"See?! See?! I told you so!" Bagas shouted excitedly, jumping from the chair unconsciously. Poor chair, it was thrown several feet away due to the sudden weight loss from Bagas’s sudden action. This sudden commotion also attracted the other’s attention, with the aunt of the restaurant coming out instantly.
"What is going on here?!" The tone in her voice was laced with dissatisfaction, bringing nervousness toward everyone else here. Hell, even the uncle who was the cook decided to turn away from this ss, knowing that letting his wife vent out her anger was the best. The sharp glare from the older woman scanned throughout the entire building, and once it found Bagas with a guilty expression and the chair that was thrown away on the back, she put her hands on her hips, ready to scold the boy. "Okay, thirty seconds. Give one reason why I have to forgive you after all the ss you create here."
Bagas rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, knowing that he was on the wrong side right now. Not counting this, he was also the one slamming the door earlier, disturbing everyone’s peaceful ti. Although the old Chinese couple here were friendly, they also had a limit to their patience, and it seed that Bagas was so close to crossing the bottom line here.
"Urgh... Sorry, Aunty... It is just..." Bagas’s eyes wandered around, trying to find any excuse he could use to get away from this situation. When his gaze landed on Sheva’s, though, sothing clicked inside his brain as he said, "Well, it is just... We just received good news about Sheva! He is one step closer to becoming a chess grandmaster!" Yeah, at this point, honesty was definitely the best he could do in his position.
Sheva widened his eyes in disbelief, never foreseeing that Bagas would drag him into this ss. It seed that the old quote was true, that betrayal hurt because it ca from his best friend.
To everyone’s surprise, though, it seed that the aunty understood the weight of this achievent, as she grabbed Sheva’s hand and shook it enthusiastically. "That is amazing, Little Sheva! Congratulations! I am so proud of you!"
"Young n this day... They sure couldn’t be underestimated, huh?" The uncle also added, bringing a tray full of food to the table. "Congratulations, young man! I’ll give you a 50 percent discount for today!"
"Really?!" Sheva widened his eyes in surprise. "Wait, that’s not important! Uncle, aunty, you know about chess?!" He asked the question everyone had inside their head right now.
"Bah! Of course, we know! Don’t underestimate us, young man!" The uncle scoffed at Sheva’s silly question. "Reykjavik is a quiet city, and there is not a lot of excitent happening here! Of course, we would know and learn anything about all the events that would bring so many foreigners here!" The man said proudly.
"We even have the group photo with that Arican grandmaster, Mr. Caruana himself. What a handso and polite boy..." The auntie added, blushing a little at her own mory. Well, not that anyone could bla her, as Fabiano Caruana had this ’perfect gentleman’ image in public.
Well... That was impressive. It seed that the old Chinese couples here knew more than they let others believe them to be. Sheva himself also didn’t expect it, as the old couple had never said anything whenever the discussion about chess ca around. Still, looking at the enthusiastic old couples here, he couldn’t help but smile too.
"Thank you, Uncle! Auntie! That is really nice of you!"
"Oh, don’t worry about it! A little discount wouldn’t hurt our business!" The aunty let out a small laugh while patting Sheva’s shoulder, showing her appreciation to him. "Also, let us take a photo together later! Once you are famous enough, we can brag about a top chess player being a regular custor here!"
"Sure!"
As everyone was chatting and laughing with the owners of the restaurant, Claudia had been quiet for quite a long ti, watching their interaction with a complicated gaze. While she was happy that Sheva got his first grandmaster norm, sothing that not many Indonesian chess players could achieve, the girl also felt like Sheva was flying too fast, leaving her and her sister in the dust.
Envy... Jealousy... Scared... Sad... Worried...
Honestly, Claudia herself didn’t know how to feel right now. She knew it was wrong to feel negatively over Sheva’s achievent, but she couldn’t help it. The girl was worried that once Sheva stepped into a bigger league, he would’ve just left her and Anna away, climbing alone to reach a higher point in his career. While she would never admit it out loud, Claudia grew fonder of the boy, and she didn’t want this kind of mont to not happen again in the future.
What she didn’t know, though, was that Sheva noticed her current state. While the boy didn’t understand what was inside her mind, he was sensitive enough to realize that the girl was in a bad mood, and his brain spun faster than the speed of light to think of sothing that could cheer her up. Then, an idea clicked inside his head, and he grabbed Bagas’s phone and went to access the sa website again.
"Ia, how about we check your chance to get a norm too?" The boy suddenly asked.
"?!" Claudia was taken aback, pointing at herself in confusion. At Sheva’s serious nod, her first instinct was to shake her head quickly. "No, no, no, there is no way I could achieve the sa thing as you..."
After all, she knew her current situation here. Even though her performance was good, getting 5.5 points out of 8 gas and only a half point behind Sheva’s, the girl knew that half of her opponents were weak, couldn’t compare to the greatness that Sheva set in this tournant. However, the boy was pretty insistent here, offering the phone for her to check it out by herself.
"Fine..." She finally sighed in defeat. "I am still not sure about it, though..." She grumbled a little.
"Don’t worry. Let’s check your chance to get your WGM norm first. I am sure that it is either that you are close enough or you have already achieved it." Sheva smiled confidently. "Co on, don’t be shy!" He nudged her body teasingly.
The corner of her mouth curled a little, finding that Sheva was really good at lifting up the mood here. That was another reason why she was reluctant to see him flying higher this quickly, as the girl would miss this kind of mont in the future.
’No, don’t think too much about that.’ She shook her head quickly, trying to banish her negative thought. ’Let’s just check it out and satisfy his curiosity.’
Yeah, Claudia herself didn’t have any desire to check out her chance. The girl felt that any achievent she got would be la compared to Sheva’s right now. She also wanted to let Sheva enjoy his mont here, not wanting to steal a spotlight even for a centiter.
However, the bold text she read after submitting her performance on the website changed her mind instantly, as she felt her brain freeze, and she couldn’t comprehend what was going on here. There, she found out the sa text as what she had read on Sheva’s section a mont ago, but this ti, it was reserved only for him.
Congratulations! The WGM norm is achieved!
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