CHAPTER 79: ANNA’S PROBLEM!

The two girls were dumbfounded at Sheva’s sudden offer, not knowing what to say. Honestly, even though they were in McDonald’s and their surroundings were pretty much crowded, the silence among them really killed Sheva, and the only thing he wanted to do right now was to go home.

It seemed Anna noticed his difficulty too, as she couldn’t help but ask, "Not that I didn’t appreciate your effort here, but you can just go home and leave us alone, you know that, right? Why are you trying so hard?" Even though Claudia didn’t say anything, her eyes basically told Sheva that she agreed with her sister.

’Not that I have much choice here, what with how they sic you both on me.’ Sheva mumbled wryly. Of course, he would never say that out loud. It would be a suicide to do that, especially with Claudia being in a pretty foul mood. Instead, he just shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Don’t worry too much about me. Do you want to play or not?"

Anna hesitated for a second, not knowing how to answer the challenge. She reckoned that Sheva had a plan here, yet in this moment, she couldn’t read him at all. After thinking for a while, especially after getting the acknowledgement nod from Claudia, the girl finally heaved out a sigh, agreeing silently as she went straight to set up the chessboard. Sheva still had a poker face outside, but inwardly, he was punching the air enthusiastically for the initial success of his plan.

Honestly, it was strange to set up a chessboard in the middle of a fricking McDonald’s. Hell, they even got some stares and whispers from the strangers there. However, those two teens—no, it should be three with Claudia—had pretty thick skin, ignoring the distractions from their surroundings pretty well. As for whether they would be chased out or not, well, they were not worried. They had been ordering a lot of food earlier, so as long as they didn’t speak loudly, that would disturb the other customers; none of the waiters here would care about what they were doing.

After they finished setting up the board, both teenagers shook hands first, still sticking with the formality. Right after that, they both blitzed their way through the opening stage without even thinking. Even though there was no clock here to control the time, both players unconsciously agreed that this should be a blitz game.

For a moment, the game went pretty solid, with both players trying to develop their pieces first before taking the first action. However, as time went by, Anna fell into hesitation a few times, as if she didn’t know what to do next. It was quite rare to see her like that, and Sheva knew about it too. However, he kept quiet about that, signalling Claudia to do so too. Even though the little girl didn’t know what happened, she realized that Sheva had a plan here, so she just nodded while biting her lips silently.

The game went quite fast, but Anna’s situation spiralled downhill the further she went. In the end, she didn’t see any hope to continue the game, offering resignation with her mood worsening immediately. This was the first time she lost against Sheva, and honestly, this was worse than having a few bad results in the tournament she was currently playing in.

Sheva himself didn’t show any happiness here. He just set up the board again and said, "One more game, please."

Anna frowned immediately, but didn’t have the power to refuse it. They both kept playing for about three or four more games, yet somehow, she always ended up getting defeated by Sheva. It was infuriating how the boy didn’t say a single word, as if the win against her wasn’t worth that much. In the end, she couldn’t bear it anymore and exploded.

"Can you at least say something here?!" Her voice rose a few octaves. "You have won four times in a row! Come on, mock me here! Gloat at me! Just say something!" Her voice cracked as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "Don’t just ignore me like I am not worth your time..." In the end, she barely whispered the deepest thought inside her mind.

Sheva had a cold sweat rolling like a bullet on his back, feeling the stare from people around boring a hole in the back of his head. If that didn’t make him afraid, the glare from Claudia sure was enough to do the job. However, he couldn’t back down now, not when Anna’s reaction was this big.

"It is not like you are not worth my time or something like that. You are still a stronger player than me, you know?" Sheva smiled wryly. "But this is not your true self. Our game today doesn’t reflect your true ability. I know that you know about that too, and you have been wondering where you went wrong, right?" He asked.

Anna was stunned, as if she had been hit by lightning. It seemed that Sheva was spot-on here.

"Well, in your normal state, I am sure that you will be able to see your problem just from our game. But now, I don’t really know. Did you see something amiss in our game before?" Sheva asked.

Anna frowned, crossing her hands in front of her chest as she was thinking hard right now. Claudia also did the same, trying to figure out what Sheva was trying to say here. As for Sheva himself, he took a deep, relieved breath. The scrutinizing stares at him were gone, and both the girls in front of him also forgot that they were supposed to be angry at him. It felt unreal, as if he had just dodged a bullet here.

"I... I still don’t know..." Anna scowled, getting frustrated at herself. "I know there is something wrong with me, but I cannot figure it out!"

"Big Sis..." Claudia bit her lips anxiously, for the first time seeing her sister losing her calm. Honestly, seeing her sister lose control like this was probably the scariest thing that she had ever seen in her life. For her, Anna was always her pillar, the big wall that would block everything from harming her. Anna was supposed to be invincible. So, to see her having a breakdown like this was a bit too much for Claudia. "Sheva..." She turned her eyes weakly at the boy, hoping that he would think of something here. However, instead of giving the answer directly, he changed the topic first.

"Do you still remember my first week in the club? When would you smack me in all of our games?" He asked a question. Anna was taken aback, not knowing whether this was related to her problem or not. Still, she nodded her head, clearly remembering that day too. "Do you remember my problem at that time? You said that I was too eager to attack, right, and you suggested that I should find a balance in my game?"

"Yeah...?" Anna nodded hesitantly.

"Then, let me tell you the same here," Sheva said solemnly. "Your problem is the exact opposite of mine in the past. You lose your eagerness to attack, your drive and ambition to win the game. You are trembling under your opponent’s bigger names and titles, and you unconsciously always seek stability, which is not a bad thing, of course. But that is not your true self, right? Not your real style, I will tell you that. You are being too cautious and afraid to lose, that somehow, you also start to forget about yourself, Anna, and that is your problem."