"Yeah, Mom, don’t worry, I am in good health right now."
"What? Listen more to Bagas? It should be him who is doing so, right? I an, you don’t know half of what he is doing here!"
"Don’t worry, the money I get from Master Irfan is still here; I didn’t waste that much, anyway."
"Yes, I get a full score, four wins out of four gas. Next, I will probably have to play against Claudia. Don’t worry, I will take care of her."
"Okay, bye, Mom! Take care!"
Sheva smiled a little as he saw his phone’s screen turn dark after he closed the call. It would be a lie if sohow he said that he didn’t miss his mother. Even though she always nagged a lot about his situation, having soone caring about him was good for the peace of his mind, especially after losing his father due to COVID-19 two years ago.
The topic of their conversation itself was pretty general, with his mother asking about whether he ate regularly or not, advising him to listen to Bagas and Irfan more, nagging about spending his money wisely, and all those little things that only a mother would care about. As for the question about how the tournant went, that was probably the last thing she had on her mind, proven by the fact that she asked that last. Well, not that Sheva cared, of course, as he knew his mom didn’t quite understand the chess tournant at all. However, that didn’t make him less happy here. After the call was over, he could feel his blood pumping, adrenaline sohow rushing hard into his head.
’Yeah, I am here not just for , but also for mom, who is waiting back ho.’ He said in an enlightennt. ’I have to show my best performance here, making her feel proud of . At least, this would reassure her that her choice in trusting my change of career is not wrong. For her, I have to win this tournant!’ He clenched his fist tightly.
"Well, sorry to burst the bubble, Mister, but the winner is going to be ." Soone suddenly patted him from behind, making him jump in surprise. He almost swung his arm toward the stranger, yet managed to hold back in the last second. When Sheva turned around, he could see that Claudia was grinning mischievously at him, not even bothering to look innocent here. It seed she had also just finished her ga too.
"What are you doing here?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"What am I doing here? Of course, I am going back to take a rest! I have just finished my ga, isn’t it reasonable for to do so?" Claudia rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"Well, yeah, I could see that. What I am asking, though, is what are you doing in my room? Where did you get the key from, anyway?" Sheva felt the corner of his mouth twitching. Yeah, it was indeed his and Bagas’s room, so seeing her trespassing so casually like this was enough to startle him.
"Oh, I don’t need a key. After all, you forgot to close the door." Claudia just shrugged. "Anyway, are you going to ask for trivial matters or do you want to eat together with ?" She asked. It seed that she also bought lunch from the sa restaurant as him. Sheva could still feel the corner of his mouth twitching, but in the end, he just heaved a deep sigh, giving up on thinking about the absurdity of this situation.
"Fine, you can join." He grumbled, starting to unpack the lunch. It was the local vegetarian dish, yet for Sheva, this was enough to fill his stomach. He could also see that Claudia, who was sitting next to him, did the sa. Feeling like an awkward silence fell there, he couldn’t help but say, "I thought that you would be waiting for until your sister’s ga is over."
"Oh, please! Do you think that this is my first tournant together with Big Sis?" She scoffed incredulously. "We have been going to a lot of tournants together, and we know taking a rest on a double-header day is more important than waiting for each other. Also, thanks to your friend, I can see my sister’s ga from here, so why would I stay there like a moron?" She shrugged, started to open her YouTube account and went straight to the live broadcast.
"So, how is it?" Sheva asked casually, not even taking a glance at her screen.
"Good." Claudia nodded satisfactorily. "She managed to force a draw here, an important result against the top-seeded player. Now, Big Sis only needs 3.5 points more to get her last norm for the WGM title."
"So, either 3 wins and 1 draw or 2 wins and 3 draws, huh?" Sheva muttered to himself. "Isn’t it a bit difficult?"
"Indeed, but Big Sis has already played against all the difficult players, so I am sure she could pull that score," Claudia said confidently. "I an, look at the rest of her opponents! They have a bad tournant here, and they are in their declining stage! I doubt they would be able to pose any threat to Big Sis."
Indeed, even though it was a little bit arrogant, Sheva had to agree with Claudia’s assessnt here. He saw a glimpse of Anna’s next few opponents, and they weren’t that strong. Well, they might be good enough in their heyday, but this was definitely not their best state. It would be strange if Anna sohow failed to sweep the entire thing easily.
They both spent the next fifteen minutes in a sohow strange yet comfortable atmosphere. Both he and Claudia enjoyed the al they bought, while the girl herself opened her TikTok account to spend her free ti here. Sheva would take a glance and make a comnt from ti to ti, and Claudia would scoff, giggle, and even burst out laughing at that. If anyone saw this, they would’ve never expected that those two would play against each other in a decisive round three hours later. However, Sheva didn’t hate this kind of atmosphere. For him, it felt like he had a little sister, and he adored this feeling.
In the end, though, after receiving Anna’s ssage asking about her whereabouts, Claudia finally rose from her spot, tidied up her dress, and got ready to leave. However, before she did so, the little girl turned around for a mont, staring at Sheva’s eyes intently before letting out a small, mischievous smirk on her face.
"Well, you might have a better record against , but this will be our first official ga against each other. So, be prepared to lose, okay?"
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