imdiately assess that Niall possessed considerable skill at the ga. She was far from being a complete amateur or casual player. However, after observing the opening moves and initial strategy for several minutes, Veronica gradually shifted her attention elsewhere.
Dario seed to pick up on the sa subtle details that had captured Veronica's interest initially. After watching the ga progress for a while longer, he rolled his eyes once again, feeling a growing urge to simply walk away from the entire scene.
When he noticed that Veronica appeared to be losing her focus on the ongoing match, he leaned closer and asked quietly, "Would you prefer to head back to the pavilion and get sothing to eat?"
Veronica shook her head gently in response. "I'm perfectly fine staying here. Let's remain a bit longer and see how this plays out."
Marco had actually spotted the shift in Veronica's attention even earlier than Dario had managed to detect it.
During the earlier match between Felix and Cullen, Marco had observed how intensely concentrated and engaged Veronica had appeared throughout the entire ga. Her focus had been absolutely unwavering.
Now, as Cullen and Niall began their own match, she had watched carefully for only a brief initial period before her interest clearly began to wane, and her gaze wandered away from the board entirely.
While the current chess ga between Cullen and Niall certainly had its monts of tactical complexity and strategic back-and-forth maneuvering, it beca increasingly obvious that Niall's chess abilities, while respectable, simply weren't quite on the sa elevated level as Felix's had been, and they certainly couldn't match Cullen's superior skill.
Nevertheless, she was holding her own admirably well in the match. When asked for her assessnt, Veronica offered a diplomatically neutral response. "Her technique is really not bad at all."
Just at that precise mont, Neal's distinctive voice rang out clearly from sowhere off to the side of the gathered crowd.
Both he and Edric had materialized seemingly from thin air, and they were now positioned directly beside Felix, apparently having arrived just in ti to witness the conclusion of this interesting romantic chess challenge.
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